Despite the margin of victory for the Pirates, this was a well contested pre-season friendly affair at the Mennaye Field on Saturday, which was much enjoyed by the good-sized crowd present.

Prior to kick-off there was an impeccably observed minute’s silence in respect of former Pirates player Roger Dugdale who had sadly passed away overnight. Then, at the sound of referee Tom Foley’s whistle, Redruth’s fly-half Dean Wills kicked the game off.

The Pirates showed expected superiority in the first quarter of the match, quickly building up a 21-0 lead. A first try was scored at the old Western National corner by centre Tom Georgiou, and soon following gradual pressure applied inside the Redruth ’22’ two tries were scored to the right of the posts by wings Arthur Relton and Will Trewin.  Fly-half Bruce Houston kicked splendidly to add the three conversions on offer.

A fourth unconverted try was scored by home team flanker Alex Everett, before at the end of rare incursion deep inside the Pirates half it was lock Jamie Prisk who applied the necessary pressure for what would prove a sole Redruth try scored at the clubhouse corner. The conversion attempt from Wills narrowly missed and halftime arrived with the scoreline reading 26-5.

Yes, the Pirates had been dominant overall, but there were some gutsy performances from visiting players such as number 8 Shaun Buzza, flanker Connor Triggs, and the centre pairing of Sam James and Jack Simmons. Up front, as is not unusual, the Reds were also doughty opponents.

As for the second period, when there was no lack of player changes made, it was Pirates’ replacement centre Harry Yates who scored on debut, with Houston slotting the conversion.

Two further tries were scored by the home side in the second forty, the first at the Penzance posts by flanker Will Gibson, and the final effort by replacement Hugh Bokenham. Both conversion attempts were successful thanks to the boots of Will Trewin and replacement centre Charlie McCaig.

After the hard graft weeks of pre-season training this match had indeed proved useful and worthy for the Pirates players and coaches, plus it gave an opportunity for supporters to cast an eye over the squad, including the new signings. It’s early days but,on this showing, it looked encouraging.  

Commenting after the game, Cornish Pirates’ joint head coach Gavin Cattle said:

“A game played in the right spirit, albeit with a little rustiness, it made a good starting point. We were also able to reflect where we are at in pre-season, with things we know we need to work on, such as the set piece for example. We have only had a couple of weeks to pay attention in that area but, overall, it was generally as expected as we now build to play Exeter Chiefs away in a couple of weeks.

“Backline-wise we were in pretty good nick, and I thought some of the boys we have brought in showed up well, including the likes of full-back Iwan Price-Thomas and centre Charlie McCaig.”

Gavin also said:

“There was much credit to Redruth who are strong up front and, as we know, when coming up against the likes Craig Williams there are some valuable lessons to learn. Former ‘Pirate’ Tom Cowan-Dickie is also one of the most destructive scrummagers we have had at the Pirates in the past, so all in all it was a good exercise.”

Cornish Pirates:   15 Iwan Price-Thomas 14 Will Trewin 13 Tom Georgiou 12 Joe Elderkin 11 Arthur Relton 10 Bruce Houston 9 Cam Jones; 1 Billy Young 2 Morgan Nelson 3 Jay Tyack (Guest player) 4 Charles ‘Buster’ Rice 5 Matt Cannon 6 Alex Everett 7 Will Gibson 8 John Stevens (captain).

Replacements:   Sol Moody, James French, Oisin Michel, Milo Hallam (Guest player), Josh King, Hugh Bokenham, Barnaby Elderkin (Guest player), Dan Hiscocks, Will Rigelsford (Guest player), Robin Wedlake, Harry Yates, Charles McCaig.

Redruth:   15 Matt Bonds 14 Lewis Thomas 13 Jack Simmons 12 Sam James 11 Harry Andrewartha 10 Dean Wills 9 Jacob Chapple; 1 Luke Barnes 2 Tom Cowan-Dickie 3 Tyler Gendall (captain) 4 Jamie Prisk 5 Luke Hattam 6 Connor Triggs 7 Jack King 8 Shaun Buzza.

Replacements:   Jess Tompsett, Craig Williams, Cam Leigh, Jarrod Hambly, Matt Pritchard, Louie Fowler Beaton, Chris Rovery, Freddie Trewin, Finley Wolstencroft, Connor Swann, James Murray, Rhys Richards, Matt Blewett, Lewis Wills, Adam Hall.

Scorers:

Cornish Pirates – tries: Georgiou, Relton, Trewin, Everett, Yates, Gibson, Bokenham; cons: Houston (4), Trewin, McCaig.

Redruth – try: Prisk.

Referee:   Tom Foley

Assistants:   Neil Chivers & Kevin Williams

‘Tribute’ Man of the Match:   Billy Young

Attendance:   954