Cornish Pirates

Jim McKay Talks To Mark Stevens

CORNISH Pirates coach Jim McKay heralded the EDF Energy National Trophy triumph over Exeter Chiefs as a "massive breakthrough" in terms of the future development for the National League One club.

The Pirates hit back from 16-6 down to record a 19-16 success over the Chiefs, who have now lost three Cup Finals at the home of English rugby.

A try from hooker Vili Ma'asi and 14 points from the boot of fly-half Alberto Di Bernardo ensured the trophy was heading to Cornwall following a hard-fought battle in the Twickenham sunshine.

"I am extremely proud of the boys," declared the Australian afterwards. "To win the cup is a collection of games and it does seem we have come from behind in each game, which indicates good character and never say die attitude. For us, today's result is a massive breakthrough in what we are trying to achieve, it's fantastic. "We have no superstars, no rock stars in our side, but we all work for each other. I want to pay due respect to Exeter, they pushed us all the way and did a good job on us in the line-out, but we set ourselves two goals today. One was to really enjoy the day because it goes like that, the other was to play some rugby. In terms of that, we enjoyed the day, but it wasn't really an epic game. We made some mistakes and tactically some things didn't go great, but that] scoreboard looks really good now."

Jim McKay & Adryan Winnan

Like his players, McKay was delighted for the army of supporters who turned up for their big day out in the capital. "This morning I woke up at three o'clock and that was when most of them were heading up the A30, so for them this is a wonderful thing. We created history today and nobody can take away from us."

Jim Talks To The Team On The Eve Of The Finals

The Pirates coach also paid tribute to his support staff, many of whom have been deluged with work over the past fortnight. He added: "I want to thank my support staff and the management team because they have done a great job this week. We've been pretty much decimated by injuries recently. Two weeks ago we had more people in the medical room than out training, but they've all done a really good job as have the team itself, who were obviously fantastic."

With the Pirates journey now having hit it's first real milestone, McKay is confident his team can continue their development to what he hopes will be new and unchartered waters in the future.