Matchday Sponsor: PKF Francis Clarke https://www.pkf-francisclark.co.uk/
Matchball Sponsor: Luscombe Construction Ltd. https://luscombeconstruction.co.uk/
Tribute Man-of-the-Match Sponsor: St.Austell Brewery https://staustellbrewery.co.uk/

A strong second half from the Reds when they scored 3 unanswered tries ensured the home faithful went home happy as Redruth secured their 3rd win on the trot.

Before the match there was a minutes applause for Martine Ede who sadly passed away recently and a minutes silence for Remembrance Day.
Exeter kicked off playing towards Hellfire Corner on a pleasant calm day. A couple of early penalties gave the visitors a foothold in the Reds 22 and after a catch and drive was stopped short hooker Young burst away from the maul to scoot over in the corner for an unconverted try on 3 mins. Exeter continued to have the better of the early exchanges running the ball in typical student fashion with wing Adedeji especially looking very dangerous. The Reds held on though and forced a couple of knock-ons to help clear their lines. The Reds now started to teach the Students a lesson and three scrum penalties allowed the Reds to get onto the attack. A deliberate knock-on in the 22 from Alexander saw him see yellow and from the resulting catch and drive Luke Barnes was over for a try well converted by Nat Dart to put the Reds 7-5 ahead on 19 mins. With the man advantage Redruth would have expected to extend their lead but the University side had other ideas, a clever chip over the defence on half-way by Coen was regathered and the move ended with R.Kelly flying over in the corner for a try well converted by Coen. Whist still down to 14 Exeter added another, a storming run from the kick-off by prop Rolls got behind the Reds defence and a few phases later they were over for another converted try this time by Beckerleg to go 7-19 up on 28 mins. The Reds now hit back, a number of phases in and around the Exeter 10 metre line seemed to be going nowhere when suddenly wing Frankie Nowell emerged from a ruck and broke through, he was brought down just short but a few pick-an-goes later Epi Rokodrava was over under the posts for a converted try. On the cusp of half-time an Exeter scrum on the Redruth 22 was in full retreat but the penalty went to the visitors who gratefully put over the penalty in the last kick of the half.
Half-Time: Redruth 14 - 22 Exeter University

Redruth were to have the better of the next 40 but as ever these days the crowd were kept on the edge of their seats and the game was still in the balance until the Referee blew the final whistle. A clever steal at the ruck with a old-style heel back from Luke Hattam gave the Reds possession on half-way but they were struggling to break down the Exeter defence. A break by home full-back Charlie Levick made good ground into Exeter territory. Now followed a succession of scrum penalties to the Reds, they failed to turn a 5 metre line-out into points but from the resulting 5 metre scrum a score seemed inevitable. Two scrum penalties, making 7 in total led to a yellow card for prop Gulley and from the next scrum the Reds powered over with Sam Stevens getting the final touch, unluckily the conversion from Dart hit the crossbar and stayed out. Yet another scrum penalty allowed the Reds to kick into the visitors 22 and a catch and drive from fully 15 metres powered over for a Matt Pritchard try that went unconverted. Redruth were ahead 24-22 on 60 mins. Yet another scrum penalty got the Reds deep into the students half and when a catch and drive just failed to make the line skipper Ben Fox went over from short range to put the Reds 7 points up on 69 mins. Crucially though the conversion went wide and so only a converted try split the teams. Exeter piled on the pressure throwing numerous phases at the Reds. A scrum in the Reds half looked a certain way to clear the danger but the seemingly subdued Exeter 8 suddenly put the Reds pack into reverse and they won a penalty which was put into the Tribute Lounge corner. Redruth defended superbly though and through a series of penalties were able to move safely to half-way where they put the ball into the sanctuary of touch to seal the Redruth victory.

The Tribute Redruth man-of-the-match chosen by PKF Francis Clarke was prop forward Tommy Phillips.

Next week the Reds make the long trip to Hinckley whilst at home the 2nd team take on Bodmin with a 2.30pm kick-off.

Redruth
Tries: Barnes, Rokodrava, Pritchard, Stevens, Fox.
Conv: Dart (2)

Exeter University
Tries: Young, Kelly, Beckerleg
Conv: Coen (2)
Pen: Coen

Referee: Ben Simpson.
Assistant Referees: Ian Pengelly & Rob Lowe.