A summary of the 2010-2011 league season
This page summarizes the league games involving Cornish clubs in the Championship and National League 1 that took place in the 2010-2011 season. (There were no Cornish clubs in National League 2 South this season.)
The Cornish Pirates produced a performance of two halves in their Championship opener against Doncaster Knights at the Mennaye Field.
A devastating opening spell created the platform for an eventual bonus-point success, but a worrying dip in performance, coupled with resurgence from the Knights, made home supporters a touch nervous in the second half, despite the 30-14 final score.
The Pirates made an impressive start, playing with pace and power not previously seen in pre-season games against Newport-Gwent Dragons or the Exeter Chiefs. The opposition yesterday were certainly a significant step below what the Pirates have faced over the past two weekends, but the hosts were ruthless in exploiting the visitors' shortcomings in the first half, with Phil Burgess, Gavin Cattle and Alan Paver all getting on the scoresheet.
However, the bonus point was only secured in the final ten minutes when fly-half Jonny Bentley touched down against the run of play after a spirited Knights fightback led by Matt Williams' double.
Pirates' high performance manager Chris Stirling said: "I think we need to be a little bit more street-wise. We didn't really know how to deal with some of the tactics that were used against us at times and it changed the momentum of the match.
"It definitely wasn't a mental thing today; the guys were fully focused at half-time on building on what was in place. Unfortunately, the opposition had other ideas and they came out and used some stuff that really rocked us and put us off our game – so well done to them."
New signing Matt Hopper took just three minutes of his league debut to cross the whitewash, but the try was disallowed for a forward pass in the build-up. However, the onslaught continued and the Pirates were in front for real by the seventh minute thanks to a Rob Cook penalty.
The Knights hardly had time to take a breath before another Pirates league debutant, Phil Burgess, scored the game's first try, finishing superbly in the right corner with Cook adding the extras.
A slightly fortuitous break soon brought another Pirates score. Laurie McGlone took a pass at pace from Chris Morgan in midfield, the ball bounced high off his chest but the big lock had the speed and co-ordination to make the catch before the ball hit the ground for a knock-on.
McGlone's subsequent powering run laid the platform for skipper Gavin Cattle, who was on hand to supply the finishing touch for an unconverted try.
The Pirates' third try was rather more conventional in the 31st minute – a successful catch-and-drive after Jonny Bentley's penalty kick into touch was dotted down by prop Alan Paver in the left corner.
However, the Pirates were immediately off the boil from the moment the second half started. Donny took advantage and got themselves on the scoresheet when winger Matt Williams surged clear from midfield.
The hosts' second-half malaise seemed to come to an end in the 68th minute when Cook rounded off a sustained counter-attack with a penalty, but the Knights were still charging through the Pirates' defensive line at will.
One such break led to a 72nd-minute penalty, and although the Pirates prevented the visitors scoring from the scrum, Donny recycled the ball into a fine passing move which Williams finished well before Roberts converted.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Bentley secured the bonus point for Pirates with a weaving run to the line on a rare foray into the Knights' half. Cook then rediscovered his kicking boots to add the conversion.
They got the job done in the end but Pirates will need to raise their game for London Welsh's visit to the Mennaye next Sunday. Stirling said: "They've made no bones about the fact that they want to get promoted to the Premiership this year. They are going to come down here and want to win. Hopefully we can pack the place out and make it a very fiery atmosphere for them."
Pirates: Cook; McAtee, Hopper, Winn, Jackson; Bentley, Cattle
(Doherty 75); Paver, Ward (Elloway 75), Brits (Andrew 58); McGlone (Myerscough
54), Gulliver (Nimmo 75); Morgan, Burgess, Marriott (Cowan 54).
Replacement
(not used):Luke.
Scorers: tries Burgess, Cattle, Paver, Bentley; conversions Cook (2); penalties Cook (2)
Doncaster: McColl; Flockhart, Devlin (Wright 68), Briers, Williams; Roberts, Hallam (Jones 64); Thiede, Boden (Lawrie 59), Cusack (Frazier 46); Kenworthy (Challinor 56), Craig; Boyde (Makaafi h-t), Cochrane (capt) (Walker 80), Jackson.
Scorers: tries Williams (2); conversions Roberts (2)
Referee: J P Doyle.
The Cornish Pirates battled doggedly through gloomy conditions to secure their second consecutive Championship victory, beating London Welsh 22-3 at the Mennaye Field.
The home side were decent value for the winning margin by the end, playing with spirit and determination, even if they did stray beyond referee Rowan Kitt's interpretations of the laws occasionally.
Both sides felt Kitt's wrath yesterday afternoon, amassing five yellow cards between them, as Pirates rushed, hassled and spoiled while Welsh grew more and more frustrated. Indeed, both sides reached double figures in the penalty count by full-time.
The Pirates made more of their opportunities with full-back Rob Cook slotting four penalties between the posts, as well as adding a conversion to Rhodri McAtee's late try in a satisfying day's work for the Pirates.
Pirates' backs coach Harvey Biljon said: "I'm absolutely delighted with the way the boys acquitted themselves today. The performance was outstanding, although we still have a lot of things to work on."
The visitors were on the scoreboard first when fly-half Gordon Ross slotted a straightforward penalty after Pirates were caught coming in at the side. However, a similar infringement at the other end gave Cook his chance to level the score just four minutes later.
More Pirates' misdemeanours led to second row Mike Myerscough receiving a yellow card as they continued to frustrate Welsh. And before the big lock could return to the action, fly-half Jonny Bentley joined him in the sin-bin.
The 13-man Pirates took the lead. A rampaging run from man-of-the-match flanker Phil Burgess forced some desperate tactics from the visitors, who were reduced to 14 men for Gordon Ross's part in preventing a counter-attack try.
Pirates pressed on after kicking the penalty into touch and looked to have crossed the whitewash when Burgess took Dave Ward's short pass under the posts. However, an infringement in the build-up saw the try disallowed. Fortunately, the hosts did have an advantage and Cook slotted a close-range penalty to put them in front.
The Pirates were just as dogged in the early stages of the second half. An offside Welsh back soon gave Cook his third successful penalty, opening up a six-point lead.
Welsh's growing frustration boiled over again and lock Mike Powell stuck out an arm to prevent Pirates' skipper Gavin Cattle taking a quick tap penalty. Replacement full-back Grant Pointer stepped up and extended the Pirates' lead to nine points with a penalty kick from just inside his own half.
A fifth Cook penalty amid a flurry of changes for Welsh kept the scoreboard ticking over for the home side.
The cherry on top came with five minutes left – a lung-busting run from midfield by McAtee saw him outpace visiting prop Shawn Pittman to the try-line following a quick turnover inside his own half. Cook then added the conversion.
Cornish Pirates: Cook; Jackson, Hopper, Winn (Luke 72), McAtee; Bentley (Pointer 38), Cattle (capt); Paver (Andrew 40+ 3), Ward (Elloway 79), Brits (Rimmer 80+4); McGlone (Nimmo 79), Myerscough; Morgan (Ward 80), Burgess (Betty 70), Cowan.
Scorers: try McAtee; conversion Cook; penalties Cook (4), Pointer
Yellow card: Myerscough, Bentley, Elloway.
London Welsh: Sampson (Gibson 57); Drauniniu, Tonga'uiha, Whatling, Claassens; Ross (Thomas 69), Runciman (Lewis 60); Holford (Ward 64), Nelson (Ma'asi 64), Pittman; Purdy, Powell; Mills (capt) (Russell 57), Beech (Hills 45), Fisher
Scorer: penalty Ross
Yellow cards: Ross, Powell
Referee: Rowan Kitt (RFU)
Attendance: 2,047
Redruth made a disappointing start to their National League 1 campaign with a narrow loss to their visitors from Yorkshire.
Despite weathering early pressure, Redruth scored the first points of the afternoon with a well-taken try scored by centre Steve Kenward after only 11 minutes following a strong run from No. 8 Mark Bright. Fly-half Aaron Penberthy kicked a fine touchline conversion for a 7-0 lead.
From the re-start Redruth conceded a penalty, which centre Tom Davidson kicked to reduce the arrears.
Further pressure sadly yielded no further points for the Reds during the first half. Instead it was the visitors who troubled the scoreboard with Davidson kicking a second penalty just before half-time.
Penberthy and Hodgson swapped penalties early in the second half, before further Redruth pressure was rewarded with a Bright try after 57 minutes. Crucially Penberthy’s conversion sailed wide of the up-rights, as did a further penalty effort a short time later.
Wharfedale never gave up, and despite losing their skipper No.8 Dave Baldwin to the sin-bin, the visitors struck a telling blow after 72 minutes as they capitalised on a Redruth lineout error in the Reds’ 22. The ball was quickly moved out to mid-field, where centre Andrew Hodgson unpicked the Reds’ defence to score under the posts.
Davidson’s conversion gave the visitors a one point lead they never lost, despite further Redruth pressure and goal kicking opportunities that were ultimately spurned.
Redruth 15 pts: tries Kenward, Bright; conversion Penberthy; penalty Penberthy
Wharfedale 16 pts: try Hodgson; conversion Davidson; penalties
Davidson (3)
Yellow Card – Baldwin (62)
Basic errors and the boot of Park's fly-half Ross Laidlaw turned what could have been an All Black victory into a 26-18 defeat in this National One opener at Priory Lane.
Laidlaw bagged 16 points from two conversions and four penalties, taking full advantage of the visitors' mistakes and ill-discipline.
All Black coach Tony Roques said: "Rosslyn Park were well-organised and a good team but we started off really well and looked dangerous in the backs and our pack supplied decent ball. But we gave them their two tries from simple, basic errors – knock-ons, missing penalty kicks to touch, losing key line-outs.
"I hope we just had a bad day at the office. Looking at the video of the game afterwards was embarrassing. We gave them penalty after penalty and their goalkicker kicked the points. We have some hard lessons to learn, but there were good points too. When we were good we were very good."
The All Blacks went into an early lead with a try from wing Ben Turner after a good threequarter move, but the Londoners soon claimed a lead they were never to lose when fly-half Steve Perry had a clearance kick charged down and all home lock Joseph Launchbury had to do was hack on and fall over the line.
Offside and in-at-the-side offences gave Laidlaw his first two penalties, Mal Roberts replied in kind, and at the interval the All Blacks were five points adrift at 13-8.
Their mistakes continued. Another charge-down, this time from a clearance attempt by scrum-half Lewis Webb, gifted Park their second try, lock Howard Quigley repeating Launchbury's score.
A flurry of successful penalty kicks (a second for Roberts and two more for Laidlaw) and sin-binnings for both sides and the All Blacks found themselves further behind.
They scorched back in the last 15 minutes and were rewarded with a try by flanker Josh Lord after a great run by wing Richard Bright and a sweeping backs move. Roberts converted and the pressure was sustained – but further scores eluded them.
