By Bill Hooper, at the Recreation Ground Camborne

Cornwall did their best to try and give themselves a chance of going to Twickenham next Sunday, but the narrow loss of Hertfordshire 27-25 at Gloucestershire saw the home-counties side through to their second successive final against title holders Lancashire who accounted for Cheshire at Broughton Park 36-29.

There was disappointment once more for centre Ryan Westren, whose groin injury flared up preventing him from playing. Steve Johns moved from the wing with Tom Notman coming off the bench and Aron Struminski a star from this season’s U.20 campaign coming on to the bench.

Cornwall’s head coach Dave “Benji” Thomas was pleased with the win, but still felt aggrieved with last week’s rub of the green at Hertford. He said. “They came out of the blocks all firing, they had a solid pack and some pacey backs and it took us a little while to get to grips with them. We got the early try, but we were in their twenty-two a number of times during the first half and didn’t come away with points, which were really quite crucial, I felt the boys were a little over anxious in their execution”.

“At half-time we had a good chat, we told them they needed to keep the ball and play to the patterns we had been playing in our previous games, we did that and in the end we scored some good tries. Our forwards were immense especially the driving mauls and in the loose getting possession”.

“I know we lost that game last week by two points, but today was a fitting end for an exceptional group of players who have shown great spirit and commitment from day one when we assembled at Kingsley Village to map out our plan for the season. Hopefully we can keep this group together and kick on again next season and get to Twickenham”.

Cornwall elected to play up the slope first half and were rewarded with an early try after just 7 minutes scored by hooker Jamie Salter following some good work by the Cornish forwards.

Brett Rule added the first of his three conversions and Cornwall looked well set to dominate proceedings.

However, the visitors had other ideas and came back into the game well, scoring a well-worked try by Rhys Crane (Nottingham) on his county debut.

Goal kicker for the visitors Jimmy Oliver had an off-day with the boot missing the conversion and penalty shortly afterwards.

Cornwall really should have the most of their possession during the first half but saw some guilt-edge chances missed to go further ahead. Johns was held up over the line, whilst No.8 Sam Hocking crucially lost the ball near the whitewash.

Cornwall had the better of it with centre Lewis Paterson once more catching the eye along with the forwards notably prop Darren Jacques who carried well and was immense at scrum time, flanker Mike Rawlings always in the thick of the action and skipper Ben Hilton leading by example.

There was no further scoring during the first half so Cornwall turned around 7-5 to the good.

Cornwall needed an early try at the start of the second half and it come following several phases from Johns who angled his run to make the line.

Rule having missed the conversion made amends shortly after with a penalty to nudge Cornwall 15-5 ahead.

As the half wore on Cornwall needed tries. North Midlands were reduced to fourteen men as flanker Daniel Smith took a yellow card for offside. Rule kicked the penalty towards the clubhouse corner, Cornwall drove from the lineout with Hilton getting the black and gold’s third try.

Rule kicked the conversion, but with time fast running out Cornwall needed a fourth try to stand any chance of overhauling Hertfordshire.

Well into time added on Cornwall got the fourth try again from a forward drive with flanker Tom Rawlings getting the score, Rule added the extras but at the final whistle the news filtered through that Hertfordshire despite losing had done enough.

North Midlands defeat sees them relegated after just one season in the top division to be replaced by Kent who beat Somerset 32-28.

Cornwall 29 pts

Tries – Salter, Johns, Hilton, Tom Rawlings Penalty – Rule, Conversions – Rule (3)

North Midlands 5 pts

Try – Crane

Yellow Card – Smith (80)

Cornwall (Cornish All Blacks unless otherwise): B Rule (Redruth), R Bright, S Johns  (Plymouth Albion), L Paterson, T Notman (Redruth), J Murphy, D Pascoe (Penryn & Royal Navy); D Jacques (Redruth), J Salter, C Williams (Redruth), B Hilton (Capt), B Jenkins (Cambridge), M Rawlings, T Rawlings, S Hocking (Plymouth Albion).

Replacements all used: R Brown (Redruth), P Joyce (Redruth), C Fuca (Redruth), T Duncan (Redruth), G Goodfellow (Redruth), S Parsons (Redruth), A Struminski .

