CORNISH PIRATES SECURE QUARTER-FINAL BERTH

Three cracking first half tries put the Cornish Pirates on course for the quarter-finals of the British and Irish Cup at cold but sunny Mennaye on Sunday.

A 34-14 score-line sounds impressive enough, but hats off to Dundee High who fought all the way and enjoyed some good periods of possession.

Sadly Scottish International Rory Lamont who is on the comeback trail following his serious injury last February whilst playing for Scotland against France at Murrayfield was not able to play at the Mennaye, he was however at the ground and mingled and chatted to supporters who wished him the best.

Great to also see Tom Duncan come off the bench and make his Pirates debut. During the second half the Pirates fielded an all Cornish front row with Paul Andrew, Darren Semmens and Peter Joyce! It’s great to see local talent given a chance to play at this level with a local team in Cornwall.

You can read my report on the match in the link here.

I like the British and Irish Cup and it is refreshing to have two Head Coaches on Sunday Ian Davies and Ian Rankin (Dundee High), both speak highly of the competition, you can sense their enthusiasm for the Cup  in their post-match interviews and that has to be a good thing for the British and Irish Cup to progress.

The Cornish Pirates will travel to Carmarthen Quins on Saturday knowing a win will guarantee a home quarter-final, however wins in Wales are not always easy to come by!

On Saturday in National League 2 South a brace of wins for our Cornish sides. Redruth played their first game of 2013 with a 26-3 win at Bournemouth.  Tom Notman scored two tries with other scores coming from Fraser Kellythorn and Craig Bonds with Paul Thirlby adding three conversions. The game was brought to an end after 64 minutes by referee Veryan Boscowen due to the heavy rain, the result will in probability stand.

The Cornish All Blacks maintained their fine run with an impressive 32-10 win over Dings Crusaders at Polson Bridge. Ben Hilton, Richard Bright (2) and Richard Friend scored the All black’s tries with Kerion Lewitt adding the other points with the boot.  Read Dick Benson-Gyles report from the Morning News in the link.

In Tribute South West 1 West, Camborne followed up their excellent win at home against Old Reds with an important away win at Chard 11-8. Despite playing most of the game with 14 men following Ashley Lawton’s red card, Camborne kept their try-line intact and nicked the win thanks to a try from Joe Parma and a couple of Dave Mankee penalties.

Next up for Camborne are Wadebridge Camels at the Rec.

Camels got back to winning ways with a 27-21 win over Bridgwater & Albion. Camels tries came from Sam Stone, Ben Collings and Gary Glyn with Josh Taylor converting all three tries and adding a couple of penalties.

In Tribute Western Counties West, St. Austell continue to make the pace, Okehampton the latest victimes at Tregorrick 25-11. Alex Welland (2), Rob Jeffs and Scott McNally got the tries for the Saints with Matt Shepherd’s boot kicking five points.

Truro got a welcome win beating Honiton 15-10 at St. Clements.  Tim Gay and Shaun Roseveare got the tries with Jake Champion kicking the other points.

Penryn went down at Torquay Athletic 47-15. Chris Hillier and Matt Paxman got the Borough’s tries with Matt Horton’s boot adding the rest of the points.

Bude lost another tight game at Bencoolen, 13-12 to Devonport Services. Harry Goodrun and Kyle Speare scoring the North Cornwall side’s tries.

Up in London and London Cornish lost at Teddington 34-13 in London 2 SW.

In Tribute Cornwall & Devon League with St. Ives getting a walkover against Plymouth Barbarians, Pirates Amateurs could not prevent Teignmouth from maintaining their lead at the top as the South Devon side won 47-12. Dan Lugg and Ryan Forrester scored tries for Amateurs.

Falmouth Eagles won the Cornish derby against Hayle at the Rec 16-11. The Lions raced off to an 11-0 lead with a try from Danny Clackworthyand a couple of penalties from Martin Strick, then Hayle lost Rob Cotter to a red card and the tide turned. Two Rob Banks penalties brought Falmouth back then winger Ollie Church scored the vital try which Banks converted for the lead. A third Banks penalty sealed the win for Falmouth.

All other games in the league were postponed.

In Tribute Cornwall 1 Veor beat Helston 38-9 to remain top.

Stithians (3rd) beat Perranporth (2nd) 27-12 and are now just two points adrfit of Perran with a game in-hand.

Roseland won at St. Just 46-7 but both these sides are looking doomed for Cornwall 2 next season.

In Cornwall 2, leaders Bodmin were heading for defeat at St. Day when the game was abandoned after 65 mins after a mass brawl in a game that had already seen three red cards! The score was 19-0 to St. Day at the time.

Camborne School of Mines won at Trewergie 31-8 against Redruth Albany. Camelford against Lankelly-Fowey was postponed.

On Sunday St. Agnes booked a place in the Tribute Cornwall Clubs Cup semi-finals following a 25-13 win against Helston at Enys Parc.