Rosslyn Park: Davies; Lindsay-Hague, Sweeney, Crower (Lewis 58),
Rudd; Laidlaw, Baxter; Huggett; Tauiala (Crotting 68), Collier; Quigley,
Launchbury; Rowland (Pape 3), Barrett (Crotting 8-20), Lock (capt)
Replacement (not used): Lapidus
Yellow cards: Rudd,
Pape
Scorers: tries Launchbury, Quigley; conversions Laidlaw (2);
penalties Laidlaw (4)
Cornish All Blacks: Roberts; Bright, Westren, Nonu, Turner;
Perry, Webb; Andrew (Hurdwell 77), Semmens (Salter 65), Bayliss; Hilton,
Jenkins (Fleming 50); Lord, T Rawlings (capt), M Rawlings
Replacements (not
used): Lewitt, Murphy
Yellow card: Hilton
Scorers: tries Turner,
Lord; conversion M Roberts; penalties Roberts (2)
Referee: G Macdonald (RFU)
Attendance: 850
The Cornish Pirates returned home from the West Midlands with their unbeaten start to the new Championship season intact but there was little else for them to shout about as Brad Davies converted Jack Pons' stoppage-time try with the final kick of the game to snatch a draw for Moseley.
It was probably a fair reflection on their effort and endeavour in a tense contest which lacked true quality from the outset but left the Pirates with much work still to do to establish the level of consistency demanded by their coaches.
Forwards coach Ian Davies said: "It was disappointing to be honest. I think we were lucky to get the draw. Our performance was poor and we conceded four tries."
The Cornish side started well, playing with pace and width which Moseley struggled to counter and were rewarded with a rare try from prop Carl Rimmer.
Fly-half Rob Cook missed the tight conversion into the strong wind but made amends in the 24th minute, as Blair Cowan was tackled off the ball racing to support a Dave Ward break, in landing the penalty for an eight-point lead.
The foul earned Moseley's Davies ten minutes in the sin-bin as they tried to re-adjust to the early loss of lock David Lyons through injury.
The Pirates failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage and Moseley pushed them further back into their own territory. Having defended a series of close-range rucks full-back Anthony Carter broke through for Moseley's first try.
The Pirates lost Rimmer to the sin-bin for persistent fouling and skipper Gavin Cattle with an ankle injury before Moseley stole the lead in first half injury time with Carter's second try. Again he applied the finish after the pack had battered at the Pirates' line and his conversion gave the Midlanders a 12-8 interval lead.
Cook cut the deficit to one point in the 43rd minute as he landed a wind-assisted 40-metre effort after centre Calum MacBurnie was penalised for an offence in the tackle area.
A second Pirates' yellow card, this time to flanker Chris Morgan, handed the initiative back to Moseley and route-one rugby brought a third try. Inside centre Andy Reay applied the finish, Davies the extras.
When the Pirates were not falling foul of referee Darren Gamage for competing aggressively at the breakdown their tactical kicking kept Moseley pinned in their own half. After James Doherty went close with a chip and chase the Pirates finally struck.
Blair Cowan stole turnover ball from a ruck midway inside the home half, Doherty spread the ball wide to centre Matt Hopper who broke left and then flicked a fine inside pass to Nick Jackson who raced unopposed over the line.
Cook was off target with the conversion but levelled the contest at 19-all on the hour as the Pirates won a penalty 40 metres from the target.
With time starting to run down Bressington claimed the ball in his own half before launching a kick back at the Pirates. Full-back Grant Pointer took possession and ran hard at Moseley before offloading to Phil Burgess who raced down the touchline to score.
Cook converted and should have sealed the contest three minutes from time as Moseley were penalised for crossing in midfield but his penalty drifted wide.
In the story of the game, the Pirates again put themselves under pressure by failing to secure set-piece ball and allowing Moseley to crucially win a scrum with time all but up.
A sustained drive at the Pirates' line and support from the backs saw Carter carve out a channel on the right flank before shipping the ball to Jack Pons who skipped along the whitewash from five metres to score.
Trailing 26-24, Brad Davies launched a touchline conversion effort with the final kick of the game which defied the elements to tie the contest.
As Moseley continued to celebrate after the final whistle Ian Davies added: "I don't know if it was a case of us thinking job done when we led eight-nil after 20 minutes but after that there was only one team which deserved the win, and it certainly wasn't us."
Moseley: Carter, Bressington, MacBurnie, Reay, J.Pons, Davies (sin-bin 23-33), Taylor, Williams (Voisey h/t), Caves, Sigley (Williams 63), Lyons (Stott 8), Spivey, Maltman, Pennycook, Evans (B.Pons 20, Evans 75). Replacements (not used) –Protherough, De la Harpe, Gillick, Maggs
Moseley scorers: tries Carter (2), Reay, Pons; cons Davies (2)
Yellow Cards: Davies
Cornish Pirates: Pointer, Davies, Hopper, Luke (Winn 65),
Jackson, Cook, Cattle (capt) (Storer 38-48, Doherty 49), Andrew, Ward (Elloway
65), Rimmer (sin-bin 38-48, Storer 63), Nimmo, Myerscough, Morgan (sin-bin
51-61), Betty (Burgess 63), Cowan (Marriott 63)
Replacement (not used)
Currie
Pirates scorers: tries Rimmer, Jackson, Burgess; con Cook; pens
Cook (3)
Yellow Cards: Morgan, Rimmer
Referee: D.Gamage (RFU)
Launceston’s Ryan Westren deservedly took the man-of-the match award for the home club with a superb hat-trick of tries and a polished all-round performance as the All Blacks took the honours in the first of this season’s Cornish Derbies.
Redruth's indiscipline contributed greatly to their own downfall in a display that will have left Redruth’s Director of Rugby David Penberthy fuming with frustration over his players' performance.
Three times during the first half referee Mr Hall brandished a yellow card in the direction of a Reds’ player!
Owen Hambly was the first to depart after 20 minutes after repeated indiscretions on the deck, then crucially just before half-time Redruth lost both locks Luke Collins and Damien Cook within a minute. The Cornish All Blacks took full advantage during both periods to build up a comfortable lead.
Aaron Penberthy gave Redruth the lead after 17 minutes, but it was short-lived as Launceston’s Mal Roberts landed a penalty following Hambly’s departure and then a conversion to Westren’s first try after 29 minutes.
Roberts then extended his side’s lead following Collins trip to the sin-bin for a high tackle on winger Ben Turner.
Cook’s yellow card right on half-time gave the Cornish All Blacks a tremendous advantage at the start of the second half and they made full use of it.
Roberts stretched his side’s lead with an early penalty then converted Westren’s second try, which came from a Redruth error as they chased the game.
At 23-3 Redruth faced a mountain to climb to get anything from the game. Any hopes were quickly extinguished as Steve Perry kicked out of defence for Launceston, Nathan Pedley mis-judged the ball, which fell kindly for winger Richard Bright who ran in unopposed. Roberts surprisingly failed with the conversion.
The Cornish All Blacks sensed the try bonus point. However, they suddenly found themselves down to fourteen men as scrum-half Lewis Webb became the fourth player to see yellow.
Collins made the most of a drive in the clubhouse corner to score a try for Redruth, and Penberthy’s conversion got the Reds into double figures.
But Launceston were not to be denied. Fittingly it was Westren who got the fourth try to complete his hat-trick following up a kick through from Perry. Roberts added the extras.
Moments later salt was rubbed into the Reds’ raw wounds as replacement winger Kerion Lewitt scored Launceston’s fifth try, Westren this time turning provider.
Redruth did salvage a consolation score near the end when replacement winger Sean Hawkey scored a fine unconverted try in the clubhouse corner.
At the final whistle Redruth were a well-beaten side and the Polson ground savoured another derby day victory.
Cornish All Blacks 40 pts: tries Westren (3), Bright, Lewitt;
conversions Roberts (3); penalties Roberts (3)
Yellow Card Webb
Redruth 15 pts: tries Collins, Hawkey; conversion Penberthy;
penalty Penberthy
Yellow Cards Hambly, Collins, Cook
Two tries in second half stoppage time secured a bonus point victory for the Cornish Pirates over bottom of the table Bees, but they had to scrap every inch of the way for their success in a largely disjointed contest.
The Pirates started brightly and took an early lead through Tyrone Holmes' first try of the season, converted by Rob Cook after just ten minutes.
But the Bees hit back with a penalty two minutes later from Simon Hunt and could have taken the lead had Hunt been on target with two further efforts in a first half dominated by the whistle of referee Mike Tutty.
The visitors emerged after half-time determined to overturn the Pirates lead and after Jack Bentall had been denied a try by Rhodri McAtee's intervention, took the lead after 51 minutes as flanker Jack Preece forced his way over from close range.
Three minutes later Hunt intercepted a wayward pass on half-way and raced home to extend the Bees' lead. Sam Robinson converted to make it 15-7 to the Midlanders.
The Pirates made wholesale changes from the bench and after Tom Luke's try, converted by Cook, with fifteen minutes to go cut the deficit to a single point again, Cook added two penalties to make it 20-15 to the Pirates.
Two further tries in injury time from McAtee and Nick Jackson and another Cook conversion steadied the home nerves after a very tricky day at the office for Chris Stirling's side.
Cornish Pirates: Cook, McAtee, Jackson, Luke, Davies (Pointer 70), Bentley, Doherty (Winn 56), Rimmer (Storer 70), Elloway (Ward 76), Brits (Currie 8-16, 21-25, 56), Nimmo (Morgan 56), Myerscough, Betty, Holmes (Cowan 56), Marriott (capt)
Pirates scorers: tries Holmes, Luke, McAtee, Jackson; cons Cook (3); pens Cook (2)
Birmingham & Solihull: Winter, Elliott, Grove (Tanumi 62),
Lawson, Culpin, Robinson, Petty (Brake 60), Long (capt) (Tau 65), Oselton
(Sammons 55), Halavatau , Sanderson, Griffiths, Bentall (Dugard 16-31), Preece
(Sammons 22-35), Hopley
Replacements (not used) – Sperandio, Binham
Birmingham & Solihull scorers:tries Preece, Hunt; cons Robinson; pens Hunt
Referee M.Tutty (RFU)
This was another disappointing result for the Reds as they went down to their third National League One league defeat of the season against a well-organised Blackheath side who continued their fine start to the season with a third successive win.
There were, however, signs of encouragement to take from a much-improved performance.
Blackheath looked dangerous from the kick-off, with England U18 and Saracens Academy full-back Ben Ransom lively with the ball in hand.
The visitors took an early lead thanks to a penalty from centre Sam Windsor. Following good work from the forwards, Redruth drew level from a penalty by fly-half Aaron Penberthy.
Ransom was again involved in the build-up to Blackheath’s opening try after 10 minutes, as fly-half Matt Vaughan scored in the scoreboard corner following a scoring pass from winger Tyson Lewis.
Penberthy and Windsor then swapped penalties, before the young Reds' fly-half dropped a goal on the half-hour mark.
Redruth enjoyed their best period in the run up to half-time and were rewarded with a fine try, following fine work from the forwards, by full-back Jack Nowell to lead 14-11 at the break.
Hopes that the Reds would go on to record a first league win of the season evaporated soon after half-time as Blackheath capitalised on an error to score a second try from Windsor.
Despite a third Penberthy penalty, Blackheath took firm control of the game with Windsor scoring his second try of the match on 48 minutes to lead 21-17.
Obliged to chase the game, Redruth’s error count mounted. Following a counter from their own 22 Blackheath, snatched a fourth try on 62 minutes to secure the bonus point from replacement centre Sean Moan. Windsor finally kicked a conversion to complete the scoring.
