PENZANCE and Newlyn head coach Murray Westren hailed his forwards as they continued their winning start to the season by edging past promoted Nailsea and Backwell on Saturday at the Mennaye Field.

The Cornishmen went into the clash top of the Regional Two South West table with lock Nick Nowell starting on his 100th appearance for the club.

Following on from the Cornish Pirates win versus Chinnor, there was a good crowd still present, happily basking in the autumn sunshine, but it was the visitors who opened the scoring on the 15-mminute mark. Scrum-half Kieran Tasker nipped in for a try at the clubhouse corner and full-back Alex Jones was successful with his conversion attempt.

The Pirates’ first points of the afternoon materialised thanks to a successful and ultimately important penalty kick slotted by fly-half Rhys Brownfield. Then, after half an hour, they took the lead following a strong drive to the line which ended with hooker Wes Eddy being identified as the scorer of a well-converted try at the old Western National corner.

In general play, the visitors were living up to pre-match expectation, and it was a well-executed chip and chase by full-back Jones that saw him score and convert his own try at the Penzance posts. It also gave his side a 14-10 half-time lead.

Into the second half, it was a try from Pirates’ replacement lock Ben Martin which restored the lead for the home team, before entering the last quarter a converted try scored by centre Callum Walsh extended the gap.

Play was gripping, but with man-of-the-match John Stevens carrying strongly and making big tackles, against a side that demanded respect the Pirates held out to the end despite a late converted try for the visitors that left the scoreboard reading 22-21.

Speaking after the game, Westren said: “This was another very good contest, in which we defended for long periods and did our job well.

“Once again, we scored a couple of important maul tries and the forwards are really stepping up for us at the minute with the backs lacking a bit of cohesion.

”Newcomers to the league Nailsea impressed, as they had plenty about them, and after back-to-back home games we now have to go away to Okehampton on Saturday and show the same consistent level of performance against a really good and established side.”

PENZANCE AND NEWLYN: Dan-Rhys Evans; Calum Gardner, Callum Walsh, Sam Carroll, Harvey Stone; Rhys Brownfield, Sam Carter; Kye Beasley, Wes Eddy, James Lambourn; Eli Williams, Nick Nowell; Stan Somers (capt), Tom Hutton, John Stevens. Replacements: Joe Best, Connor Bick, Ben Martin.

Tries: Eddy, Martin, Walsh; Convs: Brownfield (2); Pens: Brownfield.

Pirates’ man-of-the-match: John Stevens