| Cornish Pirates 52 (18) Moseley 16 (9) 17/09/06 | ||||||||||
Having surprisingly come unstuck in battle at Waterloo the week previous, McKay was seeking an immediate response from his troops. They didn't disappoint. Fly-half Alberto Di Bernardo led the way with a superb 32-point haul, while team-mates Adryan Winnan, Lewis Vinnicombe and Stan McKeen all claimed their first-ever tries in Pirates colours, the other going to Welshman Rhodri McAtee.
It was vintage stuff from the Cornish club, who next week set sail for Headingley to face former Guinness Premiership outfit Leeds Tykes. Understandably, McKay was happy with his side's showing, the Australian saying afterwards: "I'm very proud of the boys. After the result last week, which was very disappointing, we put ourselves under a bit of pressure to perform in this game. We needed to respond, which I think we did. "I felt we fronted up very well and in the second half we played some very, very good rugby. Today we showed real glimpses of what we are capable of, but we're not going to get carried away. "I still feel there is a lot more to come from us, but today was about getting ourselves back on track. The only real disappointment was the try we let in at the end, that was a real soft one." That aside, McKay and his team can feel more than content with their display against a Moseley side, who had headed west on the back of a notable victory over Bedford the week previous. In a tight opening to the game, it was Moseley who broke the game's deadlock on seven minutes courtesy of an Ollie Thomas penalty. That lead, however, was to prove short-lived as the Pirates hit back within two minutes. A good break from Henry Barratt saw him link-up with McAtee, who despite seeing his own path to the line blocked, was able to chip the ball back inside to the onrushing Di Bernardo to score.
As the half progressed, Thomas (two) and Di Bernardo traded penalties to make it 11-9, but it was the Pirates who stretched their lead in stoppage time when a ruck on the right was worked along the backs to Winnan, who turned on the after-burners to scorch to the line, Di Bernardo adding the extras. If was that was sweet, things were to get decidedly sweeter for the home side as first McAtee latched on to Duncan Bell's looped pass for try number three, then Canadian international McKeen made the most of Mark Evans' sin-binning to add the all-important fourth try, both of which were converted.
Things did not get any better for Moseley as they then had lock Paul Arnold yellow-carded for a deliberate knockdown. Di Bernardo punished his indiscretion with another penalty, before slotting the extras to Vinnicombe's effort, which came courtesy of an inch-perfect crossfield kick from the Italian. Now seemingly in cruise control, the Pirates briefly let their foot off the pedal enough to allow Moseley No.8 James Rodwell to barge his way through the home defence for a converted consolation try. However, that effort merely acted to kick-start the Pirates back into life. The inspirational Di Bernardo wrapping proceedings up with a 78th minute penalty, a second try - following a sniping break from skipper Gavin Cattle - and a conversion.
Tries
- Di Bernardo 2, Winnan, McAtee, McKeen, Vinnicombe. Conversions - Di
Moseley 16 Try - Rodwell; Conversion - Thomas; Penalties - Thomas 3
Pirates: A Winnan;
R McAtee (J Hylton 71), H Barratt, D Bell, L Vinnicombe;
Moseley: O Thomas;
N Bressington, A Binns (capt), P Cox, C Colvin; G (A Hadley 74), R Stott; M Evans (N Mason 66), T Warren, J Rodwell
(Mason
Yellow Cards: Evans, Arnold
Referee: B Robertson (RFU) |
