ON a fine and sunny afternoon in Penzance, the eagerly awaited first Rugby Tens event at the Mennaye Field proved a successful sporting occasion on Saturday.

For the Cornish Pirates they were playing their opening pre-season rugby against the Cornish All Blacks and Redruth and typically played with five forwards and five backs making up a team the series of shorter ten minutes each-way matches enabled supporters to witness a display of exciting high tempo rugby.

In total six games were played with the pick being the penultimate encounter between the All Blacks and Redruth which the Launceston-based side won 26-24.

Both Pirates teams, dubbed Team Cattle and Team Paver due to the players coaching them for the day, also produced an exciting battle in the last match as they drew 31-31, with Alex O'Meara scoring four tries for the Cattle side.

Alongside the rugby, money was also raised for The Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital and Falmouth's Pants Testicular Cancer Charity with the help of the Cornish Pirates Supporters Club and London Cornish's press officer Ben Gilby, a cancer survivor himself.

On Saturday they welcome Welsh Premiership side Aberavon Wizards to the Mennaye, with kick-off at 5pm.