Westholme, Alexandra Road,

Penzance, Cornwall, TR18 4LY

Tel: 01736 331961 Email: [email protected]

Cornish Pirates 31

Nottingham Rugby 34

8 October, 2017

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League / Cup

Greene King IPA Championship Rd 6

Stadium

Mennaye Field, Penzance

Attendance

1309

Home

Cornish Pirates 31

Away

Nottingham Rugby 34

Woll's Match Report

Never a dull moment at the Cornish Pirates. More entertainment than the locals can shake a stick at – even if ambition for greater things seems to be stifled by performance. If not from elsewhere.

Greater things though, seem a little way off at the moment for the Cornish side. Ergo, some irritating habits that keep rearing up – habits that have contributed in no small manner, to the Pirates stuttering start to their campaign.

That said – their 5th loss in six, bizarrely saw them leapfrog Jersey up to the dizzy heights of 9th in the league. Something that was decidedly the last thought on people’s minds, with only five minutes remaining and Nottingham striving to add further misery to their hosts. But we will examine such a resounding finish shortly.

In the meantime – hopes for some kind of break from recent woes were immediately blown out of the water – as skipper for the day, Toby May, instinctively stuck out a hand at the wrong moment. Nottingham’s wingman, Scanlon duly punished this indiscretion twice, courtesy of some deft footwork from Eden and then Veenendaal respectively. Ideal start – not.

Back to their full compliment, the Pirates finally had some ability to respond – this time with Koster’s nifty dab behind the Greens…Blues advancing defence. Moyle touched down whilst May (L) continued with his impeccable tee kicking of late, that has seen him move up to 3rd in the leading scorers table – overall league-wise.

Resistance continued, but it did look fragile at times. Either way, May & Millett traded penalties and the home ship seemed a little steadier. Until that was Koster saw yellow somewhat harshly, after a clash of heads with Scanlon. Back to square one for the Pirates, who instantly fell behind further, as Williams sprinted over in the Clubhouse Corner.

The second period wasn’t to get any better, despite Koster’s return and a 2nd dot down for Moyle with half an hour remaining. A score that saw the winger become the Championship’s joint leading try scorer so far this season.

Veenendaal slight of foot allowed the scrum half to dart under the Newlyn End posts. And then Williams claimed his second minutes later, after cleanly collecting Hakalo’s cross field kick with aplomb.

Pirates anguish however seemed complete. From the stands – Cornish chins in-characteristically seemed to be planted on chests. The visitors would surely grab a sixth score to twist the knife in deeper…..

Actually no. A grandstand finish somehow ignited from the embers and produced two tries in those final five minutes to grab two more bonus points – the highest accumulation in both the Championship & Premiership so far. Not that that will be much consolation in some respects.

Nonetheless seeing Day burst through after some good work from Channon up to Nottingham’s 10m line lifted the mood. Then Koster promptly followed that up with what must be a candidate for the try of the season, to finally give something to smile and cheer about.

Quite – Two weeks of cup action hopefully, will allow the Pirates some time to regroup for the next block of league games. Rather like it did two seasons ago as they prepared to meet London Welsh a few days after going bottom of the pile.

Match Officials

Referee:

Michael Hudson

AR1:

Paul Burton

AR2:

Nick Marshall

The Line Ups

Cornish Pirates Starting 15

15

Toby May

14

Alex O'Meara

( 20

Nicolas De Battista)

49

13

Dan Koster

12

Pete Laverick

11

Kyle Moyle

( 21

Will Cargill)

61

10

Laurence May

9

Alex Day

1

Marlen Walker

( 19

Billy Keast)

45

2

Tom Cowan-Dickie

( 16

Tom Channon)

57

3

Jack Andrew

( 17

Christian Judge)

50

4

Toby Freeman

5

Josh Caulfield

6

Rupert Cooper

7

Matt Bolwell

8

Tom Lawday

Substitutes

16

Tom Channon

17

Christian Judge

18

James Fish

19

Billy Keast

20

Nico De Battista

21

Will Cargill

22

Angus Taylor

Tries

Kyle Moyle

15

Kyle Moyle

51

Alex Day

77

Dan Koster

80

Conversions

Laurence May

16

Laurence May

52

Laurence May

78

Laurence May

80

Penalties

Laurence May

33

Yellow Cards

Toby May

3

Dan Koster

39

Nottingham Rugby Starting 15

15

Will Millet

14

Billy Robinson

13

Joe Cobden

12

Vili Hakalo

11

Sean Scanlon

10

Tiff Eden

( 22

David Williams)

24

9

Darryl Veenendaal

( 21

Murray McConnell)

66

1

Tom West

( 18

Aniseko Sio)

70

2

Jimmy Stevens

( 16

Ben Brownlie)

68

3

Rory Burke

( 17

David Langley)

12

4

Tim Cardall

5

Danny Qualter

6

Ben Morris

( 19

Josh Poullet)

61

7

Jordan Coghlan

( 20

Matt Everard)

68

8

Shane Buckley

Substitutes

16

Ben Brownlie

17

David Langley

18

Aniseko Sio

19

Josh Poullet

20

Matt Everard

21

Murray McConnell

22

David Williams

Tries

Sean Scanlon

4

Sean Scanlon

11

David Williams

40

Darryl Veenendaal

56

David Williams

60

Conversions

Tiff Eden

5

Tiff Eden

12

Will Millet

57

Penalties

Will Millet

38