Despite pressure Redruth couldn’t get a score to secure at least a losing bonus point, which their efforts deserved.
Redruth 17 pts: try Nowell; penalties Penberthy (3); drop-goal Penberthy
Blackheath 28 pts: tries Vaughan, S Windsor (2), Moan; conversion Windsor; penalties Windsor (2)
The Cornish All Blacks picked up a couple of points despite losing at Otley 28-25. The All Blacks scored tries through scrum-half Lewis Webb (2), prop Tim Mathias and hooker Jamie Salter. Full Back Mal Roberts kicked a penalty, with Jake Murphy adding a conversion.
The Cornish Pirates suffered their first Championship reverse of the season in a 21-7 defeat to Bristol at the Memorial Stadium yesterday.
Bristol, last season's losing Championship finalists, had failed to win any of their previous four league encounters so far this term, but they found some of their old form to sink the Pirates.
The Cornishmen scored a solitary try through skipper Gavin Cattle early in the second half and will feel that their hosts' 14-point winning margin was rough justice for an improved performance over last week's when they had taken all the points themselves.
The Pirates' high performance manager Chris Stirling said: "It was always going to be a very tough ask coming here. We had opportunities to build pressure on Bristol in the first 20 minutes.
"We could have scored four tries before they got a sniff. In the end, it turned out to be a very hard day at the office for us. Our own errors, and crucial penalties that we conceded, cost us dear."
The Pirates' failure to take their chances proved especially costly when Bristol's former Exeter Chief, Junior Fatialofa, was sent to the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle during the first half. After Pirates failed to take the initiative with an extra man, Bristol scored tries through Jack Adams and Sean Marsden after two Nicky Little penalties had put them in front.
The Pirates did enjoy several forays into the Bristol half – but a combination of their own inability to hold on to possession and the home side's defensive determination denied them a score.
Cattle was pulling the strings for his team, but he was powerless to prevent Fatialofa playing a key role in Bristol's opening try.The big centre powered through the yellow shirts in front of him, before taking Richard Bolt's pass and shipping it out to Adams, who finished in the corner while referee David Rose was playing an advantage for a ruck offence.
However, the Pirates fought back early in the second half. Little failed to clear the danger on two separate occasions, first sending a kick to Rob Cook, before only managing to find Nick Jackson with a similar attempt.
The winger returned the ball to the Bristol 22, before combining with Cook, whose pass sent Cattle over the line with ease and Cook converted. But the hosts responded to the Pirates' challenge. They went close from a rolling maul – and then even closer when Marsden thought he had added a second try.
Replacement Jack Tovey raced through the middle and passed to Adams, who, in turn, found Marsden, who went scampering to the line. But Rose felt Tovey's pass had gone forward and the score did not stand.
That threatened to prove a key moment in the match – but, five minutes later, Adams spotted a gap in the Pirates' defence off a line-out and tore up-field, before finding Marsden, via the hands of Fatialofa. This time the passes in the build-up were all deemed legitimate and Marsden dived over in the corner. Little added a touchline conversion to make it 18-7 – before adding a late penalty.
Indeed, it was the eventual penalty count against the Pirates that irritated Stirling most at the final whistle.
He said: "There was about ten or 12 in the first half – six or seven in the first 15 minutes – and I'm really disappointed in that.
"Then in the second half, we don't clear and we're under pressure and they score. We were our own worst enemy at times."
Bristol: Marsden, Norton, Adams (Barnes 80), Fatialofa (sin-bin 23-33), Watkins (Tovey 24), Little, Bolt (Alford 67), Irish, Hayes (Blaney 67), Vunipola (Moss 75), Glynn (Barry 65), Winters, Grieve (capt), Merriman (Miller 80), Montagu
Bristol scorers: tries Adams, Marsden; cons Little; pens Little
(3)
Yellow Cards – Fatialofa
Cornish Pirates: Cook, McAtee (Pointer 20), Hopper, Winn (Luke 65), Jackson, Bentley, Cattle (capt), Storer (Andrew 65), Elloway (Ward 56), Brits (Paver 56), Nimmo, Myerscough, Morgan (Marriott 73), Burgess (Holmes 75), Cowan
Cornish Pirates scorers: tries Cattle; cons Cook
Referee D.Rose (RFU)
Attendance 4,379
The Cornish All Blacks showed they have the ingredients to succeed – power and pace in abundance, individual flair across the field and no end of endeavour – but a failure to get the mixture right cost them the chance of victory.
The Cornishmen bagged two points from their 24-24 draw with National One leaders Tynedale but they will know that a more cohesive, disciplined display would have blown the visitors away. Instead, their frustrations, and a desperate need for success to eradicate a pre-season points deduction, contributed to a disastrous first half in which they lost two men to the sin bin and attracted the enmity of referee Phil Davies.
That indiscipline destroyed any chance of working to a gameplan in the first 40 minutes, at the end of which they trailed 17-7 before regrouping after the break.
In truth, Mr Davies had a tough time of it trying to control a bad-tempered encounter between two well-matched teams, and he awarded a penalty try to the All Blacks just after half-time. A deliberate knock-on was indicative of the problems faced by the visitors up front, where the attrition rate on their front row eventually led to the game going to uncontested scrums with ten minutes remaining.
Director of rugby Simon Owens was disappointed that, as in the previous outing against Otley, the Launceston side had been unable to harness its strengths into one unified effort, and had paid the price for errors and ill-discipline. He said of the club's mounting tally of yellow cards: "It's killing our game, stopping us playing our patterns and preventing us from playing the rugby we want to play. We're not getting that collective force we need to win games. I know it's there, it's just waiting to be unleashed."
All Blacks centre Ryan Westren though is not waiting around for anyone to unleash him and was again in barnstorming form, and scored the hosts' opening try, a solo break from 30 metres that full-back Mal Roberts converted to level the scores after Tynedale No.8 Phil Dawson had crossed on ten minutes for a try converted by fly-half Gavin Beasley.
But the game was already getting feisty and disrupted by early injuries, Tynedale hooker Matt Fieldhouse the first to depart, closely followed by All Black Mike Rawlings with a leg injury that last night appeared to be not as serious as first thought when the big forward was receiving prolonged treatment on the field before being stretchered off. Replacement Liam Dwyer took over at the back of the scrum.
It was frenetic stuff, but the All Blacks were ineffective at the rucks while former Kiwi-half Jason Spice was often having to deal with scrappy ball from the set pieces. The former All Blacks and Bristol number nine exhibited his own frustrations on 39 minutes by throwing a punch as tempers frayed in the loose directly beneath the gaze of a touch judge, and he was quickly followed into the sin-bin by skipper Tom Rawlings after foul play in midfield that gave Beasley a shot at the posts to make it 10-7.
Tynedale were unable to capitalise on their two-man advantage but still reached the half-time whistle with a ten-point advantage with a converted try by full-back Sep Visser shortly after the teams had been restored to parity.
The Cornishmen piled upfield on the resumption and produced their best passage of play of the game, winning two scrums in the left corner before shipping the ball infield where Tynedale flanker Jon Cousin was forced into a deliberate knock-on, Roberts' conversion to the penalty try closing the gap to 17-14.
Replacement Andrew Harrison's breakaway converted try extended Tynedale's lead to ten points but the hosts were given extra impetus as prop Tim Matthias and centre Ed Lewsey were thrown into the fray and when Tynedale replacement Peter Southern was binned for a professional foul,Westren capitalised on good play by Spice to cross for his second try to reduce the arrears to three points.
The All Blacks pushed for a late winner, and with replacement scrum-half Lewis Webb injecting more energy into the effort, they came close in the left corner when lock Ben Hilton combined with Matthias to drive over, but the ball was held up before Roberts' late penalty sealed the draw.
Cornish All Blacks: Roberts; Bright, Westren. Nonu (Lewsey 56),
Turner; Perry, Spice (Webb, 70)), Hurdwell (Matthias 56), Salter, Bayliss,
Hilton, Jenkins, Lord, T Rawlings (capt), M Rawlings (Dwer 26)
Replacement
(not used): Fleming
Yellow cards: Spice, T Rawlings
Scorers: tries Westren 2; penalty try; conversions Roberts 3; penalty Roberts.
Tynedale: Visser (Cole 52); Ingall, J Harrison, Smales, Rogers; Gavin Beasley, Shaw (Outson 80); Williams, Fieldhouse (Graham 15), A Harrison (Southern 5), Boyle, Irvin (Sorreqquieyta 76), Cousin, Grant Beasley, Dawson
Scorers: tries Dawson, Visser, J Harrison; conversions Gavin Beasley 3; penalty Gavin Beasley
Referee: P Davies (RFU)
Attendance: 579
Redruth Director of Rugby David Penberthy pulled no punches after a disappointing display in London.
"It's back to the drawing board," he said after the 34-15 National One defeat at London Scottish. "We have got to question some of the senior players, some of their body language towards the end was not acceptable. I question whether they want to play for the shirt or not.
"We left our soul on the bus for the first 20 minutes, we hung off tackles and they capitalised but we got ourselves back into it and dominated the second 20 minutes of the first half and were in with a real chance at half time.
"We are in a hole and trying desperately hard to get out of it. You are looking for big people to stand up and be counted and at the moment it is being left to the youngsters to do it.
"If we have got to play the youngsters then that is the way we will go and take whatever comes to us and if our destiny is to be in the bottom three this year, so be it."
Conditions were good at the Athletic Ground as Redruth chose to play into the wind in the first period but a poor first line-out gave Scottish a scrum in the Reds' 22 that ended with Mark Soden charging over for a try after three minutes, James Brown converting.
When Scottish were caught offside Redruth hit back with a penalty from 35 yards by Aaron Penberthy, but Brown responded with a 45-metre penalty after ten minutes.
With Redruth standing off tackles, Scottish stretched the Reds on both sides of the field before some scintillating play by Stephen Hihetah ended with Tim Holgate taking an inside pass and running on to touch down near the posts for Brown to convert.
Three good runs from Lewis Vinnicombe gave the Reds some encouragement and Penberthy, playing with confidence, put in some good kicks as Redruth penned the hosts inside their 22 for a long period.
Redruth had chances but the handling was not clinical enough to cash in. However, two minutes before the break the Reds' pressure paid off with Mark Bright drawing the defence for Nick Simmons to dive over for a try that Penberthy converted.
Any optimism that Redruth had evaporated early in the second period. Once Scottish pushed the Reds back to their 22, their forwards pounded away at the Reds' defence and eventually created space for skipper George Trueman to go over in the left hand corner in the 49th minute for an unconverted try.
For the next 15 minutes Redruth were under the cosh. Player/coach Mark Bright was having a tremendous game but after the Reds were penalised three times in a row in their 22 referee Chris Sharpe sent Damien Cook to the sin bin for being too slow rolling away from a tackle.
Scottish took advantage with Soden going over for his second try after 63 minutes. That put the game out of the Reds' grasp.
The hosts lost lock Josh Brown to the sin bin but pulled further ahead with a try by replacement Alex Karonias that fly half Brown converted.
Steve Kenward ran a good line on a set move to get Redruth a second try with five minutes go but is was little consolation for the Cornishmen for the long journey back to the Recreation Ground.
