Gwrys Yn Kernow: Pirates enjoy cup win in Munster

Thank you to Brian Tempest for the photo and to Barry Coughlan, from the Irish Examiner, for the match report

Munster 6 Cornish Pirates 10

British & Irish Cup Round 3

Clonmel RFC

Friday 11th November 2011

The people of Ireland will be reading this report in the Irish Examiner this morning (Sat 12) and I have no doubt the travelling Pirates fans will have nothing but the greatest admiration for the hospitality and camaraderi of Clonmel Rugby Club and the people of clonmel.

Report thanks to: Barry Coughlan Courtesy Irish Examiner.

THE excitement hit fever pitch as this entertaining British and Irish Cup tie drew to a dramatic conclusion at wind swept Ard Na Gaoithe, Clonmel last night, Cornish Pirates snatching a fortuitous victory with an 80 th minute penalty try converted by Rob Cook.

It was a tough end for a Munster side that gave as good as they got throughout an exciting and hotly disputed contest. The penalty try was probably inevitable as Cornish Pirates piled on the pressure with a series of strong scrums that forced Munster to concede a succession of penalties before referee Ian Tempest finally lost patience.

But it shouldn't have come to that; the pressure exerted by the visitors in that sequence was isolated to just that few minutes of a second half dominated by Munster, although not always in the set pieces. Ironically, field position was conceded when Munster coughed up possession from their own line out throw. Set piece dominance ultimately won the day for the Pirates.

Munster coach Ian Costello was clearly disappointed, noting: “I thought we were in control and we had had chances to finish off the game, to get beyond the seven points lead we would have needed. What transpired should have been in our control but we lost more line outs than we would have expected, threw away a couple of loose passes in good attacking positions and turned over a couple of vital scrums. For all that, we could still have won.”

First chance fell to the visitors in ten minutes but Rob Cook's penalty attempt fell to the left and wide in the awkward wind conditions.

That wind was to play havoc, with both sides struggling to cope, particularly with kicks out of hand. Despite the mistakes, it was a keenly fought battle, with the Pirates perhaps not making best use of the wind at their backs and guilty of over-kicking on several occasions.

Munster were aggressive, both in defence and attack, where out half Scott Deasy was clever in his use of possession, although they were still unable to create any clear-cut opportunities. That was until Deasy's 35 th minute break, courtesy of the initial surge from Stephen Archer, and the out half opened up the Cornish defence. Rhodri McAtee's quick thinking saved the day when he got between Deasy and a scoring pass to Paddy Butler.

The opening points finally came after 39 minutes when Cook knocked over his second penalty attempt from close range.

Eight minutes into the second half, Munster came agonisingly close to grabbing the opening try, Deasy's dink fastened onto by JJ Hanrahan who was barely closed down as he raced clear. To make it worse, Deasy sent a resultant penalty to the right and wide.

Still, Munster cranked up the pressure and they were rewarded with a 54 th minute penalty that Deasy kicked from right in front of the posts as the Pirates strayed offside and substitute Blair Crowan was shown yellow.

Further pressure deservedly yielded another score, with Deasy again kicking the points from an easy angle and short distance for a 6-3 lead. It was no less than Munster deserved and they kept on searching for the elusive try, Billy Holland's pass inside to Ronan O'Mahony going astray with a try looking certain in the 66 th minute.

Sadly for them, it all fell apart in those closing seconds.

MUNSTER:

L O'Dea, R O'Mahony, T Gleeson, JJ Hanrahan, S Zebo, S Deasy, P Stringer, D Kilcoyne, S Henry, S Archer, M O'Driscoll, I Nagle, B Holland (captain), P Butler, T O'Donnell.
Replacements. D Casey for Henry (injured, 28), C Hircock for O'Dea (injured, 40), D Williams for Stringer (56), D Foley for Nagle (62). Temporary, C Condon for Kilcoyne (injured, 67-72)

CORNISH PIRATES.

M Evans, R McAtee, D Locke, S Hill, D Doherty, R Cook, T Kessell, R Storer, D Ward, C Rimmer, L McGlone, I Nimmo, C Moran (captain), K Marriott, C Walker-Blair.
Replacements. B Cowan for Walker-Blair (50), P Andrew for Storer (63), P. Burgess for Marriott (68).
Referee. I Tempest (England)