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Camborne Recreation Ground

Cornish Pirates’ interest in this competition remains very much alive due to Leinster’s defeat at the hands of Newport and a much improved second half performance that saw them outscore Exeter by four tries to one.

On a breezy spring-like afternoon, both sides failed to display much ambition in an error-strewn first half. Exeter only retained Sam Blythe in the starting line-up which defeated Moseley in their last Championship outing and Pirates fielded a side with only two omissionsfrom their last league outing in which they heavily defeated Nottingham.

Playing up the slope, Exeter took the lead in the second minute through the boot of Danny Gray, with a penalty awarded when the Pirates killed the ball. Gray’s successful strike rebounded off the inside of the right upright. Rob Cook replied with a penalty for the Pirates in the 11th minute to level the scores.

Chiefs gradually settled and developed some continuity, although this was short-lived. When their first scrum was severely disrupted, a try could have resulted for the home side had centre Paul Devlin not spurned a two-man overlap on the left-hand side.

With neither team looking to dictate the pace of the game, there was little to suggest that the Pirates were aware of the importance of the contest.

Gray narrowly failed to put Exeter ahead in the 22nd minute when his long range attempt at goal once again attracted the woodwork. And from the rebound, once again the Pirates failed to recognise numerical superiority as they looked to counter from deep.

Some sloppy Exeter tackling was followed by equally sloppy Pirates passing, and when the home side prevented fair release of the ball, Gray put the Chiefs ahead with a well-struck shot from wide on the right hand side.

Shortly before the interval, the Pirates found some urgency and applied pressure which resulted in prop Carl Rimmer crossing the try-line. Much to the annoyance of the vocal home support, referee Sharp disallowed the try only to award the Pirates a penalty in front of the posts. Cook converted to level the score at 6-6.

The half time interval brought little optimism for what was to follow, with pasty consumption the only means of lifting the spirits of dejected looking local supporters. Indeed, Exeter looked sharper at the start of the second period and took the lead with an excellent try in the sixth minute of the half. From a lineout, Gray played a sweet inside ball to Emyr Lewis. The winger made a telling break which resulted in quick ball from the breakdown deep in the Pirates’ 22. Gray went right and deftly chipped through for full-back Sean Marsden to beat the cover defence and touch down wide on the right. Gray missed with the conversion attempt.

This seemed to galvanise the Pirates, and from here on, it was pretty much one way traffic. Exeter’s inability to produce quick phase ball and unwillingness to use the slope and look for space behind the defence, meant that they attacked from deep, mainly through the forwards.

In the 14th minute, the Pirates took a lead that they were not to relinquish when Steve Winn, who was outstanding in the centre, cut back and committed several Exeter defenders before producing quickly recycled ball. This time it was the turn of Man of the Match stand-off Jonny Bentley to supply the killer inside ball to Devlin who scythed through wrong-footed defenders and score close to the posts. Again Cook added the extras.

The game was over as a contest two minutes later when scrum-half and captain Gavin Cattle collected his own cleverly placed chip to score in the right corner. Another successful torpedo kick from Cook took the score to 23-11 in the Pirates’ favour.

Gray pulled back three points from a penalty in front of the posts in the 58th minute, but this was the last hurrah as the visitors’ defence, especially close to the guts of the rucks, became increasingly more porous.

Another delicate inside ball from Bentley to replacement Rod Labuschagne brought play close to the Chiefs’ line. The ball was recycled swiftly and moved to replacement Mark Ireland, who capitalised on a missed tackle, to muscle his way over neat the uprights. Cook again added the conversion.

With the Pirates now in complete control, Dave Ward finished off a series of pick and drives deep in the visitors’ 22 to cross near the posts and again Cook converted, in the 73rd minute.

This completed the scoring and brought a deserved win to the Pirates. An inspired second period performance brought them their first victory over Exeter in any competition since October 2007.

Teams:

Cornish Pirates – Cook; McAtee, Devlin, Winn, Davies (Ireland 48mins); Bentley, Cattle (capt) (Doherty 70mins); Rimmer (Andrew 48mins), Ward, Brits (Franklin 70mins), Myerscough (Labuschagne 63mins), Gulliver, Morgan, Holmes (Prosser 67mins), Evans (McGlone 48mins).

Exeter Chiefs – Marsden; McKenzie (Bedford 48mins), Bedford (Jones 48mins) Lewis: Gray, Bolt; Moon, Bythe (Nelson 54mins), Murphy (Kingsland 58mins), Tomes, Bentley (Lockley 67mins), Johnson (Felming 70mins), Scaysbrook (capt), Ewers (Stupple 67mins).

Scorers:

Cornish Pirates – Tries: Devlin, Cattle, Ireland, Ward; Cons: Cook (4); Pens: Cook (3)

Exeter Chiefs – Try: Marsden; Pens: Gray (3).

By Richard Grainger