London Scottish: Bordiss; Hihetah, McInroy ( Damant 76), Trueman (capt), Holgate; James Brown, Page (Grant 74); Johnson ( Fahy 60), Standfield (Clarke 48), McGrath, Newman, Josh Brown, Lipp, Lonergan (Karonias 60), M Soden
Scorers: tries: Soden (2), Holgate (2), Trueman, Karonias;
conversions James Brown 3; penalty James Brown
Yellow Card: Josh Brown
Redruth: Nowell; Vinnicombe, Thirlby, Pedley (Kenward 71), Bowden; Penberthy (Rule 71), Simmons; Jacques (Capt), Brown (Gidlow 57), Joyce (Morcom 57); Cook (Fuca 74), Collins; Duncan, Hambly, Bright
Scorers: tries Simmons, Kenward; conversion Penberthy; penalty Penberthy
Referee: C Sharpe (RFU)
The Cornish Pirates won the first cross-Tamar derby of the season with an emphatic six-try rout of Plymouth Albion at the Mennaye Field.
The Pirates were ahead inside three minutes as Johnny Bentley's cross-field kick found Grant Pointer for the opening try. Kyle Marriott quickly added a second against his former club, but Albion got back into the game with an opportunist score for centre Steve Johns.
Rob Cook and Alex Davies provided the rest of the points in an opening half dominated by the Pirates. But, trailing only 18-13 at the break, Albion were still in the hunt.
What happened in the second half was a different story, as with Sione Tu'ipulotu sin-binned the Pirates added a try from skipper Gavin Cattle and a bonus-point-clinching score just as the Tongan returned.
Pointer claimed a second as he again claimed Bentley's precision chip kick and flanker Sam Betty set up Rob Cook for the final try in the 70th minute.
Graham Dawe used his replacements en masse during the half but the Pirates looked capable of scoring every time they attacked.
Albion lacked creativity and a cutting edge throughout and, despite a late passage of possession, could do nothing to trouble the home defence.
For the Pirates a top of the table clash with Bedford next week awaits, whilst Albion could be in for more pain as they host Rotherham.
Cornish Pirates: Cook (Jackson 75), Pointer, Hopper, Winn, Davies, Bentley, Cattle (capt) (Doherty 66), Storer (Andrew 61), Elloway (Ward 51), Brits (Paver 66), Myerscough (Holmes 70), Nimmo, Marriott, Betty, Cowan (Burgess 80+4)
Pirates scorers: tries Pointer (2), Cattle, Cook, Ward, Marriott; cons Cook (5); pens Cook (2)
Plymouth Albion: Lee (Hallett 65), Mercer, Johns, Tu`ipulotu
(sin-bin 44-54), Coleman (McLoughlin 70), Davies, Cushion (Kessell 65), Porter,
O`Meara, Hopkins (Newport 67), Hotson (Skelding 65), Copeland, Stephen,
Watts-Jones, Hocking (Evans 51)
Replacement (not used) Collier
Plymouth scorers: tries Johns; cons Davies; pens Davies (2)
Yellow cards Tu'ipulotu
Referee P.Knowles (RFU)
Trailing 24-23 a dramatic drop-goal from Aaron Penberthy with the final kick of the match gave Redruth a deserved first win in National League 1 this season.
It looked like the Reds were heading for another defeat as Rosslyn Park’s centre Chris Lewis scored his side’s third try on 79 minutes to take a one point lead with time almost up. Redruth, to their great credit, stormed straight back at their visitors, with the forwards eventually working the chance for Penberthy’s late strike, which the home crowd greeted with joy and relief!
Both sides traded early penalties from Penberthy and Richard Davies for Rosslyn Park, before the first try of the game went to Redruth.
Full-back Jack Nowell enhanced his growing reputation with a strong run out of defence before putting in a fine kick towards Hell Fire Corner behind the visitors' defence. Lewis Vinnicombe chased well to force an error from the defender, which allowed Nowell to finish off the move he started.
Rosslyn Park then capitalised on a Redruth error to draw level with a try from full-back Olly Lindsay-Hague.
A tight struggle tipped back in the Reds’ favour with a second try scored by No. 8 Mark Bright, with Penberthy adding the extras.
Davies pegged back three points with a second penalty before half-time to leave the Reds 15-11 up.
At the beginning of the second half Rosslyn Park put Redruth under tremendous pressure, with Lindsay-Hague grabbing his second try of the match.
A second penalty from Penberthy regained his side the lead, which they extended when Bright stormed in for his second try following good work from Nathan Pedley and hooker Matt Gidlow, for a 23-16 advantage after 64 minutes.
Redruth looked for the try-scoring bonus point. However, Davies with his third penalty and Lewis’ try looked to have snatched the spoils for the visitors, until Penberthy’s last gasp strike.
Redruth 26 pts: tries Nowell, Bright (2); conversion Penberthy; penalties Penberthy (2); drop-goal Penberthy
Rosslyn Park 24 pts: tries Lindsay-Hague (2), Lewis; penalties Davies (3)
The Cornish All Blacks picked up a losing bonus point in their defeat at Stourbridge 17-10. Despite scoring a try from centre Ryan Western with Mal Roberts adding a conversion and a penalty, the All Blacks were undone by two late tries, which swung the game in the home side’s favour.
The Cornish Pirates' long wait for an away win in the Championship continues after losing a thriller at Goldington Road against Bedford Blues.
Rob Cook missed a first minute penalty chance to give the Pirates the lead, before home skipper James Pritchard fired two penalties of his own as the Blues opened a 6-0 lead.
Home scrum-half Darryl Veenendaal was close to the opening try before full-back Ed Thrower was yellow carded for a professional foul. Cook and Pritchard traded penalties before Dave Ward muscled his way over the Blues' line to cut their lead to a single point. Pritchard's fourth penalty made it 12-8 to the Blues at half-time.
Dave Ward's second try with a superb solo break early in the second half briefly put the Pirates ahead, before two quick scores from Ollie Dodge and Tom Bedford restored the home lead.
More brilliant individualism from the Pirates with Rob Cook's outrageous dummy and score under the posts cut the home lead back to four points at 26-22 but any hopes of a Pirates victory were snuffed out as the imperious Pritchard bagged two more penalties.
Rob Cook's forty metre place kick in the 80th minute secured a losing bonus point for Chris Stirling`s side.
Bedford Blues: Thrower (sin-bin 22-32) , Short (Schmidt 69),
Dodge, Bedford, Pritchard, Dorrian, Veenendaal (Walshe 74), Ovens (Walsh 43),
Clark (Richmond 65), Seal, Howard (Tomes 47), Rae, Gillanders, Fraser (Harding
47), Wray
Replacement (not used) Boulton
Bedford Scorers: tries Dodge, Bedford; cons Pritchard (2); pens
Pritchard (6)
Yellow cards Thrower
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Pointer (Jackson 69), Hopper, Luke,
Davies, Bentley, Cattle (capt), Paver, Ward, Brits (Rimmer 56), Myerscough,
McGlone (Nimmo 50), Morgan, Burgess, Cowan (Marriott 78)
Replacements (not
used) Storer, Cowan-Dickie, McAtee
Cornish Pirates Scorers: tries Ward (2), Cook; cons Cook (2); pens Cook (2)
Referee – M.Fox (RFU)
For the second week running young Aaron Penberthy had the chance to win the match with the last kick of the match. Sadly his brave effort, in very tricky kicking conditions, sailed across the face of the posts and Redruth had to settle for a draw.
It’s a game that the Reds will feel they should have won and that’s a fine testament when you consider that Barking had won their five previous matches. The Reds didn’t get much joy from referee Mr Campbell and Barking made the most of it!
The visitors possessed a potent goal-kicker in full-back Adam Armstrong, who kicked five fine penalties to keep his side in the hunt.
With Barking leading 6-3 thanks to Armstrong’s first two success answered by a Penberthy penalty, Redruth struck with two tries in the space of three minutes.
The first, by centre Nathan Pedley on 17 minutes, followed good work from Matt Gidlow and Owen Hambly.
The second, by winger Matt Bowden, followed a period of Redruth pressure and with the Barking defence sucked in there was space outside for the winger to score in the Piggy Lane Corner. Penberthy added the conversion to the second try for a 15-6 lead.
Despite further chances Redruth couldn’t add to their score before half-time. Barking reduced the deficit with Armstrong’s third penalty.
Young full-back Jack Nowell had another fine game for the Reds both in attack and defence. Two great try-saving tackles in the second half kept his side in the game and he was deservedly named man-of-the-match.
Armstrong tied the scores with two more penalties. However, he crucially missed the conversion of Scott Shaw’s try on 75 minutes.
Redruth stormed back at their opponents, camping in their 22, with the forwards making some huge drives to edge them closer to the line. Eventually the ball was worked wide for Lewis Vinnicombe to score with the last move of the match in the scoreboard corner to tie the game.
Redruth 20 pts: tries Pedley, Bowden, Vinnicombe; conversion Penberthy; penalty Penberthy
Barking 20 pts: try Shaw; penalties Armstrong (5)
At Polson Bridge the Cornish All Blacks defeated Sedgley Park 46 – 24 to secure five vital league points at the foot of National League 1.
It will take something special to beat the Cornish Pirates at the fortress that is Mennaye Field this season. Yet again, they only hit top gear fleetingly but still managed to run up a five-point 40-15 Championship victory over Rotherham Titans yesterday.
The Pirates may have failed to achieve a Championship win on the road since last December's win in Coventry, but they are as formidable as ever on home turf. Two tries from man-of-the-match Rob Cook, in addition to scores by Phil Burgess, Wes Davies and Matt Hopper, saw them well clear of the Titans.
The hosts took a while to shake the visitors' resistance, but, after a slow start, they were simply too fit, strong and dynamic for the Titans. The Yorkshiremen secured their consolation points more through the occasional Pirates' lapse in concentration than their own wit and invention.
The Pirates' high performance manager Chris Stirling recognises his side still have plenty more to offer, but couldn't fault the end product – yesterday's five league points leaves his side fourth in the Championship.
He said: "I was more anxious about this game than probably any this year, to be honest. Rotherham are a pretty good side. They have the players and the ability to cause us a lot of problems.
"Against a team like Rotherham it takes time and you have to take your chances. When we hung on to the ball and built phases, we created space and probably could have scored another four or five tries."
Few would have predicted a try-fest during a drab opening 20 minutes, however. It took a moment of inspiration from home winger Rhodri McAtee to get the game going. His quick restart after the ball had gone into touch on the half-way line set up Cook, who was on the same wavelength. He took the pass, piercing through the Rotherham ranks before they could even spot the danger.
The full-back still had plenty of ground to cover, but touched down in the right corner after turning on the after-burners. He was unable to add the conversion, with his kick fading short and well wide of the left post.
That hard-fought advantage was reduced within two minutes when centre Juan Pablo Socino slotted a penalty from the Pirates' 22 after the hosts were caught offside.
In the 30th minute Cook had an opportunity to bring the Pirates' lead back to five points with a long-distance penalty, but he hit the left post. Unperturbed, he more than made amends four minutes later, combining brilliantly with McAtee again down the right wing to score his second try before adding the extras.
Yet again, the Pirates looked vulnerable straight from the restart and had some serious defending to do right on their own try-line. A Rotherham knock-on seemed to save the home side, but more carelessness saw the visitors awarded a penalty. They opted to kick for goal and missed.
