Cornish Pirates 30 Doncaster Knights 14
Mennaye Field Penzance
Sunday 29th August

A Sort of Homecoming for the Cornish Pirates turned into a Sunday Bloody Sunday for the visiting Knights; particularly in a devastating first half that saw Chris Stirling's charges take his "If it's on-it's on" mantra literally from the get-go. And how!

Jackson's early run encouraged the Pirates as they began their first campaign at the Mennaye with their backs to the Newlyn End. This initial endeavour witnessed Hopper seemingly open the scoring, only for Mr Doyle to point (correctly) at Jackson for crossing beforehand.

The die for the half was cast however as Bentley's deft grubber kick soon after, saw both himself and Hopper (again!) to nearly go in. Mr Doyle was playing advantage anyway; thus Cook obliged with the first points of the season after only 7 minutes. 3-0

The Knights despite being under the cosh were prepared to play expansively themselves but to no real effect. Hardly surprising given the blistering start by their hosts.

A knock on under pressure by former Pirate, Devlin; saw the Pirates easily regain possession. A series of strong probes eventually found new boy, Burgess to stretch over to claim his first try in Cornish colours. Cook's conversion was true and it was ten points to the good with only ten minutes complete.

Doncaster had no answers and were fortunate that a Jackson-Morgan combination didn't double the tally of tries barely two minutes later. A knock on spared any blushes for flanker, Boyde's, hoof of a clearance. Their scrum wavered but held just to repel the wheel attempt.

As if further incentive were required to rouse a healthy looking crowd on such a fine day; news over the tannoy about half price Rattler at half time (subject to the Pirates leading of course!), stirred the troops further. Whether any visiting fans decided to urge on the Pirates is still to be confirmed!

Either way it worked as Bentley saw the smallest of gaps which he exploited in a flash. Morgan received the offload and similarly obliged with a backhand pass to McGlone who was galloping up on his right shoulder.

The Kiwi's progress was dependant on some juggling skills but the pill stuck and he must have been disappointed to be stopped only five metres short. Skipper Cattle burrowed over shortly afterwards. Cook's second conversion just went wide. 15-0

99 year old Uncle Jack, down from Doncaster for the third time in under twelve months, couldn't have been impressed with his sides showing so far. Half an hour gone and his woes increased as the Pirates declined a pot at goal following a dump tackle on Jackson. A text book catch and drive set up Paver to mimic his skipper's exploits. The gusty breeze mucked up Cook's hack for the extras.20-0

The full back seemed unaffected, as a Doncaster clearance allowed the Lincolnshire man to run straight back at a very disjointed looking Yorkshire outfit with interest. His vision and speed of thought set up a kick and chase for Bentley to be narrowly adjudged as having just failed to touching down before the dead ball line. A close call for sure, as the photographer who had to scat pretty sharpish will testify.

The perfect Welcome Home saw no further scoring before the break although Bentley may claim some kind of reward for his direct hit inside the Warrens Pasty van with a kick to touch!

A flurry of fists in front of Naughty Boys Corner had to suffice as the nearest chance for Doncaster.

The danger at the restart was for a loss of momentum. Bentley's dropkick didn't go as planned and appeared to signal the stuttery start that followed.

With fresh legs in the shape of Maakafi and Frazier, Doncaster's pack at last enjoyed some success in Pirates territory. A rare occurrence to date and their lack of penetration showed until Williams scampered over just after Cowan and Myerscough's introduction after 56minutes. Roberts followed up his top scoring prowess of the previous season to remind the Pirates not to throttle back just yet. 20-7

A flat period ensued as the Knights continued to disrupt their opponents flow and try and make a few inroads of their own. The Pirates defence though did show their mettle when required to halt any further nonsense. Cook's hands were clean even if his kicking foot wasn't into the breeze, and Burgess needed to be alert on one notable occasion in the Clubhouse Corner.

At last with the final fifteen minutes upon us, the Pirates were able to apply some pressure to earn Cook his second penalty success. 23-7

Doncaster responded but saw a certain try go begging through a fumble by Frazier, as it all turned Sevens with McAtee leading the way from behind his own posts. It worked but only just courtesy of Bentley's left peg assisting.

The pressure was on however and camp was made on the Pirates line. Wave after wave of white shirts tried and Maafaki clearly knocked on in contact before the ball was fed out across filed to Williams to dive over swallow-like for his second dot down. Roberts obliged as expected 23-14

Any possible jitters now were quickly dispelled with the try of the game by Bentley, who found space to run over almost from the restart. Cook found his range sweetly again and with that valuable extra league point bagged, the Cornishmen were able to absorb one final Donny flourish to no avail.

30-14 it finished then, in what developed into the archetypal game of two halves. Doncaster will rue their first period performance for sure, but a four try to two count about summed it up with justification.

Cornish Pirates
15 R. Cook 14 R. McAtee 11 N. Jackson 13 M. Hopper 12 S. Winn 10 J. Bentley 9 G. Cattle (capt)(21 J. Doherty 77mins) 8 K. Marriott (20 B. Cowan 50mins) 7 P. Burgess 6 C. Morgan
5 B. Gulliver (18 I. Nimmo 77mins) 4 L. McGlone (19 M. Myerscough 50mins)
3 R. Brits (16 P. Andrew 58mins) 2 D. Ward (17 R. Elloway 77mins) 1 A. Paver.

Replacements: not used 22 T.Luke

Tries: Burgess, Cattle, Paver, Bentley
Cons: Cook 2
Pens: Cook 2

Doncaster Knights
15 Stevie McColl 14 Dougie Flockhart (22 Andy Wright 66mins) 11 Matty Williams
12 Paul Devlin 13 Chris Briers 10 Tristan Roberts 9 Chris Hallam (20 Nathan Jones 65mins)
1 Lewis Thiede 2 Steve Boden (16 Steven Lawrie 55mins) 3 Michael Cusack (17 Dan Frazier 46mins) 4 Glen Kenworthy (18 Matt Challinor 55mins) 5 James Craig 6 Andy Boyde (21 Latu Makaafi 40mins) 7 Neil Cochrane (capt)(19 Chris Walker 78mins) 8 Ed Jackson

Replacements: all used

Try: Williams 2
Con: Roberts 2

Referee : J.P. Doyle (RFU)
Assistants: Mark Liddell & Richard Parker-Sedgemore
Referee Coach: Tony Spreadbury

Mascot: Charlie Todd

Man of Match: Matt Hopper