Trap door looms large for Chiefs

By JACK TREGONNING

Barnstaple………….. 12

Redruth……………….. 18

Barnstaple’s bid to avoid relegation took a massive blow, defeat to Redruth meaning their fate is now no longer in their own hands.

They trail Bournville by nine, having played a game more – and, in all likelihood, will require bonus-point wins against the league’s two university-based sides and Stourbridge.

And they will be left ruing their inability to find a way past a Redruth side which came into this on the back of five-straight defeats but, vitally, able to maintain cool minds at key times.

Adam Hall squeezed in for the game’s opening try, though Barnstaple were behind for less than five minutes. Ben Hilton was rumbled across the line to level.

In a game of few clear-cut opportunities, Redruth prop Tommy Phillips was driven over just before the break to inch his side back in front. Again, it was short-lived; Sam Roberts showed his quality to race across the line.

But the Cornishmen had a slight edge out wide and some space was fully exploited by winger Owen Wildgoose, whose try would prove to be pivotal.

An arm-wrestle of a final quarter yielded nothing on the scoreboard, with only the purists in attendance enjoying fare largely delivered at close quarters.