13th April, 2009

Pirates Under 13 - Irish Tour Report

Young Pirates Crush London Wasps To Take Irish Crown

The Pirates U13s squad have returned victorious from Ireland having beaten Premiership club London Wasps to win the prestigious Irish International Festival of Rugby in Cork.

The annual tournament which attracts top teams from all over the emerald Isle and the UK is one of the most fiercely contested festivals on the international junior rugby circuit. The young and talented county champions had chosen the Irish festival due to its strong reputation amongst the rugby elite and managed to raise over £11,000 in five months to fund their first overseas tour.

During the two day festival, the Pirates played innovative, exciting and flowing rugby to eliminate the competition in their pool group including top northern team Liverpool St Helens and host club Midleton to gain a final place against mighty London Wasps. As they progressed through the eliminating stages, the team racked up an impressive 140 points and only managed to concede two tries in the entire competition

In a truly compelling and exciting final, the Cornishmen found themselves five points down after the first half when Wasps began to identify the Pirates strengths in the backs and systematically began to close them down. In the second half, the Pirates changed the game plan completely with open play kicking and defeated the Wasps 15-5 in one of the most exciting finals to be witnessed in the festivals history.

A spokesman for Team Tours Direct, the organisers of the festival said "The Cornish Pirates certainly added a new dimension to this year's festival and played some of the best rugby that we have seen in this tournament for some time. We really hope that they come back next year to defend their title!"

Head Coach, Terry Coogan said "I cannot tell you how proud I am of this very talented bunch of lads. London Wasps have a regular squad of over 50 boys from which to select a touring team. To beat a Premiership London side of that magnitude is indeed a great victory and one that we will remember for years to come"

Austyn Hallworth, Team Manager said "We owe a great debt of gratitude to the people of Penzance who generously donated to all of our fund raising activities in a very difficult climate - this is our way of saying thank you."