Hornets Under-17s defeated Redruth in the final of the South West divisional cup.

Hornets 58 pts

Redruth 7 pts

HORNETS Under-17s travelled to Cleve in Bristol to face Cornish outfit Redruth in the South West of England divisional cup final.

Despite the Plate and Bowl finals taking place before the main event, the Cleve pitch remained in immaculate condition and Hornets gave their large supporting crowd a performance to remember.

The superb display saw Hornets run in 10 tries and play some of the best rugby this team has ever produced.

After some sustained pressure on the Redruth line, outstanding fly-half Craig Nicholls shot through a gap to open Hornets’ account with a try converted by Alex Colborne. Sam Balkham was then on the end of a dazzling try by Hornets that saw the ball moved superbly by backs and forwards alike.

Colborne then converted his own try after he had worked hard to support Conor Littlewood’s long break. Andrew Wheller’s pace took him clear down the left flank and the full-back gifted Kieran Ward an easy run in.

Redruth proved they were not going to lie down by hitting back with a converted try of their own just before the break to make it 24-7 at the break.

In the second half, Hornets cut loose running in another six tries. Wheller’s pace was again too much for the Redruth defence. Balkham scored a fantastic solo effort that began in his own half on his way to the posts handing Colborne an easy conversion.

Colborne scored his second of the afternoon after again supporting a Littlewood break. Young Jacob Swain then showed blistering pace to score a memorable try.

Lewis Brake benefitted from Kieran Ward’s offload near the line to score Hornets’ ninth try, while Connor Davidson finished off proceedings by converting his own try after great work from Danny Bailey.

Every Hornet player was on top form in this game, but it was Craig Nicholls who just pipped the fantastic second row pairing of George Greatbanks and Dan Ogden to the Skylight Properties man of the match award.