Cornish Pirates

In true Pirates fashion, the Pirates snatched the bounty on offer at Coventry's Butts Park Arena thanks to an all important try scored by No. 8 Chris Cracknell deep into injury time.

The conversion still had to follow to secure a narrow one point victory, but fly-half Gareth Steenson did not disappoint, his strike a cruel blow for a home side that had played with intensity throughout.

The Pirates went into this match without injured skipper Tim Cowley, requiring a move into the middle of the back-row for Cracknell, whose place at blind-side flanker was filled by on loan Newcastle 'Falcon' Eniola Gisende, making his first start in a Cornish Pirates shirt. 'Up front', Dan Seal took the tight-head berth ahead of Sam Heard, whilst the one change in the backs saw New Zealander Nick Buckley gifted the inside centre spot in place of Simon Whatling Coventry having lost their two league openers - at home to Doncaster and away to Sedgley Park - entered this match desperate to win. There was also incentive to perform well for the Pirates, who missed out on a bonus point in their away win at the Cornish All Blacks, and were frustrated at losing at home to Northampton when victory looked in their grasp. After a feisty start to the match , Coventry skipper and centre Ben Russell kicked a penalty in the eighth minute to put his side 3-0 up. The lead, however, was short-lived as Coventry' s early season indiscipline let them down once more when hooker Chris Whitehead was yellow-carded. Up to take advantage, the Pirates did just that, Steenson feeding Buckley who had picked the line to power his way over. In now expected metronomic style, Steenson added the extras.

Eniola Gisende's first start in a Pirates shirt

Approaching half-time visiting supporters were given a lift when full-back Adryan Winnan and Gisende made yardage, but following an incident which saw open-side flanker Iva Motusaga yellow-carded , a second penalty by Russell made it 13-7, which looked a likely half-time scoreline before a long-range penalty from Steenson reduced the arrears to just the three points.

Although the line-out had functioned well, in overall terms the Pirates had lacked anything like the intensity shown against Northampton, and it was clear that they needed to pick their game up considerably in the second half, but this never really materialised.

Clayton Darren (7) attempts to stop Nick Buckley

A penalty from Dorrian raised genuine hopes for the blue and whites that they would record their first league win of the season, but with two more missed the Pirates were at least still in touch.

Near the end it was yet again indiscipline that let Coventry down, Dan Hodge who had replaced his brother and former 'Pirate' Ollie in the second-row, and replacement scrum-half Mike Walls both departed proceedings after being shown yellow, the Cornish Pirates mustering to take play close enough for Cracknell, who had a fine match, to make the line for the all-important score.

Head Coach Jim McKay was happy to take the four points, but overall was disappointed in his team's performance, commenting: "Playing like that is not good enough - the conditions were good, and we created opportunities, but we simply did not execute them as we would have liked.
Coventry played with enormous intensity for 80 minutes and were unlucky to lose, it important for us to play much better and with more consistency."

Coventry:
B. Toft , G. Dixon, B. Russell (capt), D. Sanders (R. McLean-Dents 40),K. Johnson, M. Dorrian
T. Slater (M. Walls 73), L. McGlone, D. Clayton (S. Friswell 19-29), H. Venter, O. Hodge (D. Hodge 55)
G. Gillanders, R. Brits, C. Whitehead (S. Friswell 60), C. Rimmer (D. Maddocks 60).

Replacements (not used) - J.Miller, L. Parry.

Coventry Scorers:
Coventry
Try: Sanders
Cons: Russell 1
Pens: Russell 3.

Yellow cards - Whitehead, O. Hodge, Walls.

Cornish Pirates:
A. Winnan, R. McAtee, P. Devlin, N. Buckley (S. Whatling 80), B. Tuohy, G. Steenson (capt)
R. Bolt (J. Moore 62), C. Cracknell, I. Motusaga, E. Gisende, B. Cumming, J. Beardshaw,
D. Seal (S. Heard 50), R. Elloway (N. Kemp 50), P. Cook (J. Williams 76).

Replacements (not used) - S. Winn, S. Hobson.

Cornish Pirates Scorers:
Tries: Buckley, Cracknell
Cons: Steenson 2
Pens Steenson 1

Yellow card - Motusaga

Referee: Mark Wilson (RFU)

Attendance: 873