Twice Redruth were 28 points behind but they showed great resilience to stay in the game and come home with two bonus points to finish the season in 10th place.

The Students who started the day in one of the relegation slots had to bring their A game and hope they bettered the result of Exeter University, alas a bonus point win for Exeter against Taunton condemned Loughborough to relegation. With displays like this it is hard to understand why they have only won 8 games this season, with their player pool they will no doubt be expected to bounce back quickly.
For the Reds captain Ed Pascoe was unable to play due to a concussion but travelled with the team to give his support Richie Kevern and Ben Fox in the dug out while Loughborough held their traditional last home game of the season former players reunion, among many noted players were John Wells (England and Leicester) and Jon Morrison (Bath & England B).

It was hot and sunny at the Elite Sports development centre in Ashby Road as the hosts kicked off in a turbo charged opening quarter.
A charged down clearance kick saw Loughborough spread the ball across the pitch for scrum half Aidan Pugh to cross for a converted try in the second minute. Two minutes later a high grab by Tom Cowan-Dickie saw him punished with a yellow card. In a devastating spell the students took full advantage of the Reds being a man short in the back field to run in three converted tries to lead by 28 points after just 14 minutes.
At this stage Redruth had been unable to impose any of their game but Sam James powered over for a try after 18 minutes converted by Joe Cummins as they started to come to terms with the conditions.
Getting into the game more ten minutes later from a line out close to the line good driving play brought the Reds a try for Cowan-Dickie converted by Cummins (28-14).
As with all close games there were enough sub plots for a short novel and crucial incidents in the 10 minutes leading up to half time probably had a big influence on the final outcome. First an overthrow by the reds at a line out saw Students hooker Matthew Sell gather the ball and run over 50 meters for a converted try. On the stroke of half time Redruth looked set to score from a 5 metre line out but were held up to go in trailing by 21 points.

Sell got a second try two minutes into the second period, a big dummy opening up a gap in the Reds defensive line foe the Hooker to stroll over for a converted try to restore the 28 point difference. A few minutes later following good work close to the line Jake Bond went over for
Cummins to convert to keep the game interesting. Loughborough went away for their 7th try after 52 minutes, to their credit the Reds refused to buckle and started to control territory and dominate the remainder of the game. Hard work close to the line saw Bond awarded tries in the 65th and 72nd minutes both converted by Cummins to silence the home supporters.
A yellow card for a deliberate knock on with four minutes to go left the door open, although no penalty try was awarded, Sam James picked a good line and ran strongly to go over for an unconverted try with two minutes left. Unfortunately Redruth could not get a further score to tie the game up and despite their win the Students found out their efforts were in vain as the final score from Topsham filtered through.

Loughborough Students
Tries: A Pugh, H Fernandez-Ford, B Turpin, M Sell (2), B Webb, L Nancekivell.
Conv: B Webb (6).
Yellow Card: L Nancekivell.

Redruth
Tries: S James (2), T Cowan Dickie, J Bond (3)
Conv: J Cummins (5)
Yellow Carded: T Cowan Dickie

Referee: Nathan Howarth.
Assistant Referees: Joachim Abimelech & Leo Burton