North Midlands: M Farrington (Dudley Kingswinford); R Crane (Nottingham), W Richards (Luctonians), F Pierpont (Birmingham & Solihull), C Mitchell (Plymouth Albion); J Oliver (Camp Hill),  D Brazier (Moseley);  C Voisey (Moseley), D Osleton (Rugby Lions),  S Thorpe (Dudley Kingswinford), E Parry (Dudley Kingswinford  capt),  M Lee (Old Saltleians),  D Smith (Luctonians), N Roy-Smith (Luctonians),  R Hill (Camp Hill).

Replacements used: C Lea (Birmingham Civil Service), I Darkintis (Birmingham & Solihull), T Breakwell (Old Halesonians), T Hughes (Malvern), S Leach (Camp Hill), I Mustow (Malvern). Not used: D Protherough (unattatched).

Referee: Shane Lewis (RFU)

Cornwall Star man: Darren Jacques put in some big drives and as always solid at scrum time.

WESTREN RETURNS TO FACE NORTH MIDLANDS

By Bill Hooper TASC Press Officer, at Recreation Ground Camborne

London Scottish centre Ryan Westren has recovered from a groin injury to line up for Cornwall in the final pool match in this season’s Bill Beaumont Cup Southern Section against North Midlands at Camborne kick-off 3 p.m.

Westren’s selection sees Steve Johns (Plymouth Albion) revert back to the wing in place of Rhodri McAtee (Cornish Pirates) who is unavailable.

Jake Murphy (Cornish All Blacks) ever present in the squad this campaign comes in at fly-half for unavailable club-mate Lewis Webb.

The other change to the starting XV is at scrum-half where Dave Pascoe (Royal Navy)  starts with Greg Goodfellow (Redruth) reverting to the bench.

The replacements bench is made up of players from the Redruth club with centre Sam Parson being added as backs cover.

Cornwall coach Dave “Benji” Thomas was pleased with the attitude and commitment of the squad. He said. “Training went really well tonight, but it’s been really good all the way through. This has been an exceptional bunch of players who have really brought in to what we want to achieve”.

Benji confirmed that despite not training due the knock he received on Saturday that full back Brett Rule should be fit after treatment.

Cornwall (Cornish All Blacks unless otherwise): B Rule (Redruth), R Bright, R Westren  (London Scottish), L Paterson, S Johns (Plymouth Albion), J Murphy, D Pascoe (Penryn & Royal Navy); D Jacques (Redruth), J Salter, C Williams (Redruth), B Hilton (Capt), B Jenkins (Cambridge), M Rawlings, T Rawlings, S Hocking (Plymouth Albion).

Replacements: R Brown (Redruth), P Joyce (Redruth), C Fuca (Redruth), T Duncan (Redruth), G Goodfellow (Redruth), S Parsons (Redruth), T Notman (Redruth) .

North Midlands have included 12 newcomers in their squad for their final County Championship Bill Beaumont Cup Division One South group match against Cornwall at Camborne on Saturday May 19 (3pm), writes Paul Bolton.
Injuries and unavailability have forced North Midlands to field a much-changed sideto that which beat Gloucestershire 47-37 at Stourbridge last weekend.
Dudley Kingswinford full-back Matt Farrington, Nottingham wing Rhys Crane,  Camp Hill fly-half Jimmy Oliver, Moseley scrum-half Dave Brazier, Bournville lock Rob Griffin and Luctonians flanker Daniel Smith are the debutants in the starting XV.
Farrington and Oliver have impressed playing in the RLF North Midlands Championship this season and Brazier for North Midlands Under-20s and Midlands Under-20s.

The replacements’ bench includes six newcomers with Birmingham Civil Service hooker Craig Lea the only one who has played senior county rugby before.
North Midlands will secure their place in the top flight if they beat Cornwall but they could lose and still stay up if Gloucestershire fail to beat Hertfordshire in the other group match.