It took the Pirates just two minutes of the second half to make the Titans pay when a catch-and-drive move was finished by Phil Burgess for an unconverted try in the right corner.
However, a mistake by lock Ian Nimmo on the restart saw Rotherham take possession deep within Pirates' territory and winger Pete Swatkins produced a clinical finish.
Cook kept the scoreboard ticking over with two penalties as his side continued to keep their foot gently poised on the accelerator. But, again, the Pirates took their eye off the ball after gaining points and allowed Swatkins to get his second try of the match, with Socino converting well from out wide.
That served as wake-up call and another excellent score from the home side was just around the corner. Winger Wes Davies caught a measured kick over the top from skipper Gavin Cattle in the left corner to secure the bonus-point fourth try. Cook then converted from out wide before adding another penalty.
Hopper then got the final try through some careless play by visiting centre Jonny Hepworth, whose short pass outside failed to find the mark. The former Plymouth Albion man nipped in, stealing the loose ball before completing an unobstructed run to the try line. With Cook already retired to the bench, Jonny Bentley converted to complete the scoring.
The only sour note for the Pirates was a late injury to Cook's replacement Nick Jackson, who was taken off on a stretcher with a leg injury.
Stirling said: "The medical staff were talking about a fracture and he is off to the hospital – hopefully it is just a bad bruise."
The Pirates now have a quick turn-around with a trip to Worcester coming up on Friday – they can only hope some Mennaye momentum survives the journey.
Cornish Pirates: Cook (Jackson 76); Davies, Hopper, Winn, McAtee; Bentley, Cattle (capt) (Doherty 77); Paver (Andrew 68), Ward (Cowan-Dickie 77), Brits (Rimmer 75); McGlone (Marriott 71), Nimmo; Morgan, Burgess, Cowan (Betty 75)
Cornish Pirates scorers:tries Cook (2), Burgess, Davies, Hopper; conversions Cook (2), Bentley; penalties Cook (2); drop goal Cook
Rotherham: Wheldon (Hunt 70); Swatkins, Hepworth, Socino,
Hampsey; Hodgson, Bedford (capt) (Rhodes 75); Steenkamp (Aikman 70), Loney,
O'Donnell (Quigley 60); Harris (Baines 70), Dickinson; Kettle, Dougall, Burrows
Replacements (not used): McGregor, Sandford
Rotherham scorers: tries Swatkins (2); conversion Socino; penalty Socino
Referee: D Richards (RFU).
The Cornish All Blacks recorded back-to-back wins for the first time this season, beating Cinderford at Dockham Road 24-14 on Saturday.
Cornish All Blacks' joint head coach Tony Roques described the National League One victory a "huge result" for the club.
The bonus-point victory finally wiped out the 20-point deduction imposed on the club by the Rugby Football Union at the start of the season for going into voluntary liquidation.
The All Blacks are now only seven points adrift at the foot of the table, with arch Cornish rivals Redruth firmly in their sights, and 11 points away from fourth-from-bottom Coventry – a position they need to overhaul to clamber out of the relegation zone.
"It is a fantastic result for us to get five points at Cinderford, as it is a very, very tough place to go to," Roques said. "We started really well and we sneaked a couple of tries in the first half. It really evened up in the second period, and it was a bit of nip and tuck for a while, where both teams had chances and scored two tries each.
"It is a huge, huge result for the club, because it puts us on zero, and that is a huge psychological boost for the players. We have really got to move on from this now and use this as a springboard for National One survival."
Cinderford were hit by the absence of their South African back-row forward Jake Boer, who recently signed as player-defence coach from Premiership side Gloucester but has had to return home unexpectedly for family reasons.
The All Blacks could not have got proceedings off to a better start, with a try inside the first minute by full-back and player-joint head coach Mal Roberts, who returned to the side after a hamstring injury that saw him miss the Sedgley Park game.
The visitors went through several phases that stretched the Cinderford defence, and Roberts crossed in the corner.
They added a second try in the 16th minute when former Cornish Pirates winger Richard Bright weaved his way through the Cinderford rearguard for a fine solo score, and Roberts added an excellent conversion.
Cinderford flickered into life, and prolific points-scoring fly-half Mark Woodrow missed a penalty opportunity, but it was the All Blacks who finished the half strongly, and they could have extended their 12-0 advantage before the break, but were denied by some solid defensive work.
The All Blacks gave themselves more breathing space seven minutes into the second half when former Bristol scrum-half Jason Spice made a fine break from the back of a ruck on halfway and raced deep into Cinderford territory before throwing out a long pass to Bright, who scooped the ball up to cross for his second try, and, even though the conversion was missed, the Cornishmen held a 17-point advantage.
Cinderford finally got a foothold in the match in the 54th minute, when referee Steve Lee awarded them a penalty try for the visitors deliberately wheeling a five-metre scrum, and Woodrow slotted the simple conversion, but their joy was shortlived as the All Blacks struck back only two minutes later, with Roberts crossing for his second touchdown, and his side's fourth try, to wrap up the bonus point, and he added the extras himself.
Cinderford responded once more just after the hour mark when winger and top try scorer Nev Codlin demonstrated great strength to force his way over in the corner after some good approach play by his forwards, and Woodrow converted.
However, the All Blacks ended the game on the attack, and only more impressive home defending prevented the visitors from adding further tries to their tally.
Next up for the All Blacks is a tasty home game against second-placed Cambridge, who trail leaders Barking on the number of wins achieved.
Cinderford: Trigg, Codlin, Boston, Anderson (Edwards 48), Palm, Woodrow, Brown (Carter 72), P Price, Wilkes, S Price (Bundy 58), King, Bufton (Jenkins 58, Fortey 72), McKee, Allen, Evans
Cinderford scorers: tries penalty try, Codlin; conversions Woodrow (2)
Cornish All Blacks: Roberts, Bright, Westren, Nonu, Turner (Done
40), Webb, Spice, Mathias, Semmens (Salter 58), Bayliss (Andrew 58), Hilton
(Childs 63), Jenkins, Fleming, Rawlings (capt), Dwyer
Replacement (not
used): Murphy
All Blacks scorers: tries Roberts (2), Bright (2); conversions Roberts (2)
Referee: S Lee (RFU)
Attendance: 310
Redruth's struggle for form continued on Saturday with a 25-14 National League One defeat away from home.
Despite pressing hard for a bonus point, the Cornish side left Yorkshire empty-handed after losing to fellow strugglers Otley.
The Reds paid dearly for their own lapses as they went down by four tries to one, leaving director of rugby David Penberthy with mixed feelings after the match.
"I am disappointed we have come away with nothing for our efforts throughout the game," he said. "I thought we played some of our best rugby this season.
"But when you are in a scrap like this, it is the team that are the stronger and better finishers that will win it. Otley finished off some good tries, they were all from deep positions, they had clearly done their homework on us.
"I am disappointed that the best rugby we played was between the 22s. We need to be more clinical in the red zone.
"We have got to stick together and fight for each other. We are in a hole, we know that, we have got to get ourselves out of it – no one else can get us out of it. We've got a lot to build on and we will stick with it and take whatever comes our way."
An early try by prop Chris Hamill near the posts, converted by Jervis Manupenu, settled Otley nerves early on.
Aaron Penberthy hit back with a 35-metre penalty immediately from the restart, before Manupenu restored a seven-point lead in the 31st minute with a penalty from 30 metres.
The Reds had plenty of possession and gave the Otley scrum a rough time in the second half, but a couple of missed chances for the Reds just before the interval and a controversial try immediately afterwards influenced the outcome of the game.
Lewis Vinnicombe, playing at full-back, twice sliced through the home defence, but he was unable to find teenager Tom Notman on his debut with the final pass.
At the start of the second half, Otley lock Dallas Pawley appeared to run into a team-mate before starting a run carried on by Steve Depledge and James Twomey that ended with flanker Rob Afoa-Peterson crashing over in the corner.
It looked like there had been a foot in touch during the move, but the try stood and Redruth were left chasing the game.
To their credit, they dominated the rest of the game, but lapses allowed Otley to run in a long-range try by Curtis Wilson and replacement Peter Tennet to claim a try after a scramble over the line.
Fortunately for the Reds neither Manupenu nor his replacement Will Nelson could add the conversions and two penalties by Aaron Penberthy kept Redruth in the game.
The Reds chased a losing bonus point hard after good play from Darren Jacques and Nathan Pedley ended with replacement Sean Hawkey touching down an unconverted try.
In injury time Redruth were camped on the Otley line, but could not find a way over.
Otley: Keinhorst; Twomey, White (Richards 49), Barker, Wilson; Manupenu (Nelson 59), Depledge (capt); Blades, Steele, Hamill (Moss 59), Quinn (Tennet 69), Pawley, Afoa-Peterson, Beck, Steadman (Sutton 64)
Otley scorers: tries Hamill, Afoa-Peterson, Wilson, Tennet; conversion Manupenu; penalty Manupenu
Redruth: Vinnicombe (B Rule 61); Notman, P Thirlby, Pedley, Bowden (Hawkey 69); Penberthy, Simmons; Jacques (capt), Gidlow (Hearn 69), Joyce (Morcom 59), Cook, Collins, Duncan (Fuca 55), Hambly, Bright
Redruth scorers: try Hawkey; penalties Penberthy (3)
Referee: R Kelly (RFU)
Rob Cook's dramatic penalty in the fifth minute of second half stoppage time sealed a famous victory for the Cornish Pirates as they ended Worcester's unbeaten run in the Championship.
The victory was no more than Chris Stirling's side deserved as they took the contest right to the Warriors from the outset with some ferocious tackling in defence and brilliant mazey running in attack.
Pirates' skipper Kyle Marriott opened the scoring with a fifth minute try as he broke down the blindside from a ruck to score unopposed under the posts. Rob Cook converted and obliged again after 24 minutes as the Pirates scored again.
This time centre Matt Hopper claimed his own high ball on half-way and out-paced wing Marcel Garvey to score at the posts.
The Warriors fought back early in the second half as England international Andy Goode finally found his kicking range and landed a pair of penalties. But Cook kept the Pirates momentum going with a brace of his own and the visitors led 20-6 going into the final quarter.
A wholesale introduction of replacements from the Warriors' bench seemed to have finally turned the tide in favour of the home side as scrum-half Jonny Arr scored a close range try.
Joey Carlisle landed a penalty with his first kick of the game for the home side and then with a minute of stoppage time played converted a penalty try as a Pirates' scrum folded in front of their own posts.
But the Cornish side regrouped and after a Drew Locke break had created good field position the Warriors infringed in the tackle area to concede a crucial penalty.
To jeers and cat calls from a whole section of the home crowd Cook held his nerve to seal a famous victory for the Pirates.
Worcester Warriors: Arscott (Crockett 65), Garvey, Short (Frost
65), Rasmussen, Benjamin, Goode (sin-bin 56-66, Carlisle 66), Arr, Black,
Lutui, Taumoepeau (Tomaszczyk 65), Kitchener (Rawlinson 65), Gillies, Horstmann
(capt), Best, Balding
Replacements (not used) Shervington, Collins
Worcester scorers: tries Arr, penalty; cons Carlisle; pens Goode
(2), Carlisle
Yellow cards Goode
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Davies, Hopper (Luke 80+5), Winn, McAtee (Locke 75), Bentley, Doherty (sin bin 64-74), Andrew (Rimmer 75), Ward, Brits (Currie 75), McGlone (Cowan 75), Nimmo (Myerscough 51), Morgan, Betty, Marriott (capt)
Pirates scorers: tries Marriott, Hopper; cons Cook (2); pens Cook
(3)
Yellow cards Doherty
Referee P.Knowles (RFU)
Attendance 6,928
Redruth turned the form book upside down with a much-needed win in National One over the high-flying Northerners.
