Cornish Pirates

Coventry 20 Cornish Pirates 32
Saturday April 28th 2007
Report By Mark Stevens, Pics Big Brian
Slide Show

THE start was painful, it picked up in the middle and by the end there were enough promising performances to suggest there's more to come from the Cornish Pirates next season.

After a campaign which has delivered numerous highs, plus the occasional low, Jim McKay's side finally brought the curtain down on their season-long show with a hard-fought 32-20 success away to Coventry.

Five tries and five points were certainly the highlights of this latest success. However, with a number of the club's leading showmen set for new productions next term, work has already begun on delivering a much improved script for next year's title assault.

Villi Ma'asi Steams On With Steve Winn & Alan Paver In Support

Not that much work will be needed by McKay and his trusty lieutenants over the summer months. The current plan has, for the large part, worked well. It merely needs a quick re-write and a couple of notable additions here and there.

One thing, however, that needs to remain is the underlining camaraderie which has been shown by the players this season. On numerous occasions, when the chips have been down, they have rallied to great effect - Saturday was yet another of those examples.

Paver To Winn With Rhodri McAtee In Waiting

With ten minutes remaining and the scoreline 20-15 in favour of the Midlanders, things did not look good for the Pirates, who at the time had a greater concern over one of their fallen comrades. Matt Evans' late injury - just four minutes after his introduction from the bench - was one of those seasonal low points, but the enforced break allowed the Cornishmen to regroup and finish with a flourish.

Up until then, however, Coventry - still smarting from being spanked 54-0 by Nottingham the previous week - had more than tested McKay's men. With just eight minutes on the clock, skipper Ben Russell fired them in front with a penalty, quickly followed by a try for No.8 Tom Johnson, who come September will be running out in Exeter colours, as will club-mate Kieran Geraghty.

Coventry Test Pirates' Defence

A succession of unforced errors were the telling problem for the Pirates during the early exchanges. However, once they found some fluidity to their game, the points soon came rolling in.

Fly-half Alberto Di Bernardo stroked over a penalty on 26 minutes to reduce the deficit, before flanker Iva Motusaga burrowed over from a well constructed catch-and-drive move to make it 8-8.

Rhodri Jinks	Cowley Steams

Coventry, though, were soon back on the attack and when Geraghty was afforded too much time and space in midfield, he drew in the Pirates cover before offloading to winger Ben Toft to make it 13-8 at the break.

Not for the first time this season, McKay had work to do during the interval. Whatever was said by the Aussie during the brief respite, it clearly had the desired effect. Good early pressure not only brought about a yellow card for Johnson, but also a converted penalty try after referee Richard Draper finally lost patience with Cov's desire to disrupt a succession of scrums.

Even then the home side refused to lie down and they regained the initiative on 55 minutes when Exeter-born winger George Dixon crossed for their third try, which Russell converted.

With time fast running out, it was all hands on deck for the Cornish club, who even though they had a man advantage following Louie Tonkin's yellow card, were still unable to find a way through the Coventry rearguard.

	McKay sent on fresh muscle in a bid to inject some new energy into his battle-weary troops, but when Evans departed shortly after his arrival, things did not look good for the Pirates. That was until Welshman Rhodri McAtee provided the finish to a slick move from the visitors with just four minutes remaining. Di Bernardo banged over the touchline conversion to make it 22-20. From there on the visitors were in control as injury-time tries from replacements Sam Parsons - converted by Di Bernardo - and Henry Barratt merely rubber-stamped the triumph.
Try For Sam Parsons

Afterwards McKay remarked: "If I'm honest, that was probably one of our best wins this season. The boys, who are literally in bits after that, showed tremendous character to get the win and we're very happy to crawl over the finish line with those five points.

"Coventry were obviously fired up after their defeat the previous week and they really came at us, but the way we stuck at it kind of epitomised the character of this team.

"All season our attitude has been spot on, it's our performances - and the consistency of those performances - that we need to look at and work on for next season. If you want to be a top side, then you have to be consistent."

Cornish Pirates 32

Tries - Motusaga, Penalty Try, McAtee, Parsons, Barratt
Conversions - Di Bernardo (2); Penalty - Di Bernardo

Pirates:
A Winnan (S Parsons 77); R McAtee, D Bell, S Winn, L Vinnicombe (H Barratt 53); A Di Bernardo
G Cattle (capt); A Paver, V Ma'asi (N Makin 67), D Seal; H Senekal, J Beardshaw
C Cracknell ( S McKeen 53), I Motusaga, T Cowley (M Evans 67, J Inglis 71).
Replacement (not used): G Anderson.

Coventry 20

Tries
T Johnson, Toft, Dixon
Conversion - Russell; Penalty - Russell

Coventry:
B Russell (capt, S Montague 77); G Dixon, K Geraghty (E Binham 50), D Sanders, B Toft; M Dorrian
M Walls; N Treston, S Friswell (R Protherough 40-63), C Rimmer (R Brits 63); D Campton
I Nimmo (L Tonkin 63); H Venter, J O'Connor, T Johnson.
Replacements (not used): K Johnson, D James.

Yellow Cards: T Johnson, Tonkin

Referee: R Draper (RFU)

Attendance: 2,000.

Slide Show