North Midlands v Cornwall 15 Matt Farrington (Dudley Kingswinford); 14 Rhys Crane (Nottingham), 13 Will Richards (Luctonians), 12 Fred Pierrepont (Birmingham & Solihull), 11 Cameron Mitchell (Plymouth Albion); 10 Jimmy Oliver (Camp Hill), 9 Dave Brazier (Moseley); 1 Craig Voisey (Moseley), 2 Dan Osleton (Rugby Lions), 3 Stef Thorpe (Dudley Kingswinford), 4 Ed Parry (Dudley Kingswinford – captain), 5 Rob Griffin (Bournville), 6 Daniel Smith (Luctonians), 7 Nathan Roy-Smith (Luctonians), 8 Rob Hill (Camp Hill).

Replacements: Craig Lea (Birmingham Civil Service), Ignas Darkintis (Birmingham & Solihull), Tim Breakwell (Old Halesonians), Mitch Lee (Old Saltleians), Tommi Hughes (Malvern), Steve Leach (Camp Hill), Ieuan Mustow (Malvern).

Cornwall’s skipper Ben Hilton has penned his thoughts on the defeat last Saturday at Hertford.

He and the rest of the squad also look forward to sharing a beer or two with all the supporters after the final whistle.

“First of all…Let me thank everyone who came up to Herts to support the boys. We gave it our best shot, certainly against a much stronger team on paper. For 70 minutes we absolutely crushed a very very capable team, unfortunately for us, they showed just how capable in a spell of about 6 minutes or so. That is a sign of a very good team – to play poorly and still end up with a W!

“For us I think we should be disappointed and it also highlights just how much focus is required throughout the entire game. They capitalised on our few mistakes and there really were, literally, just a few. We played the game perfectly but for a few minor minor events / decisions / mistakes.

“For me – to give a full penalty for an accidental offside from the kick off knock on is rather officous, Sam (Hocking) was unlucky and the ball bounced and hit Bryns’ leg. They ended up scoring from that penalty.
“Our kick off didn’t go 10, giving them possession immediately after they picked up the pace. This eventually swung the momentum and resulted in a second try in quick succession.

“Other than that I thought we managed the game perfectly up until that point. Yes I would have expected a penalty try considering we did have their scrum over their try-line on at least 7 occasions but only to be reset or be awarded only a full arm penalty. What was said before the game about aspects of the scrum were not upheld during the game, which is frustrating. I know there will be some out there who said I should have persevered with the scrum dominance but in my opinion for the Herts scrum half to dive on the ball – while we were walking over their try-line to score a pushover, is somewhat cynical – when I asked the referee if he felt that was a try scoring opportunity he said no and awarded us a penalty. Two minutes left to play – do I risk any number of things happening or going wrong in yet another scrum? Or do I take the relatively straight forward 3 point shot, we then get the ball back and see out the final minute? I chose the cup final approach that is county rugby and the percentages say take the shot to gain the lead. If you get a chance – take it. The wind kicked up and swirled the ball off the post. Very, very difficult pill to swallow for me and I am sure the rest of the boys and the supporters alike feel equally down.

“We would like to see everyone down at Camborne where we all will be signing off our rugby season. Please come down and have a beer with the guys – everyone is staying for a social after the North Midlands match. I think we will be in for a very tough match after a deflating week. We will need all the support we can get, especially after their result on Saturday.

“Let’s not forget – mathematically it is possible for us to still win the group….but likewise it is also possible that we could finish in last place which would be a travesty but the bonus point system could make life difficult for everyone. Let’s hope it is not us!!

“I have felt very honoured and privileged to captain such a great bunch of loyal Cornwall supporters – there is something special about the unity of the squad and that only makes yesterdays game even more painful. Thanks to everyone involved and i would love to see and hear you all on Saturday.

Kindest regards to you all

Ben and the rest of the Cornwall squad and management 2012

So the twenty-one point advantage proved to be more than enough after the first leg of the semi-final as the Cornish Pirates, despite losing at the Memorial Ground 29-18 went through on aggregate 63-53 over favourites Bristol.

The Pirates exposed Bristol in open play scoring two cracking tries on the counter through full back Rob Cook and openside flanker Phil Burgess.

