Building up a 33-12 halftime lead, which included four tries scored by wing Matt McNab, despite a strong comeback from Chinnor, and not scoring in the second half, the Cornish Pirates held out for a bonus point victory.

Making a first time visit Kingsey Road, Thame, Oxfordshire, for what was a 10^th versus 5^th clash in Round 16 of the Championship, this was a fixture that always had the ingredients to produce a closely fought affair, and so it proved.

‘The Villagers’, to give Chinnor their nickname, had drawn 17-all away to Hartpury the previous week, so the Pirates were under no illusion that nothing less than a tough contest lay in wait. Indeed, when the two teams met for the first time at senior level back at the Mennaye Field in November, the Pirates only emerged narrow 15-13 winners from what was then another hard-fought encounter.

Changes in starting personnel for the Cornish Pirates from the one that ran out at home against Cambridge last time out, saw Arthur Relton named at full-back in place of the injured Will Trewin, and Fintan Coleman selected at open-side wing forward. His inclusion saw skipper Alex Everett move to number 8, with Tomi Agbongbon dropping to the bench.

After fly-half Bruce Houston kicked the game off in pleasantly sunny conditions, the Pirates opened the scoring in the fifth minute. From clean line-out possession, it was scrum-half Dan Hiscocks who dummied to good effect and burst to the line. Houston then added the conversion to make it a tidy start for the Cornish side.

There was though a quick response from the home team, when their hooker, Alun Walker, a former Ealing ‘Trailfinder’, not for the first time scored against the Pirates. Fly-half Connor Slevin’s conversion attempt, however, went wide.

Then in window of just seven minutes, the Pirates proceeded to earn a four try bonus point in the match thanks to a stunning hat-trick from wing Matt McNab. A deft kick by Hiscocks led to McNab instinctively following up to score his first converted try, and from the restart space was created for him to notch up another. Then, a further display of his predatory skills ended him with him running and planting the ball down one handed for an unconverted score.

Although Chinnor perhaps felt somewhat overwhelmed at this stage of the game, approaching the half hour mark they registered their second try of the match when their Kiwi full-back Nick Smith saw a gap in midfield. It was one which he took immediate advantage of, with the score converted by Slevin who has played for Harlequins.

The Pirates were penalised several times in the period to halftime, but when skipper Everett hacked the ball up field it was the fleet of foot McNab who once again made it to the line – his 14^th in all games this season as the club’s present top try-scorer. Houston was back on target with his boot to give the Cornish Pirates a satisfying 33-12 halftime lead.

On the resumption of play experienced scrum-half Luke Carter strived to direct matters for ‘The Villagers’. Flanker Harry Dugmore and wing Kieran Goss were former Pirates in their line-up, and it was Pirates’ centre Charlie McCaig who would thankfully chase down soon Goss when he threatened.

The Cornish team was being put under a lot of pressure as the half developed, and it was Carter’s replacement, Callum Pascoe, who on the hour broke clear to score a try to which Slevin again added the extras.

It looked at one stage as if McNab would register his fifth try of the match, but it wasn’t to be as Chinnor then admirably secured their four-try bonus point with an unconverted effort scored by replacement Cam Rafferty.

For the final minutes it was all a case of being somewhat ‘Tense at Thame’, with various permutations in prospect. As it worked out it was Rafferty who scored again at the very end, to also earn Chinnor a losing bonus point, with Slevin’s third conversion duly bringing the game to a close.

Commenting at the end of the match, Cornish Pirates’ joint head coach Gavin Cattle said:

“It was a good league win for us – pleasingly our first on the road since victory at Ampthill at the end of December.

“There were signs of clinical play in the first half, when I thought we were exceptional and scored some well executed tries. As for the second forty it was a case of credit to Chinnor.

“I felt our physicality was there, but discipline seemed to be an issue which allowed them to put us under pressure. It is an aspect we’ll aim to navigate this week and then look forward to improvements versus Caldy next Saturday.”

Chinnor:   15 Nick Smith 14 Grant Hughes 13 Thomas Watson 12 Morgan Passman (22 James Bourton, 47) 11 Kieran Goss 10 Connor Slevin 9 Luke Carter (21 Callum Pascoe, 57); 1 Keston Lines (17 Tumy Onasanya, 52) 2 Alun Walker (16 Chris Moore, 55) 3 Rob Hardwick 4 William Ryan (captain; 20 Cameron Rafferty, 60) 5 George Shaw 6 Harry Dugmore 7 Max Clementson (23 George Stokes, 49) 8 Scott Hall.

Replacements (not used):   18 Cameron Doak 19 Alfie North.

Cornish Pirates:   15 Arthur Relton 14 Robin Wedlake 13 Charlie McCaig (23 Harry Yates, 57) 12 Chester Ribbons `11 Matt McNab 10 Bruce Houston (22 Iwan Jenkins, 67) 9 Dan Hiscocks (21 Will Becconsall, 60); 1 Billy Young (18 Ben Woodmansey, 80) 2 Harry Hocking (16 Dylan Irvine, 79) 3 Jay Tyack (17 James French, 52) 4 Charlie Rice (19 Alfie Bell, 62) 5 Josh King 6 Matt Cannon 7 Fintan Coleman (20 Tomi Agbongbon, 24) 8 Alex Everett (captain).

Scorers:

Chinnor – tries: 2 Alun Walker (08) 15 Nick Smith (29) 21 Callum Pascoe (60) 20 Cam Rafferty (71, 80); cons: 10 Connor Slevin (29, 60, 80).

Cornish Pirates – tries:  9 Dan Hiscocks (05) 11 Matt McNab (16, 17, 23, 39);               cons: 10 Bruce Houston (05, 16, 18, 40).

Referee:   Craig Maxwell-Keys

Assistants:   Jonathan Cook & Jack Sutton

Attendance:   1594