Hayle 7, St Ives 25
ST IVES' hopes of lifting the Cornwall and Devon League title are hanging by a thread, despite their bonus-point victory at near neighbours Hayle, writes Nigel Walrond.
The same afternoon, Teignmouth enjoyed their own five-point haul from a visit to Cornwall, triumphing 36-0 at Falmouth, to keep their six-point lead intact at the top of the table with only two matches remaining.
St Ives will be hoping Hayle hand them a favour when they visit Teignmouth on Saturday, when a bonus-point win would secure the crown for the south Devon outfit.
All the already-promoted Hakes can do is aim for a five-point haul themselves against struggling Liskeard-Looe at Alexandra Road (3pm) in their final home game of the campaign.
Saturday's derby clash began with penalty opportunities for both sides.
Cornwall Under-20 scrum half Max Bodilly, playing at fly half in place of the absent Ceiron Thomas, slotted the second of his two chances to give the Hakes a sixth-minute lead, but Hayle's Martin Strick was off target with the one effort that came his way early on.
Bodilly missed another kick at goal after 11 minutes, but St Ives were beginning to impose themselves on the game and most of the action was taking place in the Hayle half.
No.8 Neil Corin eventually got the first try of the contest in the 27th minute when he picked up at the base of a five-metre scrum and forced his way over in the corner.
Seven minutes later, he scored his second try following an excellent break from halfway. As defenders closed in, he dummied superbly to go clear and cross in the corner, with Bodilly converting superbly from the touchline to make it 15-0.
St Ives lost scrum half Josh Palmer with a leg injury just before the interval and he was replaced by Mark Sherris.
The second half began much as the first had ended, with St Ives applying plenty of pressure, but Hayle defended well, despite losing one of their front row forwards to the sin bin.
While still down to 14 men, Hayle managed to get on score sheet with a 64th-minute try by fly half Scott Harvey, converted by Strick, following a lapse of concentration in the St Ives defence.
However, the visitors hit back only three minutes later with a well-deserved try for prop Tyler Gendall to make it 20-7.
The Hakes then went in search of the crucial bonus-point score, but it did not come until two minutes from time, when replacement Ellis Cox provided a fine opportunistic touchdown.
Pleased St Ives head coach Joff Rowe said: "We showed some real progress in our set piece, and that was the difference between the two sides.
"Local derbies do not get much better than Hayle versus St Ives and both sides gave 100 per cent. The weather was fantastic and the game was watched by a good number of supporters.
"We showed our promotion credentials, although at times the rugby could have been better.
"Impressive performances from Louis Stevens and Neil Corin assisted the bonus-point win, but the player who impressed me the most was Tyler Gendall, who is still a Colt but put in a performance which suggested he had been playing senior rugby for many years.
"I was really pleased when he scored his try and how well he worked to get it."
Meanwhile, Hayle player-coach Danny Clackworthy acknowledged the better side had won on the day.
He said: "St Ives certainly did their homework on our set piece and stopped us getting any first phase ball.
"They proved too strong for us and we will have to take the positives out of the game and learn from our mistakes."
Clackworthy felt the overall performance from his players augurs well for the future.
He said: "Max Bodilly and Tyler Gendall had great games and have bright futures ahead of them, while Neil Corin was superb with ball in hand and in the line out.
"Our defensive structure overall was good and Aaron Benton and Scott Murray were outstanding.
"Matt Rashleigh led the team well, as he has done all year, but the forwards did not do their job, for probably the first time this season, so we could not get any phase play going. The one time we did, Scott Harvey went over through a nice move in the backs."
He added: "The club is definitely more positive on and off the field, with the function room renovations, new bar being put in and many other improvements being made.
"We will learn from this and continue to build towards a much better finish next season, in what is a really competitive league."
