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| London Welsh 16 Cornish Pirates 10 WITH little time to survey the damage following Saturday's 16-10 reverse at London Welsh, Cornish Pirates coach Jim McKay will today carry out a revised check of his walking wounded before preparing to set sail once more. Having arrived in the capital with an already lengthy list of casualties, the sight of Duncan Bell departing proceedings after just four minutes, then Gavin Cattle sustaining another hefty knock late on, will hardly have helped the Australian's forward planning for what he says is a crucial fortnight for the Duchy outfit. Saturday's trip to Old Deer Park marked the first of three successive away-days for the Cornishmen inside a week. On Wednesday they head for Bedford, before tackling Plymouth Albion at the Brickfields this Saturday. After that, the Pirates will be hitting the motorways once again, their destination on this occasion, Twickenham, and a Cup final date with the Exeter Chiefs. However, that final date, according to McKay, remains firmly on the horizon and it is this current week that is occupying the thoughts of both himself and his players as they chase a top-three finish in the league. "Twickenham is still some way off, so we're not even thinking about that just yet," said McKay afterwards. "Our focus at the moment is on the here and now and today we are really disappointed with our performance. We didn't play very well, London Welsh did, and they deserved their victory. "We have no excuses, but we have to move on quickly and roll our sleeves up for what will be a very tough game at Bedford on Wednesday." The loss of Bell - to a twisted left knee - in the opening exchanges of Saturday's clash was hardly the kind of start the Westcountry visitors had anticipated to the first leg of their weekly travels. However, that setback was only the inception of what was going to be a miserable afternoon for the Pirates. Having turned Bell over as he tried to run the ball out of defence, the Exiles shipped the ball to the left where, with the Pirates desperately coming across to counter the attack, the visitors infringed and handed home fly-half Tom Marks the opening for him to net the first of his three successful penalties. Minutes later Marks failed with a second shot at goal, while at the other end winger Jonny Hylton provided the only spark of a dormant first-half display from the Pirates when he carved out a superb run through the middle, only to be denied by a saving tackle from home full-back Neil Taylor. Just before the interval James Moore had the chance to level things up when home flanker George Robson was sent to the sin-bin for persistent infringing. However, Moore's effort on goal sailed wide of the sticks. In stoppage time Marks showed him the way to do it when he fired over a second penalty, given after Joe Beardshaw - who also headed for a spell on the sidelines - was penalised for killing the ball. Although only six points down, the Pirates - who had made nine changes to their line-up from that which defeated Albion the week previous - were still someway off the pace. Worse followed for the visitors within two minutes of the restart, home centre Tosh Masson on hand to net the first try after Taylor's initial burst had been halted by Adryan Winnan. Marks sent over the conversion, then added a further penalty, to put the Exiles firmly in command at 16-0 with just ten minutes remaining. To their credit, though, the Pirates refused to lie down and, in a valiant last throw of the dice, they ensured a twitchy final few minutes for the home faithful when first Chris Cracknell crossed for a converted try, then Moore netted a penalty. However, that was as close as the Pirates got, their scant reward a solitary bonus point.
Cornish Pirates 10 Try - Cracknell
Pirates: Replacement (not used): D Dawiduik.
Yellow Card: Beardshaw
London Welsh 16
Try - Masson; Conversion - Marks; Penalties - Marks (3)
London Welsh Replacements (not used): O Williams, A Hopkins.
Yellow Card: Robson
Referee: J Doyle (RFU).
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