West Briton (Truro and Mid Cornwall)
Pirates recover from going behind to grab a win away at Cambridge
THIRD-PLACED Cornish Pirates recovered from being 18-14 down at half time to win 45-18 against visitors Cambridge in round 19 of the Championship season.
This was a third meeting between the two sides this season. Pirates won 64-17 away to Cambridge in the Premiership Cup in September, but it was 40-33 in the league at the Ellgia Fields ground in January.
Opening the scoring was Cambridge wing Eli Caven. Fly-half Steff James was luckless adding the extras, however he made no mistake with a successful penalty strike from in front of the posts soon after.
From the restart scrum-half Ruaridh Dawson dotted the ball down for Pirates and Tom Pittman converted the try.
Pirates pressed for a second score, and went close on several occasions, only to be thwarted through a combination of self-made mistakes, penalties, and some decent play on behalf of the opposition. Then, to add to Pirates’ increasing levels of frustration, Caven secured possession and weaved his way to the line for a second try.
Just past the half hour mark, a second try for Pirates lifted home morale for a spell, with centre Ioan Evans the scorer and Pittman adding the extras. But, after that, Pirates lost skipper John Stevens to the sin bin and Cambridge wing Kwaku Asiedu ran 35 metres with power and pace to score an unconverted try for 18-14 at the break.
Cambridge lost centre Sam Hanks to the sin bin after he made a deliberate knock-on, and with penalties now coming the Pirates way, when three kickable opportunities were up for grabs it was Pittman who stepped forward on each occasion to by the hour mark give his team a 28-18 lead.
Pirates were now in the ascendancy, and with fullback Kyle Moyle running from deep, and with man of the match Alex Everett displaying accustomed determination, it was not long before the former scored a well-worked try at the scoreboard corner.
Cambridge flanker Ben Adams was shown a yellow card, and replacement wing Robin Wedlake also soon scored the Pirates bonus point proving fourth, and converted, try.
In time remaining the Pirates extended their lead thanks to a fine chip and chase score from wing Matt McNab, and then yet another by Wedlake.
Pirates’ joint head coach Gavin Cattle said: Our performance in the first half was naturally disappointing, because if players drop off individually then the collective effort also drops and that is what it looked like.
“I thought that John Stevens was unlucky to be yellow carded, as in his efforts he was trying to spark up the team, which was just what we needed, and you could just tell by the body language that for whatever reasons hadn’t got the energy levels right.
“Thankfully, in the second half, we found our way to put certain things together that made us look something like a Pirates team, with Alex Everett to the fore and Kyle Moyle also helping to ignite our play as he is finding his form again.”
With three games left, next for Pirates is a trip to Nottingham on Friday, May 3. They are 11 points behind leaders Ealing Trailfinders.