The Reds enjoyed a great first-half, scoring three fine tries to turn around leading 20-3.
With the visitors down to 14 men following prop Douglas Jupp’s visit to the cooler for foul play, Redruth managed to take the lead with an opening try from flanker Owen Hambly under the posts, following a fine move involving both backs and forwards with notably full-back Jack Nowell once again shining. Aaron Penberthy added the conversion.
The young full-back was involved again in the lead up to a Penberthy penalty for a 10-0 lead on the half-hour mark.
Tynedale managed to get on the scoreboard with a Gavin Beasley penalty as Redruth failed to release.
Nowell then fed winger Matt Bowden for the first of his brace of tries as Redruth pressed towards half-time. Lock Damien Cook looked to have scored Redruth’s third try but it was chalked off for a knock on.
Redruth were not to be denied, with their third try stemming from a steal by No.8 Mark Bright. Nathan Pedley and Luke Collins went close before the ball was moved at pace along the backline, with Paul Thirlby putting Bowden in for his second try.
Tynedale were a greater threat in the second half playing down the slope. However, Redruth defended well until a missed tackle in mid-field allowed scrum-half Matthew Outson in for a score under the posts, Beasley’s conversion making it 20-10.
Redruth stormed back, sensing the bonus point try and it was delivered appropriately from skipper Darren Jacques who powered over from close range following a series of scrums, Penberthy once more adding the extras.
Tynedale kept the match alive as a contest with two tries from impressive full-back Sepp Visser, one of which Beasley converted to bring them back to 27-22.
Despite a few scares near the end Redruth ran the clock down to secure their first bonus point win of the season.
Redruth 27 pts: tries Hambly, Bowden (2), Jacques; conversions Penberthy (2); penalty Penberthy
Tynedale 22 pts: tries Outson, Visser (2); conversions Beasley
(2); penalty Beasley
Yellow card Jupp
At Polson Bridge, the Cornish All Blacks lost a close tussle with Cambridge 21-20, despite leading 12-6 at half-time.
The Cornish All Blacks are developing ever greater attacking skills and enthusiasm for the running game.
It showed in Saturday’ s match at Polson Bridge against impressive National One front-runners Cambridge, with the All Blacks outscoring their opponents with three tries to two before succumbing to a 21-20 defeat.
Launceston’s Achilles heel was poor discipline. They gave away at least ten penalties, mostly at the scrum and ruck and would have won if they had only played with the referee and not against him.
The All Blacks took their chances superbly and going into injury time at the end they led 20-16. Then fatally they first allowed Cambridge to work down into their 22 on the far left and then they gave away a penalty.
The All Backs just couldn’t hold the red blanket surging towards their line as prop Andy Brown touched the ball down. The conversion by fly-half Dan Mugford, who had already kicked three penalty goals, failed, but the visitors nevertheless snatched a last-gasp victory by a single point.
“We played really well,” All Blacks’ coach Tony Roques said. “Cambridge were a good side and we knew it would be a big challenge. But we gave away a lot of penalties in our own half and seemed to get on the wrong side of the referee.”
By half-time Launceston were 12-6 up. Right-wing Richard Bright had fastened swiftly onto a loose ball on halfway, hacked neatly on and touched down.
Mugford got three penalty chances, landing two. And just before the break the All Blacks got their second try with a lovely move sweeping from right to left, centres Pale Nonu and Ryan Westren combining to send in wing Kai Done. Mal Roberts converted.
After the usual flurry of replacements the All Blacks shot themselves in the foot, Neil Bayliss and Westren being sin-binned. Cambridge duly scored: replacement wing Phil Ellis crossed close in for Mugford to add the extras.
The visitors led 13-12 but their savvy captain Darren Fox was yellow-carded for pulling down the maul. Roberts kicked the penalty and the All Blacks nudged ahead again. But with ten minutes to go Mugford landed his third penalty to snatch it back.
With two minutes to go the All Blacks attacked and a huge drive saw lock Ben Hilton over under a pile of bodies.
Roberts’ conversion faded agonisingly wide but it was 20-16 to the All Blacks. Surely they had won.
Then they gave away the fatal penalty.
Cornish All Blacks: Roberts; Bright, Westren, Nonu, Done; Webb,
Spice; Mathias (Andrew 55), Salter (Semmens 52), Bayliss; Hilton, Jenkins;
Fleming, Rawlings (capt), Dwyer
Replacements (not used): Childs, Perry,
Muphy
All Blacks' scorers: tries Bright, Done, Hilton; conversions
Roberts; penalty Roberts
Yellow card:s Bayliss, Westren
Cambridge: Robinson; Martin, Dodge (Ellis 37), Wheatcroft, Du
Toit; Mugford, Hunter (Spencer 40); Brown, Pearl, Cooper (George 53);
Ashcroft-Leigh, Hurrell; Edison, Fox (capt), McComb
Replacements (not used):
Hunter, Ayrton
Yellow card: Fox
Referee: G MacDonald (RFU)
Attendance: 800
Any thoughts of Cornish Pirates complacency after their famous away win over Worcester ten days ago were banished within seconds of a superb 54-6 Championship demolition of Esher yesterday.
This was a storming display from the Cornishmen in wet and wintry conditions at the Mennaye Field, running in eight tries past their shell-shocked visitors, who barely had time to catch a breath.
Fly-half Jonny Bentley took the plaudits after setting up four tries and kicking 14 points, but there were candidates for the post-match champers all over with Dave Ward, Wes Davies, Chris Morgan, Drew Locke, Phil Burgess (two), Laurie McGlone and Ryan Storer all on the scoresheet.
The pace and fluency of the Pirates' display was a perfect response to Esher's pre-match hopes of catching their hosts dwelling on their first away success in ten months against league leaders Worcester. Pirates forwards coach Ian Davies said: "As soon as we got in the changing room after the Worcester game, we said to ourselves, 'let's not blow this against Esher next week'.
"It took us so long to get an away win, but we then had to back it up with a good performance here. The start we made was really tremendous."
Pirates took the lead within three minutes of Bentley's smartly taken short kick-off. The forwards were quick and sharp right from the start, making ground with ease as Esher struggled to settle.
That early pressure quickly told and Esher were caught offside, allowing Bentley to get the scoring underway with an accurate penalty from just outside the Esher 22.
Another 15 minutes of all-out attack followed with Pirates maintaining possession and territory deep within the Esher half. Kyle Marriott seemed odds-on to score when he peeled off the back a five-metre scrum but slipped at the crucial moment.
However, Pirates kept the move alive with a series of drives before hooker Ward supplied the finish to the right of the posts, with Bentley adding the conversion.
Esher upped their game temporarily midway through the half and full-back Sam Ulph got his side off the mark with a penalty.
That seemed to spark the Pirates out of a very brief malaise and they scored their second try with five minutes of the first half remaining. Bentley supplied a perfectly weighted kick out to the left wing, where winger Davies reached low to pick up superbly before crossing in the corner for an unconverted score.
Pirates attacked the beginning of the second half much like they did the first. They drew a penalty from Esher for failing to roll away within three minutes of the restart and Bentley made no mistake with his kick.
Esher responded momentarily with another penalty of their own through Ulph, but they were powerless to prevent a brilliant midfield break from Bentley, who jinked and side-stepped past two tackles before teeing up replacement forward Chris Morgan for a clear run under the posts. The in-form fly-half then converted from close range.
Another Bentley chip over the Esher defence then set up Locke for the bonus-point winning fourth try in the right corner, and try number five followed almost immediately, Bentley again the architect with a sublime kick out wide.
This time, it was Burgess who fielded the catch before powering down the right wing into the corner for another unconverted score.
As Pirates trundled towards the try-line for try number six, referee Luke Pearce spotted an infringement from visiting flanker Sam Stitcher and produced a yellow card. The home side made the extra man tell when McGlone pierced through for their sixth try under the posts, with Bentley converting.
Burgess scored his second in impressive fashion, picking up possession inside his own half before powering all the way to the posts, handing off three Esher men on the way. The scoring was complete when a late catch-and-drive saw Storer touch down in stoppage time.
Davies was delighted with his forwards, who breezed through a potentially tricky reshuffle early in the game when skipper Marriot was forced off with a hamstring injury.
He said: "All 13 forwards were tremendous today. We lost Kyle Marriott early on so Chris Morgan had to come on and we re-jigged the back-row. The front-row boys too – Carl Rimmer, Dave Ward and James Currie – wore down the two Esher props and then we had the fresh legs of Ryan Storer and Alan Paver coming on to really turn the screw later on.
"We spoke about the conditions being a leveller before the match, but we did the hard work in the first half and wore them down, and then in the second half we got the reward. Every time we scored, we were determined not to let Esher score and that was really pleasing for us."
Cornish Pirates: Pointer (Cook 73), McAtee, Locke, Winn (Hopper 67), Davies, Bentley, Doherty, Rimmer (Storer 53), Ward (Cowan-Dicke 60), Currie (Paver 47), McGlone, Nimmo, Betty (Holmes 60), Burgess, Marriott (Capt) (Morgan 18)
Pirates scorers: tries Burgess (2), McGlone, Ward, Davies, Storer, Morgan, Locke; cons Bentley (4); pens Bentley (2)
Esher: Ulph, Smith, MacKenzie (Cruickshanks 55), Taylor, Hylton (Cruicksanks 20-28, Slemen 68), Whitehead, Garner (Gibbs 62), Rowland, Corrigan (Walker 62), Nebbett (O`Reilly 76), Rudzki (Anderson 62), Blakeburn (capt), Wallace, Stitcher (sin-bin 64-74), Renwick (Waterhouse 73)
Esher scorers: pens Whitehead (2)
Yellow cards Stitcher
Referee – L.Pearce (RFU)
The Cornish Pirates produced another solid performance on the road to comfortably brush aside the physical challenge of Nottingham at Meadow Lane.
Three tries, along with 21 points from the boot of full-back Rob Cook, proved telling as the power and aggression of the Pirates demolished the Nottingham front eight and consigned Glenn Delaney's team to a fourth straight defeat.
The home side took the lead after 12 minutes though prop Ben Buxton's well taken try but three Cook penalties changed the complexion of the game before a moment of sublime Jonny Bentley skill put Matt Hopper in for a try right on half-time.
Nottingham rallied after the break with a Jackson penalty early in the half, but a fourth Cook penalty and a penalty try as the home pack capitulated on their own line sealed their fate.
Steve Winn completed the scoring with a sharp finish from ten metres in the 71st minute.