Bristol did their best to try and pull back the deficit, but as the game wore on they never had enough of a margin, their final try brought them to within seven, but Cook’s final penalty meant they needed to score twice as the minutes ticked away at the end of the game.

So the Pirates will now face London Welsh in the final with the first leg to be played at the Mennaye on Wednesday 23rd May kick-off 7-45 pm with the return to be played at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford a week later on the 30th May again at 7-45 pm.

In the Bill Beaumont Cup, Cornwall came close to upsetting Hertfordshire losing 29-27, a game they will feel that they should have won.

Despite the RFU tables showing Hertfordshire on 9 points, they actually have 10 points having scored four tries or more in both their wins so far.

Cornwall will have a tough finale on Saturday when they take on North Midlands, who beat Gloucestershire last Saturday.

Needless to say Cornwall could do with a good crowd to get behind the boys on Saturday, so get down to Camborne for the 3 pm kick-off.

For one day only………..! This Saturday the Olympic Flame will traverse the Duchy on its first leg on the journey around the United Kingdom having been flown in to RNAS Culdrose on Friday under immense, almost unprecedented security. I understand many of the roads around the base will be closed off just for the plane to land!

The flame will then be carried by various runners/torchbearers passing by Helston and Falmouth before heading East towards Plymouth via Truro. Yachtsman Ben Ainslie a triple Olympic gold medal winner who learned to sail in the Carrick Roads will be the first bearer to set off from Land’s End. There will be many worthy members of the public who will carry the torch through the towns and villages along the route, including the Cornish Pirate’s captain Gavin Cattle.

Much has been said about the legacy of the Olympics be it cultural, sporting, economic or facilities. Sadly, and not for the first time, Cornwall is set to miss out totally on any such legacy.

We failed to attract any of the nations competing at the Games to set up pre-Olympic training camps in Cornwall, simply because we totally lack in infrastructure. For too long we hid behind the myth that Redruth’s Recreation Ground had the biggest capacity outside of Twickenham. The modern game requirements and Health & Safety put paid to the myth.

Despite the chronic lack of investment in stadia in Cornwall for generations, when the time has come to put right that neglect, people navel gaze and drum up every excuse under the sun not to put money into a project which will in the long-term, and that is how it must be viewed, will bring untold benefits to the people of Cornwall, not just in terms of sporting achievement but economically and socially as well.

So in this the week when the world looks to Cornwall, what a message it could give by assisting in the cost of the delivery of a sporting arena that will serve the county for many, many years to come. That would be a true statement in the Olympic spirit!

HERTFORDSHIRE 29 – 27 CORNWALL

Cornwall’s hopes of reaching a first County Championship Final since 1999 rest out of their hands following this narrow defeat at Hertford.

It’s a game Cornwall will look back on and know they should have won as they lead 24 – 8 early in the second half.

They were rocked by three second half tries which gave Hertfordshire the advantage.

Cornwall had a chance to regain the lead but a late penalty from Dave Pascoe, which looked set to go through the posts, was caught by the wind and slammed into the upright and stayed out!

By such small margins are games won and lost.

Cornwall trailed to an early Liebenberg try after just five minutes as Hertfordshire dominated the early exchanges.

However, Cornwall soon found their feet with full back Brett Rule kicking a penalty.

Richard Gregg and Rule then swapped penalties before Cornwall got their opening try scored by centre Lewis Paterson for an 11-8 score-line to Cornwall.

Cornwall kept the pressure up getting a second try just before half-time with prop Darren Jacques claiming the score. Rule slotted the conversion for an 18-8 half-time advantage to the men in black and gold.

Rule kicked a penalty to extend Cornwall’s lead soon after half-time, but sadly the Redruth full-back had to retire injured soon after.

Dave Pascoe on for scrum-half Greg Goodfellow assumed goal kicking duties and stretched Cornwall’s lead with another penalty to 24-8.

Hertfordshire’s Rob Schillaci scored a try, which fly-half James Shanahan converted.

Pascoe kicked a second penalty for Cornwall to keep them ahead 27-15

Sadly Cornwall then conceded two quick tries which put Hertfordshire back into the lead 29-27.

