After their impressive start at home in the inaugural XGirl Cup stage, Penryn U15 girls continued their fine form in the competition to keep the pressure on at the top of the table.
First up were a Bude side making their debut in the 5- or 7-a-side competition, who went on be the only team to put four tries past Penryn or Launceston. Despite their impressive firepower though, the Borough girls scored seven tries themselves to end up 49-24 victors.
Next were the formidable Launceston side out to avenge their defeat in the opening stage. In what was the tightest game across any of the age groups on the day, Penryn were just pipped 17-10. The girls picked up the losing bonus point, and were the only side to stop Launceston from scoring four tries as they went on to secure bonus point wins in all three other games and top the table.
A determined and tenacious Liskeard and Perranporth side were then beaten 63-14 before the Penryn girls faced their good friends and habitual teammates St Austell and Penzance. This time it was Penryn's turn to avenge their own last-gasp loss to the Angels last time around, winning comfortably 49-21 after a nasty clash of heads between the oppositions' two county players ended their participation prematurely.
The fine efforts of Ozzy, Poppy, Charlotte, Millie, Gracie, Maeya and Lilly see Penryn sitting in second place in the table less than a point behind Launceston and a fair way clear of the rest at the halfway mark of the group stage, with better seedings for the final knockout stage at stake.
Elsewhere the U13s had a rollercoaster of a day, suffering a 0-50 mauling by an impressive Penzance team before rallying to pip Bude 49-42. Their final game against St Austell nearly saw a second match finished early through a 50-point margin with Penryn still scoreless at half time, but the girls rallied magnificently to win the second half and hang in until the final whistle 19-63. Fantastic resilience shown all around!
Meanwhile the U18 girls XGirl Cup format got... well... sidetracked, resulting in a single pitch-up-and-play-style game between the assembled girls. Penryn joined forces with their Belerion comrades from Newquay and Penzance plus some always-welcome additional firepower from Bude, and together racked up a 66-29 win against the combined Launceston-Liskeard-St Austell girls.
With the result still counted towards the table nonetheless, Penryn U18s now lie in second place behind Penzance & Bude. Well done girls!
Massive thanks to Liskeard RFC for hosting, and to all the referees and volunteers for making it all happen.