Nottingham: Jackson, Savage, Streather, Forsyth (Hamilton 65), Cobden, Johnston, Usasz (Barnham 18-25, 73) Fowkes (Farrell 51), Youngs (Baker 73, Youngs 80+4), Buxton (Fowkes 67), Kench (Eggleshaw 51, sin-bin 54-64), Hemingway, Hammond (capt), Sherriff (Baird 62), Shaw
Nottingham scorers: tries Buxton; cons Jackson; pen Jackson
Yellow card: Eggleshaw
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Davies (McAtee 77), Hopper, Winn, Pointer
(Luke 77), Bentley (Ward 80+5), Cattle (capt), Rimmer (Brits 66), Ward
(Cowan-Dickie 75, sin-bin 80+4), Paver (Storer 75), McGlone, Nimmo, Morgan,
Betty (Holmes 66), Cowan
Replacements: Storer, Cowan-Dickie, Brits, Holmes,
Burgess, Luke, McAtee
Pirates scorers: tries Hopper, penalty, Winn; cons Cook (3); pens
Cook (5)
Yellow card: Cowan-Dickie
Referee D.Gamage (RFU)
Attendance 1,637
Redruth chose a bad day to be disorganised and ineffectual against a very direct Sedgley Park side that was bustling, brawny, and delighted in capitalising on their opponents' numerous errors.
The Manchester club won this National One encounter 24-10 to ease their own worries in the basement while adding to the Reds' woes ahead of next week's daunting trip to Cinderford, and there will be some serious questions to be answered in training at the Recreation Ground this week.
Most importantly, Redruth must regain the cohesion between backs and forwards that was sadly lacking on Saturday. Their hard-working pack won a fair share of possession against the visitors' highly physical set piece but outside, an alarming tendency to run the ball from deep played into the hands of the Tigers' potent rushing defence, with both their tries stemming directly from poor passing and kicking inside Redruth's 22, including a catastrophic breakaway score just after half-time that proved pivotal. The coaches will also demand more commitment and better body position in the tackle after seeing the Tigers continually retain possession and momentum despite being snared by the home cover.
Captain Darren Jacques was frustrated by the performance following recent good displays in front of the home supporters and knows the players must respond quickly. He said: "We're in a relegation fight and we had big expectations to put in a good performance against the first side we've played down at the bottom of the table with us. We need to beat sides like this and our task will be harder now because we've had a bad day at the office.
"Sedgley are probably more direct than a lot of the sides we've played, which would have suited us if we had got our act together and played a bit more rugby. We didn't attack with any conviction and made massive errors in wrong areas of the field. In addition we didn't get on the right side of the referee and he was penalising us continually."
The Tigers were 11-0 up inside the first 15 minutes as a string of penalties handed them two successful shots a the posts, winger Steve Nutt on target with the first before rangy full-back Matt Riley hoofed a gigantic three-pointer from inside his own half.
The outstanding Riley – who was sin-binned later for a dangerous tackle – formed the centrepiece of an incisive Sedgley Park back three and he pounced on a wayward Redruth kick out of defence on 12 minutes before galloping upfield and offloading to fly-half Phil Jones for an unconverted try in Hellfire Corner.
Home ten Aaron Penberthy booted a penalty of his own to reduce the arrears but Nutt converted two more penalties before half-time as the Reds resorted to high-risk running rugby from deep and their error count inevitably mounted.
With the score 17-3 at half-time the game was salvageable and Redruth made a rip-roaring start, finally stringing together a prolonged stretch of phase rugby before another needlessly adventurous passage of open play near their own line was finally punished, centre Alex Hurst intercepting for a length-of-the field that took the visitors two scores clear and reasserted the authority they had seemed on the point of relinquishing.
It was a devastating blow but to their credit Redruth battled on and showed what might have been when doing what they do best, Jacques himself scoring in the corner following some no-frills forward pressure down the left flank, with replacement fly-half Grant Thirlby adding the extras.
Redruth would have been better served by such a patient approach earlier in proceedings but Jacques believes it would be a mistake for his players to overreact at Cinderford next week. He said: "We got it wrong, we decided to play rugby in our own 22 when we needed to kick the ball down the field, reset and start again, but it's one of those things you have to take on board and move on. We can't shut up shop just because we lost today: we need to play progressively when we go to Cinderford next week because it's a game we need to win.
"The good thing is that there are 20 games left to put it right, so it's not the be all and end all that we lost today."
Redruth came off second best in this basement National One battle at the Recreation Ground, writes Bill Hooper.
“A bad day at the office” was how Redruth skipper Darren Jacques summed up his side’s performance, with the result cementing his side deeper in the relegation zone.
Playing down the slope first half, Sedgley Park took a firm control of the match from the off with two early penalties from Steve Nutt and Matt Riley giving them a 6-0 lead.
They had clearly done their homework on the Redruth game plan, stifling the life out of the home team, which was an unpleasant shock for their supporters.
Full-back Riley was again involved with the Tigers' first try as his pop-up pass found fly-half Phil Jones, who dotted down in Hell Fire Corner.
Eleven points up with less than 15 minutes on the clock put the visitors in the driving seat. Redruth were falling foul of referee Mr Macdonald as the penalty count against them continued to rise.
A rare incursion into the Tigers’ half saw a good run involving Nick Simmons and Owen Hambly leading to a penalty and a yellow card for the lively Riley. Aaron Penberthy kicked the points to get his side finally on the board.
Despite being a man short it was Sedgley Park who added to the scoreboard before half-time with two further penalties from Nutt.
Redruth looked to make a positive start to the second half. However, it was the visitors who struck the early telling blow as Tigers’ centre Alex Hurst picked off a pass as Redruth attacked in the visitor’s 22 and cantered in behind the posts. Nutt’s conversion left Redruth chasing three converted tries to get level.
Despite pressure and possession Redruth couldn’t breech the tight Tigers' defence until skipper Jacques was driven over for a forwards' try on 54 minutes. Grant Thirlby, on for Penberthy, kicked a fine touchline conversion.
Nutt spurned a couple of penalties to extend the Tigers’ lead but it didn’t matter as the visitors ran out deserved winners on the day.
Redruth 10 pts: try Jacques; conversion Grant Thirlby; penalty Penberthy
Sedgley Park 24 pts: tries Jones, Hurst; conversion Nutt;
penalties Nutt (3), Riley
Yellow card Riley (29)
At Polson Bridge the Cornish All Blacks remain rooted to the foot of the table following a 36-23 defeat by visitors Coventry to complete a miserable day for both Cornish clubs in National League 1.
The Pirates suffered defeat for the first time in five weeks as they went down to a spirited London Welsh side at Old Deer Park, but remained third in the Championship courtesy of a losing bonus point claimed by Rob Cook's late penalty.
Nevertheless, Pirates backs' coach Harvey Biljon was unhappy in his assessment of the match. He said: "We're disappointed because we didn't front up for the full game and there are a lot of things we have to go back and look at this week.
"They (London Welsh) did what we expected but we have to make sure that the next time we get in a situation like this in a game we don't make the same mistakes.
"What I can't fault though is the endeavour of the players and the fact that they kept going for the full 80 minutes. Unfortunately there was a lack of possession and we didn't have enough ball to threaten."
The last time the Pirates lost a league match was at Bedford in October, on an afternoon where fly-half James Pritchard tormented Chris Stirling's side with six penalties.
Here it was the turn of home number ten Aled Thomas to bag a half dozen place kicks and that hurt the Pirates; especially the two penalties he slotted late in the first half to secure a 12-3 lead at the break.
Biljon said: "From where I was sitting I couldn't see all the close calls so I'm not too sure of why they were given. I'll have to look at it in the week.
"It was disappointing, though, because we have to learn to make the right decisions with a couple of minutes to go. That may be getting the ball off the park or playing for territory at the right times, but here we just gave away six silly points."
In a well-contested match played under leaden skies and persistent drizzle the Welsh were ahead after 11 minutes through Thomas's first penalty, only for Cook to level the scores at the end of the first quarter.
The match was a fierce battle for territory and possession but the Pirates defended well, frustrating the Welsh driving play without ever producing any sustained pressure themselves in the opening half.
The Pirates lost skipper Gavin Cattle to injury before the break and prop Ryan Storer limped through to the interval with an ankle problem. But despite Thomas striking again to make it 6-3, the closest the Welsh came to another score was when Simon Whatling put centre Hudson Tong'uiha in to score at the corner, only for the former Doncaster player to fluff his lines and drop the pass.
Thomas' two injury time penalties gave the Welsh the impetus and momentum they needed and they started the second half strongly, only to time and again run into the well-drilled Pirates rearguard.
Cook and Thomas again exchanged penalties before Pirates flanker Phil Burgess struck with a brilliant try as he broke three tackles on half-way and, ignoring a two-man overlap to his left, raced clear of the Welsh defence to score under the posts. Cook converted.
Thomas gave a rattled home side some breathing space as he made it 18-13, before a Welsh counter-attack claimed a loose ball and centre Dom Shabbo touched down in the corner.
Cook had the final say with his 83rd minute penalty from 30 metres to secure some consolation for the Pirates.
Biljon said: "Again, I think our defence was outstanding and their try was against the run of play, but it was one of those things that can happen on a wet, rainy day."
London Welsh: Claassens, Gibson, Tonga`uiha, Whatling (Shabbo
46), Sampson, Thomas, Runciman, Lahiff, Ma`asi (Breeze 79), Ward (Tideswell
68), Powell, Corker, Mills, Beach (Russell 69), Taione (Fisher 69)
Replacements (not used): Stevenson, Lewis
London Welsh scorers: try Shabbo; pens Thomas (6)
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Pointer, Hopper, Winn, Davies (McAtee 45),
Bentley, Cattle (capt) (Doherty 36), Storer (Paver h/t), Ward, Brits (Andrew
45), Nimmo, Myerscough (McGlone 51), Morgan, Burgess (Holmes 71), Cowan
Replacement (not used) Luke
Pirates scorers: try Burgess; con Cook; pens Cook (3)
Referee D Richards (RFU)
Disappointed with their performance away to London Welsh the previous weekend, when by their own admission they were just a little off the mark in certain areas, the Cornish Pirates bounced back to winning ways with this convincing win against Moseley. In total they scored eight tries in the match, with there an impressive hat-trick from man-of-the-match Phil Burgess.
With conditions at the Mennaye Field just about perfect for playing rugby football, the Pirates wasted no time in getting into gear. Flanker Burgess got his hands on the ball right from the start, setting up an unconverted try for centre Matt Hopper, who breezed in at the Newlyn gate corner with less than a minute on the clock.
Penned back deep inside their own half for the first quarter of an hour of the match, the visitors had a spell of respite when former 'Pirate' Ollie Thomas's penalty kick found touch on halfway. Keeping hold of acquired possession, scrum-half and skipper Gareth Taylor suddenly put some zip into Moseley's play, with strong support given by prop Terry Sigley. On reaching the Pirates '22' a penalty was awarded the visitors, but Thomas was off target with his attempt at goal.
When the Pirates next took play deep to the right, fly-half Rob Cook's cross-field kick almost found the stretching hands of Rhodri McAtee. Always looking for action, the wingman was unlucky not to gather the ball and score, but just a minute or two later there was no cause to mention the word 'luck', as it was a case of class that would see him home. Taking the ball on about halfway he burst into space, then cutting a line that saw him score a try to the left of the Newlyn posts, with Cook adding the conversion.