Tom Jubb got the first of the two tries and then replacement winger Mike Allen scorched in out wide to leave a tough touchline conversion for Tom Newton who kicked a superb kick.

Cornwall looked to comeback but their final chance from Pascoe’s penalty kick which struck the post left them empty handed.

Hertfordshire:Richard Gregg (Old Albanian); Kameli Ratouvou (Saracens), Joel Tomkins (Saracens), Chris Lombaard (Old Albanian), Ben Ransom (Saracens); James Shanahan (Old Albanian), Stefan Liebenberg (Old Albanian); Jared Saunders (Saracens), Brett MacNamee (Hertford) (Capt), Rob Schillaci (Hertford), Craig South (Hertford), Tom Mowbray (Chinnor), Ollie Cooper-Miller (Old Albanian), Rod Fahrenheim (Old Albanian), Billy Johnson (Bedford).

Replacements: Stuart Bailey (Old Albanian), Michael Cade (Old Albanian), Jim Remfry (Barnes), Tom Jubb (Cambridge), Laurence Wright (Old Albanian), Tom Newton (Tring), Michael Allen (Hertford)

Cornwall (Cornish All Blacks unless otherwise): B Rule (Redruth), R Bright, S Johns (Plymouth Albion), L Paterson, R McAtee (Cornish Pirates), L Webb, G Goodfellow (Redruth); D Jacques (Redruth), J Salter, C Williams (Redruth), B Hilton (Capt), B Jenkins (Cambridge), M Rawlings, T Rawlings, S Hocking (Plymouth Albion).

Replacements: R Brown (Redruth), P Joyce (Redruth), C Fuca (Redruth), T Duncan (Redruth), D Pascoe (Penryn & Royal Navy), J Murphy, T Notman (Redruth).

Referee: Terry Hall (RFU)

McATEE SET TO BOOST CORNWALL’S ATTACKING OPTIONS

By Bill Hooper, at the Recreation Ground.

Cornwall went through their final preparations for Saturday’s vital Bill Beaumont Cup match against Hertfordshire at Hertford RFC kick-off 2 pm at a damp and dismal Redruth on Wednesday evening under the watchful eye of Cornwall’s head coach Dave “Benji” Thomas.

However, on the pitch running around with his usual enthusiasm and looking to get involved with the ball was Cornish Pirates’ winger Rhodri McAtee who is set to leave the Mennaye at the end of the season and could very well end up at Redruth next season where he played a few games on loan this season.

After training Benji gave us his thoughts starting with team selection. He said. “The forwards will be the same as started last Saturday against Gloucestershire. In the backs sadly Ryan Westren (London Scottish) still hasn’t recovered from his groin injury, so Steve Johns (Plymouth Albion) moves from the wing to the centre with Lewis Paterson, and we have brought Rhodri in on the wing.

Benji was delighted to be able to have McAtee in his side. “The strength of the Hertfordshire side is in their backs hopefully we are going to be able to match pace with pace especially on the wings with both McAtee and Richard Bright.

“Hopefully we can get enough possession to get the ball wide to our wingers and they will show their paces on Saturday.

“Hertfordshire are going to be a very tough side to beat on Saturday. They have got a few players from Saracens in their side and they are going to be an unknown quantity, but at the end of the day we’ve just got to get on and deal with the opposition on the day, no matter who they play for we’ve got to stick to our game plan and go through our structure and shape and hope to come out with a win which will put us in a good place prior to the final group match against North Midlands on Saturday week at Camborne.

He agreed that the Cornish boys would be travelling with confidence after last Saturday’s great win over Gloucestershire at Redruth. “That Gloucestershire side was as big as we have ever played and I think our boys showed terrific passion and pride against them.

Benji has also had a detailed report of Hertfordshire’s win over North Midlands compiled by London Cornish Director of Rugby Dickon Moon. “I’ve had some long conversations with Dickon he has given me a lot of information which I have passed on to the boys along with a video of their game. So it’s very much a case of “One and All” coming together for Cornwall.

