GLORIOUS autumn sunshine greeted Kingsbridge RFC for their league encounter with a resurgent St Ives side, writes Jonathan Robinson.

Kings, still without the injured Toby Baldry, showed a few changes from last week and maybe this is why they are not playing as well as they should be.

Playing down towards the clubhouse, Kingsbridge had the better of the early exchanges. Spinning the ball wide was causing the home defence problems and a score from the backs looked likely.

As it turned out, a Kingsbridge score did come but it was from the evergreen Stu Winzer cantering in to score out wide. Ben Newman kicked the extras for a 0-7 lead.

St Ives responded with a try of their own, although it was unconverted, as was the next Kingsbridge scoring with Jack Winzer crossing the white line this time.

The home side hit back once again, a well-taken penalty cutting the deficit down to just two points.

With half-time approaching a score for either side would give them a psychological advantage and unfortunately for Kings, it went to St Ives, who notched an unconverted try to take a 15-12 lead.

In the second half, St Ives had the slight slope in their favour this time and it showed as they took control.

Their pressure paid off as the home winger scored for 20-12 and this very quickly became 27-12.

With the game slipping away from them, Kingsbridge kept battling away and from a penalty kick to the corner, Oli Simons forced his way over to cut the deficit to 10 points.

However, the hosts managed to score a further try from an attempted Kingsbridge clearance to make the final score 34-17.

Next up for the Kings is a home match with Newton Abbot RFC visiting High House on Saturday, October 18.