Cattle thinks Cornish Pirates can be better despite their handsome victory
THE scoreline may have been convincing, but the performance was not quite as good as Cornish Pirates joint head coach Gavin Cattle would have wanted, even though his side were comfortable 52-26 winners over Hartpury at the Mennaye Field.
It was an entertaining encounter, with both sides playing their part. A total of 12 tries were registered in the match – four for the visitors and eight for the Pirates, including a hattrick apiece for skipper Tom Duncan and replacement hooker Dan Frost.
“Naturally we are pleased with scoreline, as it is one we would certainly have taken before the game, and although I didn’t enjoy the first or last 10 minutes we played some good bits of rugby in between,” Cattle said.
“In the first half our catch and drive worked very well, with Arwel (Robson) kicking well out of hand to put us in good positions which enabled us to apply the pressure close to the Hartpury line, and it is something we could perhaps have made more of in the second period, the lesson being don’t get bored of what works.
“Our front row also formed a powerful unit and that again also gave us a platform to help keep the scoreboard ticking over.
“We were a little disappointed that Hartpury managed their bonus point try at the end, but through playing catch up rugby and shifting the point of contact they deserved it.”
Playing their penultimate fixture and last at home - in this season’s somewhat shortened Greene King IPA Championship campaign, the Pirates made several changes to the team that won at Coventry last time out.
In the backs, with a fit again Maliq Holden returning on the wing, Will Butler reverted back to inside centre. Also, at scrum half, after several appearances off the bench, JeanBaptist
Bruzulier returned to the starting line-up.
As for the forwards, Hayden King wore the number one shirt, whilst Tom Cowan-Dickie, who had made three appearances as a replacement since recovering from injury, was about to make his first start of the season. As for the pack’s back five, they remained the same.
Hartpury opened the scoring through wing Ben Foley who scored an unconverted try. In the same period of play Cowan-Dickie’s match also cruelly came to an end, the luckless hooker having to depart proceedings because of a neck injury.
With the Pirates scrum showing dominance, the referee had no hesitation in awarding a Pirates a penalty try before Alex O’Meara intercepted and ran half the length of the field for a score that Robson converted to make it 14-5.
Hungry for more points, the Pirates’ cause was helped by the mounting penalty count against Hartpury. Able to post the ball to the corners, the opportunities to set up potent catch and drives delivered the goods, with tries for Duncan and Frost.
There was still time before the break for the Pirates to further extend their lead, which they did, when Duncan’s second converted try made it 40-5 at the break.
The energetic Frost and Duncan each secured their hat-tricks, but there was credit also to Hartpury who, on the scoreboard at least, troubled the operator most.
The impressive Joshua Bragman scored a try and two conversions, and there were also fine tries touched down by centre Robbie Smith and wing Sam Goatley, whose final try of the game was converted by centre James Williams.