CORNISH PIRATES SECURE QUARTER-FINAL BERTH

Mission accomplished for the Cornish Pirates in the British and Irish Cup with a quarter-final berth booked following their fourth bonus point win in pool 6.

There was no repeat of their reversal in Jersey in the Championship fixture played in November when they lost to a last gasp penalty by Niall O’Connor 27-25.

Having defeated the islanders last week at the Mennaye the Pirates made it back-to-back wins with a 24-0 win at St. Peter’s.

Kyle Moyle continued on the comeback trail with the Pirates’ opening try with further tries coming from Jack Andre, James Phillips and Kieran Goss with Moyle adding a couple of conversions.

So with a trip to Ulster and then the visit of Ayr to look forward to in the New Year the Pirates can concentrate on making sure their record is good enough for a home tie in the last eight.

Match reports and Ian Davies interview can be found in the following links. WMN Match report by Dick Straughan

Ian Davies’ thoughts

In National League 2 South Redruth and Launceston shape up to next Saturday’s eagerly awaited re-match with contrasting results.

Redruth made the relatively short trip to Clifton but sadly headed back down the M5/A30 with a familiar story to tell, a slow start and in the end another defeat with nothing to show. It finished 35-21 to Clifton. The Reds found themselves trailing 21-0 early on and were having to play catch up. Brett Rule pulled back a try which Murray Westren converted as he did a penalty-try to bring the Reds back to 21-14.

Sadly, Clifton scored a fourth converted try on half-time to re-establish a two score advantage 28-14.
Clifton scored a fifth try soon after half-time and all Redruth could muster in reply was a third try scored by Greg Goodfellow with Westren adding the extras and that was as close as they could get.

Launceston looked set to run up a big win against visitors Dings Crusaders as they led 31-13 at the break thanks to tries from Ryan Westren (2), Barrie Chapman and Jamie Salter all converted by Kieron Lewitt who also kicked a penalty.

However, Dings rallied during the second half to score a couple of converted tries to make the final moments of the game interesting it finished 31-27 to Launceston.

So all roads lead to the Recreation Ground this Saturday for the Cornish derby REDRUTH VS. LAUNCESTON. Redruth will be desperate to land a home win for the home faithful, but Launceston will have other ideas and will be targeting the double over their Cornish rivals.

Kick-off for the game is 2 pm, with £5 entrance for members of Cornish rugby clubs on production of their club membership book on the gate.

The final round of matches were played in the Tribute leagues prior to the Christmas/New Year break.

In Tribute South West 1 West, I witnessed Camborne get back to winning ways with a fine 35-0 win over Bridgwater & Albion at the Rec.
Playing into the teeth of a gale first half, Camborne were delighted to turn around 6-0 up thanks to a couple of penalties from Dave Mankee.
Second half they maintained the pressure to run in five tries through Joe Parma, Dave Roberts (2) and Rob Floyd (2) with Mankee slotting a couple of conversions.

Camborne will host Redruth on Boxing Day in the first of this season’s Rodda’s Milk Cup matches with kick-off set for 2-30 pm on the 26th.

St. Austell will end the year proudly at the top of the Tribute South West 1 West league table following their win against Bideford at Tregorrick 24-18 coupled with previous leaders Cleve defeat at home to Thornbury 18-17!

Saints had to come back from trailing 15-8 at half-time. Ashley Taylor’s try and a Matt Shepherd penalty accounted for their first half scores.
Shepherd then kicked two further penalties to cut Bideford’s lead to just one point before adding the conversion to Callum Wilson’s try. Shepherd’s third penalty made the game safe before Bideford scored a penalty to snatch a losing bonus point, which could prove vital in their battle to avoid the drop.

Wadebridge Camels are in the relegation dog-fight going into the New Year following another defeat this time at Cullompton 28-6. Josh Taylor kicked both their penalties.

Camels are just three points ahead of Bideford and the drop zone.

In Tribute Western Counties West; Truro enjoyed a good win at Wellington 13-10. Gareth Dodson and Matt Cross scored the tries with Tom Hadfield kicking a penalty.

Penryn made up for their loss against Burnham-on-Sea at the Memorial Ground last week with a much improved result against Tavistock winning 42-24.
Veteran Sam Harrison came back to lend a hand at the Borough. Jake Seviour, Phil Hinchley (2), Will Payne, Mitch Vague, Adam Hughes, Matt Williamson and Andrew Seviour all scored tries for Penryn with Jake Seviour adding a conversion.

Burnham-on-Sea made it successive wins in the Duchy winning 24-9 at St. Ives. Craig “Eggy” Williams kicking all the Hakes points with three penalties.

Bude lost at Devonport Services 23-8. Andy Yates with a try and Ollie Denford penalty were the seasiders point’s scorers.

A fine end to the year for London Cornish in London 2 SW, as they culled Teddington Antlers at Bushy Park 53-0, scoring nine tries. There were hat-trick try hauls for both Tim Homan and Rich Skinnard with Mark Osei-Tutu grabbing a brace and Phil Francis also crossing.
Luke Spells chipped in with four conversions.

In Tribute Cornwall and Devon League, a late penalty from Justin Irons gave Falmouth an 8-5 win over visitors Crediton. Sam Burke scoring the Eagles try.

Pirates Amateurs defeated Saltash at the Mennaye 13-6. Danny Toolan with the only try of the game and Rhys Brownfield’s boot accounted for the home sides’s points, whilst Max Venables slotted a couple of penalties for the visitors.

Newquay Hornets lost at home to Exeter Saracens 17-5. Tim Eustice with their only try.

Veor lost at home to Tiverton 48-14. Rapson and Stone with their tries both converted by Arthur.

There was just the one game in Tribute Cornwall 1; leaders Liskeard/Looe re-enforced their position at the top of the table with a 21-0 win at Stithians.

In Tribute Cornwall 2, we already know our champion, it’s Illogan Park who defeated Camelford 44-0.
St. Just remain in second place following their 39-5 win over Redruth Albany, whilst at the foot of the table St. Day closed the gap after defeating Lankelly-Fowey 31-10.

Apart from the Cornish derby next Saturday there are two other Cup games in the county.
Penryn play Ivybridge in the RFU Intermediate Cup and Liskeard/Looe play Topsham in the RFU Junior Vase. Both games kick-off at 2 pm.

Posted in Bill's Blog

One comment on “CORNISH PIRATES SECURE QUARTER-FINAL BERTH
  1. Stuart Hoy says:

    ……thank you Bill! ……G8 report! Looks like a fine build up 2the ‘Derby’ @Reds Cheers! Stuart Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2013 16:21:04 +0000 To: sghoy57@hotmail.com

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