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Late Disappointment Again For The Pirates
By Phil Westren
Cambridge 29 Cornish Pirates 22
Playing Cambridge away in Round 5 of the Championship, the Cornish Pirates once again, for the third time this season, suffered a disappointing late defeat.
Ahead of this 11th versus 10th in the league clash, both sides had lost three and won one, so there was clearly much for each to play for.
The Pirates had visited Cambridge’s Ellgia Fields twice in the past, winning 64-7 in the Premiership Cup early last season and sneaking a narrow 40-33 victory there in January.
For this week the Pirates welcomed back several players who have been injured of recent. A fully fit Tom Georgiou partnered Joe Elderkin in the centre, and in the pack flanker Alex Everett and lock Eoin O’Connor were ready again for action. Other changes from the team that started against Bedford Blues saw scrum half Dan Hiscocks and prop James French named, along with full-back Iwan Price-Thomas, whose two previous league appearances have been off the bench.
In front of a big crowd, and in sunshine which followed earlier rain, it was Cambridge’s co-captain Lewis Grimoldby who kicked the game off. Their side also included former ‘Pirate’ Ruaridh Dawson, a scrum half who was clearly up to test the visitors’ defence.
The Pirates were under pressure in the first period, and after Grimoldby kicked to the corner it shortly after looked as if wing Matt Hema had scored at the corner, only to be denied from who appeared to be Pirates’ winger Arthur Relton.
Despite line-out time being unusually less than fluent for the Pirates, scrum half Dan Hiscocks tidied and defended well, and good play from skipper Hugh Bokenham and flanker Everett sparked hope of creating a score, before Cambridge flanker Kayde Sylvester threatened. Pleasingly, however, Bokenham ultimately powered over for a try at the posts which was converted by fly-half Bruce Houston, and against the run of play the Pirates led 7-0.
Sadly, it was a lead that did not last long, as Cambridge levelled matters thanks to a try scored by centre Sam Hanks and a conversion kicked by Grimoldby. Also, to add to Pirates woes, Everett departed the field injured to be replaced by Tomi Agbongbon.
Nicknamed the ‘Blood & Sand’, Cambridge applied sound pressure at scrum time, and with Ruaridh Dawson directing matters they looked to threaten once more. Hema had been denied a score early on, but making a 151st appearance for his club he now made it to the line for an unconverted try.
Thankfully, the Pirates managed to level the scores at 12-all before the break, thanks to an unconverted try scored by flanker Will Gibson.
So, it was a case of all to play for in the second forty, with the Pirates perhaps thinking they were fortunate to have arrived at the break with points even.
Into the second period, an early defensive error by the Pirates gifted the hosts a kickable penalty opportunity, to which Grimoldby gleefully stepped forward to successfully kick and give his team an early second half lead.
The Pirates responded well, as after play was taken inside Cambridge’s ‘22’, it was a another converted try of the match for Bokenham that put his team back in front.
Could the Pirates now go on and firstly secure a bonus point providing fourth try, and hopefully proceed to record a morale-boosting victory? We would see.
As was stated pre-match, despite the Pirates success against Cambridge in encounters last season, there was absolutely no time for complacency, and especially when it looked as if Cambridge’s dangerman fullback Joe Tarrant looked odds on to score, only to be denied by a fully committed duo in Bokenham and Houston.
Play was evenly contested for a spell, but into the last quarter and after surviving a period of Cambridge pressure, good play from replacement scrum half Cam Jones and centre Joe Elderkin led to the Pirates opening up a seven-point lead thanks to a penalty now kicked by replacement fly-half Iwan Jenkins.
Hopes were very much high to hold out for victory but, after Agbongbon was shown a yellow card, it wasn’t to be. Firstly, a converted try for replacement prop Seb Brownhill drew the scores level, and then, in the 80th minute, replacement hooker Archie Vanes’ converted try delivered a buoyant Cambridge side their bonus point win. For the deflated Pirates, they had to settle for a losing bonus point.
Speaking at the end of the match, Cornish Pirates’ joint head coach Gavin Cattle said:
“We unfortunately pressed the self-destruct button near the end and it’s all about fine margins, though I felt Cambridge deserved their win regardless.
“It’s now a case of taking stock of our game in the coming short break. We know we’ve got a set piece work on that isn’t going to be fixed in a week, and we just couldn’t get enough ball in the first half to launch meaningful attacks, though when we did, we scored.
“So, we are creating, and we have that ability across the park, it’s just certain areas such as the line-out at the minute that aren’t functioning smoothly, not helped of course by injuries and changes in personnel. However, we will hopefully turn the corner at some stage because it is costing us.”
Gavin added:
“It is work in progress and I’m not going to shy away from that, and although we can see a lot of potential development growth in players, they have got to show that.
“We need to create the right environment, and get better as a collective, rather than rely on certain players, and that takes time. Having said that we stayed in the fight and there were some positive sets defensively, especially in the first half, though the need, of course, is for us to also apply our game on the opposition.”
Cambridge: 15 Joe Tarrant (22 Ewan Baker, 77) 23 14 Matt Hema 13 Sam Hanks 12 Ollie Betteridge 11 Joe Green 10 Louis Grimoldby (co-captain) 9 Ruaridh Dawson (21 Pete White, 53); 1 Jake Ellwood (17 Seb Brownhill, 70) 2 Morgan Veness (16 Archie Vanes, 47) 3 Billy Walker (18 Jake Bridges, 69) 4 George Bretag Norris (co-captain; 28 Jack Bartlett, 47) 5 Gareth Baxter (19 Matt Dawson, 69) 6 Kayde Sylvester 7 Iestyn Rees (20 Ben Adams, 52) 8 Jared Cardew.
Yellow card: 18 Jake Bridges (73)
Cornish Pirates: 15 Iwan Price-Thomas 14 Matt McNab 13 Tom Georgiou 12 Joe Elderkin 11 Arthur Relton 10 Bruce Houston (22 Iwan Jenkins, 69) 9 Dan Hiscocks (21 Cam Jones, 69); 1 Billy Keast (17 Billy Young, 48) 2 Morgan Nelson (16 Harry Hocking, 48) 3 James French (18 Jay Tyack, 48) 4 Charlie Rice 5 Eoin O’Connor (19 Josh King, 48) 6 Alex Everett (20 Tomi Agbongbon, 26) 7 Will Gibson 8 Hugh Bokenham (captain).
Replacement (not used): 23 Will Trewin
Yellow card: 20 Tomiwa Agbongbon (75)
Scorers:
Cambridge – tries: 13 Sam Hanks (26) 14 Matt Hema (33) 17 Seb Brownhill (76) 16 Archie Vanes (80); cons: 10 Lewis Grimoldby (27, 77, 80); pen: 10 Lewis Grimoldby (43).
Cornish Pirates – tries: 8 Hugh Bokenham (23, 47) 7 Will Gibson (37); cons: 10 Bruce Houston (24, 48); pen: 22 Iwan Jenkins (74).
Referee: Charlie Gayther
Assistants: James Clarke & James Pidding
Attendance: 1794