Poor old Brett Davey was as baffled as the rest of us as he seeked to come to terms with the latest disappointing performance from the Cornish Pirates as they lost for the first time in Cornwall to the Doncaster Knights by 33-23 yesterday at Camborne. It wasn’t just the players who gave a below par performance. Not for the first time this season the standard of refereeing was once more called into question by a bizarre performance, which left many a seasoned onlooker more than just perplexed. With the game at this level moving more and more professional then performances by the officials need to be up to scratch, people’s livelihoods will depend on it much more, a fact of the modern game.
Both sides had a player dismissed Matt Evans for the Pirates for stamping and Adam Kettle for Doncester for throwing a punch. For the visitors, former Pirate and son-in-law of Pirates CEO Rod Coward, Wes Davies scored a couple of tries, Davies is rumoured to be heading back to Cornwall next season according to today’s Western Morning News. There other tries were scored by scrum-half Matt D’Arcy and a penalty try, following a succession of collapsed scrums near the Pirate’s line. Jamie Lennard chipped in with a couple of conversions, two penalties and a drop-goal, For the Pirates there were tries from Marika Vacacegu, Nicky Griffiths and Heino Senekal with Rhys Jones adding a couple of penalties and a conversion.
So Saturday the Pirates will look to round off the season with a win against London Welsh, but given the up and down nature of this season there is no certainty of success. For many of the current squad it will be their final apperance in a Pirate shirt as well as coach Brett Davey who is moving on after taking over in January after Mark Hewitt’s dismissal.
Next Saturday will also mark the final commentary from Dave Martin who has been the voice of rugby on BBC Radio Cornwall for many years. Thank you Dave for bringing many wonderful matches to us over the years.
In National League 2 it was party time at Redruth as the Reds finished on a high at home winning 18-14 against a Stourbridge side who were fighting to stave off being dragged into the relegation battle at the foot of the table. Young scrum-half Nick Simmons scored a fine try with Rob Thirlby grabbing another during the second half. Mark Scrivener kicked a penalty and conversion, whilst Brett Rule added a second penalty early in the second half. The match marked Richard Carroll’s final game for Redruth. What a sevent he has been to both Redruth and Cornwall, though he may still feature for Cornwall in this season’s County Championship!
The Cornish All Blacks lost at Westcombe Park 34-19. The CAB’s scored their 19 points when they were already 34-0 down. Adam Staniforth, Jason Luff and Tony Roques scored tries with Staniforth adding a couple of conversions. The end of season can’t come soon enough at Polson.
Likewise for Mount’s Bay once again rocked by late withdrawls before their fixture at Waterloo. to their credit they did at least score four tries through Brett Stroud, Richard Bright, Duke Seymour and Tim Mathias, in a 51-31 defeat to claim a bonus point. Dan Hawkes kicked all four conversions and a penalty.
It was the final day in the Tribute South West Leagues. In South West 2 West, St. Ives lost their final game at Sidmouth 21-20. For the Hakes Hano Dirksen and Tom Outram scored tries with Rudi Meredith and Dirksen adding the conversions. Meredith ended the afternoon at Exeter Hospital following an ankle injury. Dirksen added a couple of penalties. St. Ives finish in 4th position in Tribute South West 2.
In Tribute Western Counties West it was a day of utter frustration for Wadebridge Camels as they lost out on a play-off place as they were defeated at North Cornwall rivals Bude 25-16. For Bude Lee Weston, Matt Trewin and Olly Denford all scored tries with Ollie Rayner kicking the other points. For the Camels Alisdiar Maclennan scored a try with Josh Taylor adding the conversion and three penalty goals. A third place finish for the Camels they will hope for more next season, whilst Bude ended up eleventh.
Newquay Hornets ended their season witha 39-20 defeat at Devonport Services to leave them in sixth place in the league. Camborne lost 32-3 at Weston Hornets with just a Joe Parma drop-goal for their efforts a very disappointing season sees them finish a lowly ninth!
In London 3 SW, coach Dickon Moon’s call for a “big finish” fell on deaf ears as the exiles lost at home to London Irish Amateurs 17-9. It has still been a fair season for Cornish who finish 5th in the league. Next season Cornish will hope to challenge for promotion to London 2 South.
In the Tribute Cornwall & Devon League, Penryn clinched the league title with 23-7 win at Crediton. A couple of tries from scrum-half Dave Pascoe and a try by No.8 Rob Trevaskis helped the Borough on their way. Truro finished in third place and will be promoted thanks to the league re-jigging. They finished their program with a 110-3 win over Saltash scoring sixteen tries with Luke Trescothick grabbing five of them and Joe Williamson three. Ashes finished in tenth spot in the league. Hayle lost to Tavistock 19-3 to finish in nineth,whilst Falmouth propped up the table after another big defeat 76-0 at home to Okehampton.
In Tribute Cornwall 1, Stithians followed up their Skinners Cornwall Clubs Cup final win over Bodmin with a second win over the same opponents in a week 49-10 to claim the Cornwall 1 title. St. Austell who won 71-3 at Helston go into next weekend’s play-offs against Devon side Torrington for promotion to the Tribute Cornwall & Devon League. Veor ended up champions of Tribute Cornwall 2, but of course Cornwall 1 and 2 combine for next season to form one league.