Cornwall (Cornish All Blacks unless otherwise): B Rule (Redruth), R Bright, S Johns (Plymouth Albion), L Paterson, R McAtee (Cornish Pirates), L Webb, G Goodfellow (Redruth); D Jacques (Redruth), J Salter, C Williams (Redruth), B Hilton (Capt), B Jenkins (Cambridge), M Rawlings, T Rawlings, S Hocking (Plymouth Albion).

Replacements: R Brown (Redruth), P Joyce (Redruth), C Fuca (Redruth), T Duncan (Redruth), D Pascoe (Penryn & Royal Navy), J Murphy, T Notman (Redruth) .

RFU CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL 1ST LEG

CORNISH PIRATES 45 – 24 BRISTOL RUGBY

By Bill Hooper at the Mennaye Field Penzance

Twenty-six unanswered points in the final twenty minutes left promotion favourites Bristol bewildered and bemused at the final whistle at the Mennaye Field on May Bank Holiday Monday.

With a 12-05 pm kick-off, little did the crowd suspect of the “high noon” drama that was about to unfold before them in a match, which early on Bristol looked to have a stranglehold on.

Two early converted tries during the first ten minutes for Bristol scored by flanker James Merriman and winger William Helu gave the visitors the perfect start they would have hoped for in the first-leg of this RFU Championship semi-final.

The Cornish Pirates had to dig deep to play their way back into the game after such a disappointing start.

Pirates’ full-back Rob Cook cut the deficit with a penalty on 15 minutes, but that was soon cancelled out as Bristol’s fly-half Matt Jones replied in kind to add to the two conversions he had kicked earlier.

Cook though struck twice more before half-time to leave the Pirates trailing at the break 17-9.

The Pirates had shown plenty of promise during the first half with some big carries from locks Ian Nimmo and Laurie McGlone.

The man who always stands out in the Pirates’ shirt and who will be sorely missed next season when he moves to Harlequins hooker Dave Ward had his usual immense game.

It was vital that the Pirates got the first score in the second period. It came following a period of Pirate’s pressure with a pass thrown out by centre Andrew Suniula was take at pace by Cook who weaved his way through a pretty ordinary Bristol defence to score the Pirates first try of the afternoon on 49 minutes.

Cook’s conversion left the Pirates just a point adrift of the visitors, you could sense the home side’s spirits lifted by the score.

Flanker Phil Burgees put in a tremendous run before fly-half Cieron Thomas’ kick to the clubhouse corner put Bristol under huge pressure. Pirates managed to disrupt the lineout and almost got the try only for referee JP Doyle to penalise the visitors giving Cook the opportunity to put the Pirates in the lead for the first time during the game, his fourth penalty making it 19-17.

Bristol still had some gas in the tank at this stage and played their way into the Pirates’ twenty-two, fine play saw them create a try scoring chance with scrum-half Tipuna Te Ruki providing the scoring pass to winger Helu who ran in his second try at the Newlyn End. Jones’ conversion gave Bristol a five point lead with 22 minutes to play.

Just five minutes later the Pirates’ forwards created a try for prop Carl Rimmer who powered over, Cook’s conversion swinging the game back in the Pirates’ favour 26-24.

Bristol looked to be dead on their feet as the game ticked into the final 10 minutes, the Pirates’ sensed it and took their chance in some style scoring three more tries.

A penalty kicked towards the scoreboard corner saw Nimmo soar to claim the lineout ball, the forwards then drove towards the line before the ball was moved inside for winger Dave Doherty to streak in at the corner, Cook was once again on the money with his conversion taking his points tally past the 1,000 mark in just three seasons at the club.

Then winger Grant Pointer got in on the action breaking a tackle he ran in at the clubhouse corner for the Pirates’ fourth try. Cook kept up his strike rate with another good kick for the extras.

With time almost up the Pirate’s drove another nail into Bristol’s hopes as Rimmer crashed over for his second try of the game, Cook’s final conversion clipped the upright and stayed out.

The final whistle came when replacement scrum-half Tom Kessell kicked a penalty out to the unreserved cheers of the Mennaye faithful.

