Redruth are smooth as chocolate against Bournville

Redruth will be pleased to comfortably see off the visitors from Birmingham in less than perfect conditions.

The heavy rain early in the day gave way to 'Cornish mizzle' for much of the 1st half making handling difficult and the underfoot conditions slippery.

The Reds almost got off to a perfect start, a Fraser Honey 50-22 kick led to the Reds setting up camp in the visitors 22. Kicks at goal were turned down in favour of a 5 metre scrum, but a penalty was conceded and the pressure cleared.

A long Will Trewin clearance from his own 22 ran dead and Bournville were on the attack but this time a penalty against their scrum allowed the Reds to clear.

From a line-out in midfield Lewis Thomas cut through the lines and slipped the ball to Will Trewin to race over for a converted try on 13 min. A Bournville 5 metre line-out was well defended by the Reds and a few plays later Will Trewin broke from the home 22, chipped over the cover defence and expertly scooped up the ball to slide over in Hellfire Corner for a fantastic individual try well converted by Honey.

Soon after the Reds were again pressurising the visitors and a Penalty try was awarded when the advancing Redruth scrum was collapsed. The bonus point try soon followed, from a line-out in midfield Thomas again made a break and passed out to Dean Bonds to race over in the Piggy Lane corner for an unconverted try on 32 mins.

A Redruth clearance kick then caused confusion in the visitors defence and the resulting penalty was kicked into Piggy Lane corner. The maul almost made the line but Mackenzie Oliver broke free to make the last few metres for another unconverted try.

Redruth started the 2nd half like they left the first, a lineout maul almost made the line but after a number of phases the ball was knocked on under the shadow of the posts.

Redruth continued to attack but a back-line move went wrong and Bournville hacked the ball downfield and a try was only prevented by great covering back by Bonds.

Bournville now managed to keep the Reds under pressure and an incisive break by Ho saw him sprint clear for converted try under the posts on 55 mins. 5 mins later the visitors added another try with when scrum-half McGahan went over for a try that he failed to convert.

Redruth could not get their game going and struggled to get a foot hold in the visitors half.

Successive penalties kicked into Hellfire Corner by Bournville led to a further unconverted try for the now buoyant visitors. 31-17 with 14 mins left on the clock, the visitors smelt a bonus point or maybe more.

A penalty to Redruth on half-way was kicked into the 22, the resulting maul almost made it but several phases later Brad Howe crashed over for an unconverted try to make the game safe. Redruth had the better of the remainder of the game but could not add to their tally.