| Xmas Present For Albion |
Pirates 13 Albion 26 Pirates skipper Gavin Cattle offered few excuses after watching his side surrender their unbeaten home record to near neighbours Plymouth Albion. Having dug deep the week previous to snatch a draw with league leaders Leeds, the Pirates were unable to reproduce a similar effort as the Devon visitors claimed their revenge for last season's narrow defeat at Kenwyn. Two tries from French winger Nic Sestaret, plus the right boot of South African centre Regardt Van Eyk did the damage for Albion, who themselves face yet more testing times against Bedford and Leeds in the next fortnight. Despite trailing to an early Van Eyk penalty, the Pirates dominated for large parts of the opening half. However, they were unable to turn numerous attacking positions into points as Albion's defence held firm in the face of a heavy home battering. "We put a lot of pressure on them for the first 20, 25 minutes," said Cattle. "We were camped on their line, but we came away with nothing, which was disappointing. Albion's defence was very good, but I felt we were also on the wrong end of a few decisions. Although I felt the main thing was not scoring when we had the chance. At this level if you don't come away with something you are going to pay for it later - and we did." Indeed, having absorbed strong Pirates pressure, Albion turned defence into attack late in the half, extending their lead through a second Van Eyk penalty. Worse followed for the home side when fly-half Alberto Di Bernardo's attempted chip over the top was plucked out of the air by Albion's towering lock Colin Stewart and he helped quickly recycle the ball along the visiting back division to the onrushing Sestaret, who darted over in the left-hand corner, Van Eyk's conversion made it 13-0 at the break. As the large band of Albion supporters celebrated during the interval, it was not long before they were cheering yet more success, Sestaret the beneficiary again, this time the Frenchman burrowed his way over from a lineout move, which Van Eyk again converted. The Pirates were in desperate need of a way back into the game and two successful Di Bernardo penalties seemed to do just the trick. But no sooner had the home side given themselves a way back into the contest, they then handed Albion a third penalty which Van Eyk duly dispatched on the hour. Despite a 17-point buffer, Albion were far from comfortable and they were made to sweat in the first quarter by the Pirates who threw everything at them in a bid to get themselves back into the game. Winger Jon Hylton thought he had claimed their first score on 69 minutes, only for referee Dean Richards to rule his effort out for a forward pass by Rhodri McAtee. The try, however, was not long in coming. Good pressure from the home pack caused an Albion scrum to creak, the ball back to Nigel Cane was hardly inviting, and when the Pirates turned over the visitors, the ball was spread at pace through Hylton and McAtee to replacement Lewis Vinnicombe, who made no mistake from 15 metres out, Di Bernardo converting. Even then there were some who thought the Pirates could well get themselves out of the mire, but sadly it did not happen. In a truncated final ten minutes, Albion saw Argentinian flanker Federico Genoud stretchered off with a nasty-looking head injury, before Van Eyk wrapped things up with a late penalty. Cattle added: "As Jim [McKay] always says, we have a no excuse mentality. We just have to accept we were beaten on the day and look to put things right next time. Our skill level was not up to what it should be, we didn't execute some our moves, and we have give credit to Plymouth, they played very well. "All we can do now is go away, have a think about things, then come back and try to put things right. We need to take a leaf out of Doncaster's book perhaps. We beat them up there, but they bounced back and are probably the form side in the division at the moment. We need to do the same." Cornish Pirates 13 Try - Vinnicombe; Conversion - Di Bernardo; Penalties - Di Bernardo 2 Plymouth Albion 26 Tries - Sestaret 2; Conversions - Van Eyk 2; Penalties - Van Eyk 4 Pirates: D Roke; R McAtee, H Barratt (L Vinnicombe 60), D Bell, J Hylton; A Di Bernardo, G Cattle (capt, J Moore 80); A Paver (D Seal ); V Ma'asi (N Makin 80), S Heard; H Senekal, J Beardshaw; C Cracknell (I Motusaga 49), S McKeen, M Evans (T Cowley 49). Replacement (not used): S Winn. Albion: N Saumi; T Arscott, R Van Eyk, K Fisilau, N Sestaret; E Barnes, E Lewsey (N Cane 67), M Rice, R Oxley (J Owen 80), S Zimmerman (F Deformes 57); C Stewart (B Stroud 49), T Hayes; F Genoud (T Mathias 80), D Thomas (capt), C Lowrie. Replacements (not used): D Delaney, A Cruickshanks. Referee: Dean Richards (RFU). Attendances 5,385
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