Reaching Round 22 of the Championship, for their final game of the season the Cornish Pirates welcomed Nottingham to the Mennaye Field on Saturday for a fourth versus seventh contest – and what a thriller it proved!

The Pirates, who emerged 24-18 victors when playing the ‘Archers’ away at the beginning of September, were expecting a tough encounter, noting that their opponents staged a remarkable comeback at home to Hartpury the previous weekend, when running in seven unanswered tries to win 54-33.

Changes in the Pirates starting line up from the team that lost 35-15 away to Doncaster Knights saw Will Trewin return at full-back with Bruce Houston, who was playing his 50^th and final appearance for the club, reverting to his more familiar fly-half position. Harry Yates was selected on the wing, Matt Pritchard at hooker, and Fintan Coleman slotted into the backrow in place of the injured Matt Cannon.

On a sunny atmospheric afternoon at the Mennaye Field, for the Cornish Pirates it was Bruce Houston who kicked the game off playing towards Newlyn. All looked positive at the start before in the space of just six minutes the visitors ran in two tries through their wing pairing of Harry Graham and skipper David Williams. It was as if they were just carrying on in the same mode as they had against Hartpury last time out, and for the present it numbed and partly silenced the home crowd.

An early morning spattering of rain had failed to dampen the dust, and thankfully it wasn’t long before the Pirates reduced the deficit after hooker Pritchard stretched to score a try at the Newlyn gate corner, which was well converted by Houston.

All but from the restart, however, the ‘Archers’ were up to their antics once again, with full-back Ryan Olowofela, who formed part of a potent back three, firstly showing a clean pair of heels as he glided to score at the Penzance posts, before then setting up a second try of the match for Williams. Just 23 minutes had passed and a four try bonus point for the visitors was in the bag.

It had thus far been a strange first half hour, including being one unusually bereft of scrums, whilst fortunately for the Pirates it was Nottingham’s fly-half Tom Threlfall who had been luckless with each conversion attempt.

The Pirates would score next through centre Chester Ribbons, with Houston again adding the extras, but it was the visitors who had the last say in the half. Olowofela had been a thorn in the Pirates side throughout, and it was an attack he set up which led to his team’s next try scored by striding lock Jay Ecclesfield. To their joy, Threlfall this time added the extra two points for halftime to arrive with the score reading 14-27.

Clearly, when play resumed, for the Pirates it was essential that they got off to a good start, no doubt having taken advice from their coaches during the interval. The script, though, did not at first go to plan, as after always threatening Nottingham scrum half Will Yarnell linked with his winger Graham, it was number 8 James Cherry’s converted try which further extended the Archers’ lead.

Now was surely the time that the Pirates just had to respond and, hopefully, take a level of control, before the chance of winning faded in the sunshine and dust. Thankfully, they did, when from close range replacement Milo Hallam, in only his second Championship appearance for the Pirates, showed immense determination and raw power to score a converted try at the Penzance posts.

A ray of hope had suddenly appeared for the home outfit, and after Matt McNab, who was one of several players making a final appearance in a Pirates’ shirt, rose high to win the ball, it was his fellow winger and man of the match Harry Yates who would score the team’s bonus point providing fourth try. It felt as if everyone about the ground had stood to cheers Yates on, and that ray of hope was suddenly shining brighter.

The Pirates were now ‘right up for it’, and it showed when, on the hour mark, they took the lead for the first time in the match. Replacement hooker Harry Hocking scored the initial important try, but with a successful conversion then needed to nudge the team ahead. Houston had been faultless all afternoon, and with there complete silence after he lined up the ball, the cheers indicated his effort was successful well before the assistant referees raised their flags.

With the scoreboard now reading 35-34, and with a quarter of the game still to go, the outcome of this one was too close to call. The tension was also inevitably still tense, and especially so when penalty kick opportunities were taken by the Archers which, if successful, could have provided a different outcome. Sadly, for them, they missed, leaving the Pirates and their supporters in understandably joyful mode at the end of their league campaign.

Finishing the season in a very satisfactory fourth place, is of considerable credit to the coaches and the players. Sincere thanks and best wishes have been expressed to all squad members, whether staying or leaving, and with the prospect for an exciting 2025/26 ahead, the summer will surely fly by!

Speaking at the end of Saturday’s contest, honest as ever Cornish Pirates’ joint head coach Gavin Cattle said:

“To be honest, looking back on the game we perhaps didn’t deserve that victory, and the rugby gods were on our side a bit as they certainly left a lot of kicking points out there. But having said, if you look at the first half, and then the second half, it was like night and day, as in the second forty we had more energy about us.

“We were a bit too pretty in the first half by playing a bit of structured stuff rather than going back to the fundamentals by winning collisions and the one-on-ones, and that was the message at halftime.

“To be fair to Nottingham, they had played some good rugby and had a dangerous back three, but with a slight breeze behind us after the break we got back into the match and, much improved, eventually took the lead.”

Cornish Pirates:   15 Will Trewin 14 Harry Yates 13 Chester Ribbons 12 Joe Elderkin (Robin Wedlake, 47) 11 Matt McNab 10 Bruce Houston 9 Dan Hiscocks; 1 Billy Young (17 Jenson Boughton, 68) 2 Matt Pritchard (16 Harry Hocking, 45) 3 Tyler Gendall (18 Darragh McSweeney, 55) 4 Charlie Rice 5 Josh King 6 Fintan Coleman (19 Milo Hallam, 45) 7 Jack Forsythe (20 Tomiwa Agbongbon, 37) 8 Alex Everett (captain).

Replacements (not used):   21 Will Rigelsford 22 Iwan Jenkins.

Nottingham:   15 Ryan Olowofela 14 David Williams (captain) 13 Jack Stapley 12 Javiah Pohe 11 Harry Graham 10 Tom Threlfall 9 Will Yarnell; 1 Kai Owen 2 Harry Clayton 3 Dan Richardson 4 Jay Ecclesfield 5 Sebastian Ferreira 6 Sam Green 7 Jacob Wright 8 James Cherry.

Replacements:  16 Antonio Harris 17 Aniseko Sio 54 18 Ale Loman 19 Archie van der Flier 20 Michael Green 21 Jack Dickinson 22 Jai Johal 23 Sam Mercer.

Scorers: 

Cornish Pirates – tries: 2 Matt Pritchard (12) 13 Chester Ribbons (25) 19 Milo Hallam (50) 14 Harry Yates (52) 16 Harry Hocking (59); cons: 10 Bruce Houston (12, 25, 50, 52, 59).

Nottingham – tries: 11 Harry Graham (03) 13 David Williams (06, 23) 15 Ryan Olowofela (14) 10 Tom Threlfall (29) 45 James Cherry; cons: 10 James Threlfall (29, 45).

Referee:   Matt Sharpe

Assistants:   Jamie Parr & Kevin Williams

Attendance:   1867

‘Tribute’ Man of the Match:      Harry Yates

‘Thatchers’ Try of the Match:   Harry Yates