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Cornish Pirates 42 London Scottish 10
RFU Championship Round 13
Mennaye Field
Sunday 4th Deceember 2011
Woll's Match Report
A week in the home port’s dry dock, seemed to be just what was needed after a month voyaging to foreign climes had increasingly taken its toll.
The damage done below the waterline in the previous one hundred minutes of Championship rugby had been more than superficial for sure; but the ‘smiles’ as High Performance Manager, Chris Stirling, alluded to post match; had returned.
And why not (?), as the expected stubbornness London Scottish were expected to bring to the party, was conspicuous by its absence for most of the contest.
On a cool and mainly dank December afternoon at the Mennaye then, it was the Pirates who took charge from the start; and, despite an early Mugford penalty that gave the visitors a 2 nd minute lead; rarely looked under threat of not regaining 4 th spot.
Ten minutes later and it was a completely different complexion, as a three try blast by Hill, Locke and Walker-Blair had the Exiles well and truly on the ropes, and facing the real possibility of a humiliating outcome.
Eventual Man of the Match, Hill, was the slickest of the bunch after he combined well with loanee Dorrian, to burst through from 20m at pace.
No-one was going to stop the youngster from there and more of the same was to come, as this fresh half back pairing combined well all afternoon to create havoc.
The rest of the half scoring wise, belonged predominantly to Cook; as he slotted a couple of penalties before dotting down himself to cancel out Mugford’s charge down try three minutes earlier. The full back’s score being made initially by another Myles and Sam interchange, before skipper for the day, Morgan, left him with little option but to do the decent thing behind the posts.
The half concluded with a seminal moment but no further points, as the Pirates pack set up a maul on their own 22 to surely only relieve a defensive situation. Forty metres late and moving at a rate of knots that wouldn’t have disgraced a winger, it quite suddenly ended with a host of blue shirts hitching a lift and trying to request a stop.
Kellard took the rap on the pitch. While residents in Bodmin were reporting what they had thought to be an aftershock, to their earlier 2.2 earthquake.
After tea and now down to fourteen for their troubles, the Scots now had the sun in their faces and a gusty breeze to contend with. Their freshly donned white shirts were destined for a hotter than recommended wash it would seem.
And Lo. Within seconds of Mr Tempest rattling his pee for the restart, that man Doherty was scampering over in the Scoreboard Corner for his tenth try of the season so far, after the visitors were turned over in their own 22 once more.
At 35-10, Cornishbob must have been smugly content with his pre match score prediction, and willing the next thirty nine minutes to rush by without further ado.
For half an hour it seemed as if he might just get his wish, as the Exiles fared slightly better to finally break the siege lines on occasion. Their flood of replacements making a slight difference and blowing away any thoughts their coaching staff may have had pre-match of a 3 stop strategy. Think lollipop man and lineout practice.
Their one main chance of consolation came and went ten minutes in as firstly McAtee made the try saving tackle 10m out, and then Pape fumbled.
From here on, there was only one team in it, and it came as no surprise that Evans rounded off the afternoon with five to go. The Canadian opening his Pirate account in the process, with a carbon copy touchdown to that of the Doc in the Scoreboard Corner.
Rain threatened and darkness loomed. Nothing else for it then, but for Mr Tempest to end the contest in an anti-climactic moment of confusion and spare the pitch any further dents. Most notably from Amor whose persistent squabbling since his introduction, had a ‘quiet chat’ on the deck somewhere soon.
Mercy then for us all as the sing song in the bar beckoned with a melody of Cornish and Scottish songs emanating from within. A good weekend for the Pirates rounded off as it should be. Amen to that.
Cornish Pirates
15 R. Cook 14 R. McAtee 13 D. Locke (22 G. Pointer 55mins) 12 S. Hill 11 D. Doherty (21 M. Evans 60mins) 10 M. Dorrian 9 T. Kessell (20 J. Doherty 60mins) 8 K. Marriott 7 C. Walker-Blair (19 P. Burgess 71mins)
6 C. Morgan (Capt) 5 I. Nimmo 4 L. McGlone (18 D. Ewers 55mins) 3 R. Brits (16 A. Paver 65mins) 2 R. Elloway (17 D. Ward 71mins)
1 R. Storer (3 Brits 75min)
Replacements: all used
Tries: Hill, Locke, Walker-Blair, Cook, Doherty, Evans.
Cons: Cook
Pens: Cook 2
London Scottish
15 J. Sole 14 T. Holgate (21 G. Trueman 54mins) 13 A. Gosio 12 D. Mugford 11 D. Howells (20 S. Amor 66mins) 10 James Brown © 9 M. Heeks
8 J. Kellard 7 B. Lonergan (22 L. Calder 55mins) 6 W. Lipp
5 B. Thomas (19 Josh Brown HT) 4 K. Rudzki (18 S. Pape HT)
3 L. Thiede (17 A. Liffchak 47mins) 2 A. Kwasnicki (16 T. Standfield 41mins)
1 A. Clarke
Replacements: all used
Tries: Mugford
Cons: Mugford
Pens: Mugford
Yellow: Kellard
Match Officials
Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistants: Simon McConnell, Richard Parker-Sedgemore
Ref Coach: Ed Morrison
Man of the Match: Sam Hill
Attendance: 2,168
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