A penalty in each half from Tom Townsend enabled Penryn to leave Bencoolen?Meadow with a 6-0 victory.

The match only just went ahead after Bude-based National League referee Zerran Bell used Facetime to consult fellow referee Andy Boraston over the state of the pitch.

With the wind up and conditions far from ideal, Bude upon winning the toss chose to play with the elements in the first-half to try and get a lead, especially with the threat of the game being abandoned.

With the pitch cutting up quickly and the players resembling more mud-men than rugby players, Bude dominated long spells of the first-half as they used the wind to keep Penryn stuck in their own half.

However, captain?Joe Wilson’s decision to keep going for the corner from penalties instead of going for the three points backfired, as they went into the break 3-0 down after the visiting defence held out and Townsend slotted over a penalty.

With the elements now in the Penryn favour, Bude knew that it would take an almighty effort to win.

Although the forwards did well and the defence held firm, Penryn did to Bude what the home side did them to them in the first-half, keeping the ball in their 22.

Another penalty from Townsend meant that the North Cornwall side needed a converted try to win, but in the end it wasn’t to be as Ian Morgan’s side headed back down the A39 with an excellent victory.

Stand-in head coach for the day, Ed Nancekivell, who was deputising for the holidaying Angus Hodges, admitted that although Penryn were the better team, missed chances cost them.

He said: “It was a very tight game with not a lot of open rugby played. We chose to go with the elements in the first-half but we didn’t use it. On numerous occasions we had penalties where we should have gone for goal but the captain decided to go for the lineouts, which is a strength of ours but it wasn’t to be. But if we’d got some points in the first-half they’d have been playing catch up. They knew that all they probably needed was a couple of penalties.

“We were also left shocked with how the weather quickly turned. We thought that with the conditions as they were at the start we’d use the elements, but within the first half an hour the weather had changed significantly, although the pitch conditions were absolutely appalling.

“That being said, Penryn were the better side even though there was one score in it all the way through. Their coach Ian Morgan, who I know well, has got them will drilled.”

Despite the result, Nancekivell believes that there’s plenty of good things going on within the club.

He said:?“We’re building a good team ethos and we’ve got a good blend of youth and experience.

“We had three colts in the team today and that’s good for our future. We have no ambition to go up anyway this year and we should be safe even though there are supposed to be four going down due to the league restructuring.

“The guys put in a tremendous effort and they were absolutely shattered at the end of the game, which is a testimony to them.”

Nancekivell was quick to look forward to this weekend’s trip down to Penzance to take on struggling Pirates Amateurs.

He said: “The Pirates have been struggling but we’ll be going down there to put in a good performance, get a positive result and build some momentum going into February.

“January hasn’t been a very good month for us so far with the Honiton defeat, the postponement at Lanner and Saturday’s defeat.

“It’s important that we go down there and get the win although it’ll probably be quite difficult. When they came up to our place they were struggling for numbers but I’m sure it’ll be different this time. They’ll have some pretty wily charachters and decent players, but I’m confident we can go down there with a pretty strong side and get a result.”