Penryn 53pts Falmouth 3pts

With the wind nearly at gale force and very heavy rain driving diagonally across the pitch at 1.30 pm, it looked as though the traditional Boxing Day game between Penryn and Falmouth would be either cancelled or at best degenerate in to a disaster in the mud.

But almost miraculously the rain stopped, the sun even made a brief appearance, and play started right on time.

It was not an inspiring game. The heavy pitch did not lend itself to fast open rugby, but Borough undertook sufficient moves to demonstrate the difference between two teams three leagues apart on the national setup. This is a great pity when one remembers the great tussles of the past, but rugby, like so many other sports, cannot look back.

For their part Borough showed a clean pair of heels to almost everything that Falmouth tried, and Falmouth did try, but had to console themselves with a single Liam Chappell penalty goal in the 15th minute of the first half, when briefly Borough were penned in their own half.

But for the rest or the half it was all one-way traffic, with Chris Mann running from his own 22 to score in the second minute. This was soon followed by tries from Kevin Hughes after a Greville Smith run, James Mann from brother Chris, James Mann again from forward pressure and then Chris Mann after an inside pass from Nick Brown, whose mother is visiting from New Zealand, and was at the game. A very warm welcome and we all hope you enjoy your stay Cornwall.

All of the first half goals were converted by scrum half Dave Pascoe to give a 35-3 half time lead.

In the second half Falmouth had the advantage of the wind at their backs, and the game became more even.

The Borough were only able to add to add four more tries, with only one conversion to give a second half count of 22 points, after only one conversion by replacement scrum half Martin Strick. The tries were scored by James Greville-Smith, James Mann, Chris Mann and replacement Ashley Lawton., giving a final score of 57-3 to the home side.

In spite of the weather a good crowd turned out to watch the game, with the refurbished stand being full for the first time, and the number of people on the far side of the ground.

Unfortunately the modern league system makes local derbies almost a thing of the past, and with so many other attractions the crowds of yesteryear do not materialise. But it was encouraging to see so many people out on Boxing Day and enjoying the game.

Both teams put all their efforts in to the game, which was well refereed by Al Denham from Budock Water.

Falmouth are to be congratulated in that they never gave up and continued to take the game back to Borough at every opportunity. There were old friendships and rivalries to be renewed in the bar both before and after the game, and traditional sporting spirit prevailed both on and off the field; just another example to show that Cornwall's national game is still as strong as ever.

Penryn are once again grateful for the sponsorship of the day by Paul Smith and Mark Bolitho of Blue Flame.