Cornish Pirates: R. Cook, G. Pointer (M. Evans 76), S. Hill, A. Suniula, D. Doherty, C. Thomas, G. Cattle (capt, T. Kessell 79), B. Maidment (K. Marriott 44), P. Burgess (D. Ewers 76), C. Morgan, I. Nimmo, L. McGlone, A. Paver (R. Brits 79), D. Ward (R. Elloway 75), C. Rimmer (R. Storer 76).

Bristol Rugby: J. Goodridge, J. Tovey, O. Fautua, L. Eves, W. Helu, M. Jones (M. James 60), R. Tipuna, D. Montagu, J. Merriman, I. Grieve (H. Vanderglas), R. Winters, G. Townson (B. Glynn 5), J. Hobson (W. Thompson 27), J. Harris-Wright, M. Irish (M. Lilley 76).

Replacements (not used): T. Slater, T. Channon.

Scorers:- Cornish Pirates – tries: Rimmer (2), Cook, Doherty, Pointer; cons: Cook (4); pens: Cook (4) Bristol Rugby – tries: Helu (2), Merriman, cons: Jones (3); pen: Jones.

Referee: J. P. Doyle (RFU)

Attendance: 2,983

After the match a delighted Cornish Pirates skipper scrum-half Gavin Cattle gave his reaction tom his side’s tremendous win. Asked how he felt when his side found themselves 14-0 down early on. “I wasn’t too concerned as it happened early doors, I knew we could recover. I think half-time was the turning point for us. We said we needed to keep possession more rather than try to force the pass, we were perhaps trying to score too early in phase play, so we kept hold of the ball made them tackle us and then reaped the rewards as we were making positive gains, especially with the like of Laurie McGlone carrying. The forwards got us on the front foot and it went from there really, retaining the possession was the key for us.

“We realised that their forwards were blowing a bit towards the end, but I think we had the greater hunger for the game, we had that edge at the breakdown again giving us some good quality ball to attack with.

“I am really chuffed with the boys effort today, we kicked well used the space and played a really sensible game plan.

Cattle has no doubts that despite his side’s cushion it will be a tough game at the Memorial Ground next Sunday. “In the Championship game up there we had a nineteen point half-time lead and lost, we can’t afford to sit on our laurels and I know we won’t. In the group circle after the game we realised we had to calm down a bit as the job is only half done. We have to keep our feet firmly on the ground building up to Sunday.

You could win tomorrow’s match ball signed by the Cornwall squad.

That’s the prize for the lucky bidder as Trelawny’s Army looks to raise funds for BBC Radio Cornwall’s Phoenix Stroke Appeal at the game tomorrow.

You can make a bid for what will be a much prized memento either by telephone to our Hon.Sec Ian Gordon on 01579 320670 (answer phone will take bids).

Bids need to be in by 6 pm on Sunday 6th May.

or

at our merchandising stand at the game please see our Chairman Phil Trevarton on the stand.

It is hoped to announce the winner of the match ball during commentary of the Cornish Pirates v Bristol game on Bank Holiday Monday 7th May.

National League 1 side Cinderford provide the bulk of Gloucestershire’s squad for Saturday’s opening Bill Beaumont Cup encounter against Cornwall at Redruth RFC kick-off 3 pm.

Team Manager Paul Morris (Cinderford) said: “We may not have had a warm up game like our opponents but all of our squad know each other and the majority play together in national one at Cinderford each week, so we feel motivated and confident in our ability to tackle Cornwall, another strong, traditional rugby county like ourselves.”

“I wish the boys well under the captaincy of Will Foden and thanks also to the team’s great coaches Matt Salter (Clifton, Bristol University) and John Barnes (Hartpury Academy) who have galvanised the side. Good luck.”

Gloucestershire (Cinderford unless stated): M Wilcox, N Codlin, R Winchle, S Rodwell (Hartpury). R Haile (Taunton), R Teague, S Arnott (Southend); J Smart, S Wilkes, N Selway (Lydney), D Wright (Rugby Lions), E King, L Allen, W Foden (Capt), B Walker (Hartpury).

Replacements: C Thompson (Old Patesians), C Meddick (Dings Crusaders) B Sparks, H Tovey (Clifton), S Plummer (Dings Crusaders), G Lewis (Hartpury), J Hannam (Lydney)