Cornish Pirates 43 Cornish All Blacks 12 - Match Report

Cornish Pirates 43 Cornish All Blacks 12 Sunday December 16th 2007 Report Phil Westren Match Pictures

On Sunday the Cornish Pirates welcomed a fellow Cornish side to the Recreation Ground, Camborne, one truly admired and against whom they have had some mighty contests over the years.

However, in an energised pack-power of a performance they showed little mercy, enabling their charges to provide plenty of Christmas sparkle as confirmed by a 7-2 try-count in their favour.

The Cornish All Blacks included five former Pirates in their starting line-up (plus one on the bench), with one of them, flanker Josh Lord, their captain.

In the Cornish Pirates side there was one new face, new signing Mark Ireland, making a derby match debut in place of the injured Vunga Lilo. whilst of other changes from the side that started against London Welsh, Ollie Thomas replaced an injured Gareth Steenson at fly-half, Brian Tuohy was selected on the wing for James Moore, Heino Senekal replaced an injured Bruce Cumming in the second-row, and Peter Cook was handed a starting role at loose-head prop in place of Alan Paver.

New signing Mark Ireland

With the pre-match atmosphere boosted by the presence of the Falmouth Marine Band, and with 'tumblers' from the Fiona Richardson School of Dance leading the team onto the field, there was a sense for all gathered that they were in for an entertaining afternoon, and so it proved.

The Cornish All Blacks started with purpose, applying pressure immediately at the clubhouse corner. A quick score looked to be 'on', but the chance was lost when the ball was spilled in an effort to make a desperate lunge for the line.

The All Blacks certainly came to play some rugby, with scrum-half Sam Alford willingly sharp and full-back Andy Birkett showing accustomed skill levels, but it was also inevitable that confrontations would be occasionally feisty.

From the resulting scrum it was evident that quick hands were the order of the day, scrum-half Ed Fairhurst and Tuohy skirting down the right touchline to acquire territory from where an assault for the line could be made. Opting soon for a catch and drive, the application was clinically forthright as the visitors felt the full force of a turbo-charged push to the line which ended with Cook the scorer of an unconverted try.

'Cook the scorer of an unconverted try'

No. 8 Tinus du Plessis, who had played for Namibia alongside Pirates lock Heino Senekal in the recent Rugby World, was a rigorously committed opponent, but his on-field efforts were suddenly curtailed when referee Rowan Kitt sent him to the sin bin for ten minutes.

It was felt that the Pirates could take immediate advantage, and they did, hooker Nathan Kemp the second member of the front-row union to be driven over for a try which was this time converted by Thomas. The Cornish All Blacks did their best to respond, but soon went 17-0 down after Fairhurst snapped up a loose kick and passed to Tuohy who was quick to spot a gap on half-way, the Irishman taking immediate advantage of the space on offer for him to pick a line and score an unconverted try on the right.

'Tuohy was quick to spot a gap on half-way'

If the visitors had been severely punished during du Plessis's absence, then upon his return they were keen to put things right, and when they did it was probably by scoring the try of the game, a backs move executed to perfection and finished off by wing Jon Fabian who also landed the difficult conversion to make it 17-7 at the break

When the second half got underway the Pirates were intent to waste no time in securing a bonus point try, and although centre Ryan Westren put in one try-saving tackle, he could do little seconds later to prevent a rampaging Senekal from powering over at the posts . Thomas added the simple conversion

Thomas had played well at fly-half for the Pirates, it a position accustomed to during his days with Moseley, and he was now ready to put on a real display. What was about to be witnessed was all but a replication of Danny Cipriani's efforts for Wasps against Clermont Auvergne the night before, Thomas the creator of the next two Pirates tries. The first try came when a sublimely drilled grubber kick split open the All Blacks defence for full-back Adryan Winnan to chase and cross at the scoreboard corner. Thomas, deservedly, slotted the conversion. And the next try? Well, that followed a midfield dummy and run with supporting troops aplenty - one of them, McAtee, stretching to score.

'Tuohy was quick to spot a gap on half-way'

The Cornish All Blacks heads had never dropped throughout, skipper Josh Lord leading from the front, and his side responding to score another fine try when Westren went for the gap and off-loaded to gift wing Matt Jess his eighth try of the season.

To end the game off it was dominant forward power that told, as in reality it had all afternoon, replacement Paver the popular scorer of his side's seventh and last try of the match, the resounding victory notching the Pirates up one place to third in the league.

Cornish Pirates:
A. Winnan, R. McAtee, M. Ireland, S. Winn (P. Devlin 66), B. Tuohy, O. Thomas, E. Fairhurst (J. Moore 79), M. Evans (I. Motusaga 61), C. Cracknell, T. Cowley (capt), J. Beardshaw (S. Hobson 21), H. Senekal, S. Heard (D. Seal 51), N. Kemp (D. Dawidiuk 51), P. Cook (A. Paver 55).

Cornish All Blacks:
A. Birkett (M. Dibble h/t), M. Jess, R. Westren, S. Perry, J. Fabian, M. Scrivener (P. Fisher 58), S. Alford, T. du Plessis, T. Rawlings (M. Myerscough 55), J. Lord (capt), T. Parker (S. Hocking 66), S. Pape, R. Liddington (D. Manns 48), N. Clark (O. Hambly 66), J. Bolt (L. Ovens 48).

Yellow card: du Plessis.

Referee: Rowan Kitt (RFU)

Touch Judges: Luke Pearce & Fred Spong Assessor: Ian Hamilton

Man of the Match: Ollie Thomas

Attendance: 4,937

Match Ball Sponsors
Cornwall College