The visitors had probably taken a pre-match stance to hold possession for long periods and frustrate their Cornish opponents, but the Pirates were in no mood to be dominated, as outlined when a powerful charge by lock Laurie McGlone set up Burgess for the first of his three tries. The conversion from out wide was anything but easy, but Cook slotted it magnificently to give the Pirates a 19-0 half-time lead.
Moseley came out in the second half seemingly to play with a little more expression, but the Pirates again showed who was in charge, led by skipper Gavin Cattle whose initial enterprise enabled Cook to make a dart of a break to the Penzance posts. Moseley's defenders tried to close him down, but when tackled Cook stretched to score a bonus point providing try that he also converted.
Another impressive score for the Pirates followed, when good play from McAtee and Cook saw a flamboyant Hopper jubilantly cross for his second try of the afternoon. Cook converted from in front of the posts.
Having made a number of replacements, Moseley's fresh legs made an impact, initially from lock David Lyons and scrum-half Dan Robson, and then by flanker Michael Maltman whose strength saw him score a try that was converted by Thomas.
Soon after the restart Burgess continued to torment Moseley, his efforts ultimately leading to a unconverted try scored at the clubhouse corner by replacement centre Drew Locke, and then a second scored by himself, which was converted.
If anyone now deserved to register a hat-trick, then it was Burgess, and it fitting that the man of the match announcement coincided with the moment when he scored his third and the final try on what was another thoroughly entertaining game at the Mennaye Field.
The Cornish Pirates ran in eight tries, including a hat-trick from flanker Phil Burgess, as they brushed aside the challenge of struggling Moseley at the Mennaye Field.
The omens for the Midlanders were bad from the start as the Pirates took the lead with a score from Matt Hopper as the home side broke from deep after just 37 seconds.
Burgess stole possession to put wing Rhodri McAtee away from half-way for a superb individual try just before the half hour, and when Laurie McGlone set up Burgess for his first score five minutes later the result was no longer in doubt.
A 19-0 half-time lead became 26-0 early in the second half as excellent work from Cattle, Ward and Brits released Rob Cook to score under the posts at the Penzance end of the ground.
Cook then turned provider as he burst through a gap in the Moseley cover to release Hopper from thirty metres for his second try.
But the Midlanders fought back with a try under the posts from replacement flanker Mike Maltman after a sustained period of pressure on the Pirates' line, before three more home tries in the final ten minutes snuffed out any slim chance of a Moseley recovery.
Drew Locke sold two fine inside sidesteps before racing home in the Clubhouse corner and two minutes later Burgess rounded off a fine attack at pace to claim his second try.
A minute from time Cattle broke through the centre of a ruck on halfway and offloaded to Burgess, who cantered home from forty metres out to a standing ovation from the home crowd.
Cornish Pirates: Pointer, McAtee, Hopper, Winn (Locke 54), Davies (Luke 67), Cook, Cattle (capt), Paver (Storer 70), Ward (Cowan-Dickie 59), Brits (Rimmer 67), McGlone, Myerscough, Marriott (Morgan 54), Burgess, Cowan (Nimmo 70)
Pirates' scorers: tries Burgess (3), Hopper (2), McAtee, Cook, Locke; cons Cook (5)
Moseley: Thomas, Gillick (MacBurnie 75), Carter, Reay, Pons, Davies (Borgen 51), Taylor (Robson 57), Williams, Caves, Sigley (Voisey 46), Spivey, Stott (Lyons 46), Mason, Pennycook (Maltman 57), Elleray (Lewis 76)
Moseley scorers: try Maltman; con Thomas
Referee P.Knowles (RFU)
Redruth were left frustrated as high-flying Cambridge took the spoils at the Recreation Ground in a pulsating National League 1 encounter.
Playing down the slope first half, the visitors looked to draw early blood as they set about the Reds. They were rewarded with an early unconverted try from winger Mike Ayrton after just five minutes in Hell Fire corner.
Redruth stormed back, with No 8 Mark Bright celebrating his 100th appearance for the club scoring his side’s opening try on 12 minutes. Aaron Penberthy nudged the Reds ahead with the conversion.
Cambridge continued to carry a threat with their big forwards driving at the Reds. Redruth suffered a set-back with flanker Owen Hambly yellow-carded after 16 minutes. Cambridge, despite maintaining pressure, spurned their chances.
Eventually pressure told as the Cambridge forwards rumbled over in the Piggy lane corner, with prop Ben Cooper claiming the try and young scrum-half Ben Spencer kicking a fine conversion for a 12-7 lead. The score remained the same to half-time to the relief of the Reds.
Club skipper Darren Jacques came on at half-time for Malcolm Hearn as Redruth looked for a solid start to the second period. It came in dramatic fashion with full back Jack Nowell spotting a gap in the Cambridge defence from 40 meters out, his diagonal run taking him clear to the Piggy Lane corner for a memorable score. Penberthy’s excellent conversion put Redruth 14-12 up.
Penberthy and Spencer then exchanged penalties, before Redruth suffered another yellow card as prop Peter Joyce committed a professional foul.
From the catch-and-drive Cambridge powered over, with prop Mark George getting the touchdown on 66 minutes.
Spencer increased his side’s lead with a further penalty as Redruth were left playing catch up rugby.
The icing on the cake for the visitors came as full back Billy Robinson notched the all-important bonus point try to effectively take the game out of Redruth’s reach. Spencer’s second conversion put Cambridge 30-17 ahead.
Redruth looked for a final score to salvage something from the game and, with Cambridge down to fourteen men in the final moments, they looked to have got a losing bonus point when replacement scrum-half Mark Richards went over near the posts. Sadly Penberthy’s conversion attempt sailed to the left of the post to leave them empty-handed at home once again.
Redruth 22 pts: tries Bright, Nowell, Richards; conversions
Penberthy (2); penalty Penberthy
Yellow cards Hambly (16), Joyce (65)
Cambridge 30 pts: tries Ayrton, Cooper, George, Robinson;
conversions Spencer (2); penalties Spencer (2)
Yellow card Ingles (78)
At Polson Bridge the Cornish All Blacks defeated Wharfedale 30-20, thanks to tries from Pale Nonu, Josh Lord, Jake Murphy and Richard Bright.
A try by Drew Locke four minutes into second-half stoppage time sealed a 16-6 victory for the Cornish Pirates over a dogged Bristol side as they climbed back to third place in the Championship table.
In a match which survived the worst of the winter weather in Cornwall, the Pirates were made to fight every inch of the way before securing their eighth win out of eight games at home this season, and afterwards high-performance manager Chris Stirling expressed his satisfaction with the result.
He said: "It was always going to be a tough hard game in wintry conditions and that was an example of winter rugby really. There was a lot of endeavour to play with a bit of width and enjoyment from both teams but it was a tough game.
"We spoke in the team talk before the game that the one thing we wanted to take out of the game was the referee's influence on it. We had to be disciplined and didn't want to give Bristol field position through lack of discipline and being penalised but that is exactly what we did do."
The visitors came into the game just one place above the relegation zone and dominated the first half. They took a second-minute lead through an Adrian Jarvis penalty as the Pirates infringed at a ruck and despite the Pirates' full-back levelling the scores with a penalty of his own shortly afterwards, had enough chances to lead at the break.
Jarvis was just short with a penalty attempt from half-way and then hit the post with a routine effort but despite all their possession and territory, and the mounting penalty count against the home side, couldn't land a meaningful punch to unsettle the Pirates' defence.
Bristol centre Junior Fatialofa was replaced after 35 minutes with a calf injury, allowing former Plymouth Albion man Ed Barnes to take over, but still Bristol failed to put any serious pressure on the Pirates' line and the home side were able to regroup with the interval scores level at 3-3.
Chris Stirling said: "At half-time we spoke about discipline and said that if we could rectify that and take it out of the game we didn't think Bristol had the game to take it away from us. We spoke about work rate in defence and how we had made hard work of some situations which should have been easy to cover, and we spoke about kick-chase as that aspect seemed to be a bit lethargic.
"The great kick from JB [Jonny Bentley] which stood their backs upright, and then the drive which pushed them back and won a penalty was exactly what we needed at the start of the second half."
The tone for the rest of the game was set just 40 seconds after the restart as Bristol full-back Shaun Marsden took a high ball on half-way only to be wrapped up by Cook and driven back a full 25 metres. As the maul was illegally pulled down the referee awarded a penalty and Cook struck from 25 metres.
Moments later the Pirates' full-back thought he had scored the opening try in the Newlyn Gate Corner as the Pirates backs cut loose, only to be called back for a foot in touch.
Cook was just short with a penalty attempt from half-way just before the hour mark and within a minute Jarvis levelled the scores with his second place kick as the Pirates infringed while defending a maul.
However, fresh troops from the bench bolstered the Pirates and with their set-piece in the ascendancy and their driving game establishing some real momentum Bristol tired badly in the closing stages.
Cook made it 9-6 to the Pirates after 66 minutes as hands in a ruck cost Bristol parity and the dying minutes were all played out deep in Bristol territory.
Having failed to push a Bristol scrum back over their own line the Pirates finally killed the contest in stoppage time as the ball was spun across the threequarter line in front of the posts for Bentley to slot a wicked grubber kick under the posts.
As Bristol fatally hesitated in defence Locke sprinted through to claim a vital touchdown and Cook's conversion ensured that Paul Hull's side would return home up the M5 without a losing bonus point as the Championship takes a two-week break and attention turns to the British and Irish Cup.
Cornish Pirates: Cook; Pointer, Hopper, Winn (Locke 60), McAtee; Bentley (Davies 80+7), Cattle (capt); Andrew (Rimmer 53), Elloway (Ward 53), Brits (Paver 65), McGlone, Nimmo (Myerscough 65), Morgan, Burgess, Marriott (Cowan 60)
Pirates scorers: try Locke; conversion Cook; penalties Cook (3)
Bristol: Marsden, Elliott, Adams, Fatialofa (Barnes 35), Tovey, Jarvis, Bolt (Shaw 80+5), Irish (Crompton 65), Hayes (Blaney 65), Thompson, Sambucetti (Barry 51), Winters, Grieve, Merriman (Miller 73), Montagu. Replacement (not used): Gadd
Bristol scorers: penalties Jarvis (2)
Referee: R Debney (RFU)
The Cornish All Blacks will find it hard to survive in National League One if they continue to play rugby for only 40 minutes and maintain their habit of losing against teams they should beat.
Both shortcomings were again exposed on Saturday when the All Blacks were not at the races in the first half, but the only team on the park in the second period.
This defeat was galling for a team that scored two tries without reply after the break to claw their way back from 17-0, but had a man sin-binned in each half for offences at the ruck, where the Exiles benefited from referee Marcus Caton's strict interpretation of the stamping rule as the Cornishmen fought to clear a way to the ball. Forwards Neil Bayliss and Josh Lord paid the price in the cooler.
Joint-head coach Tony Roques was again frustrated that so much endeavour had yielded no reward and knows that soon his club's need for points will become imperative as it labours under the weight of its pre-season 20-point penalty. He said: "There's loads of positives, but time and time again we've taken positives from a game and come out with nothing or one point. We need to get a win on the board.
"In the second half, there was only team out there actually playing some rugby and looking like doing some damage, but it's frustrating that we didn't turn up from minute one. We have to start asking ourselves some serious questions."
The All Blacks never really recovered from a disastrous start that saw the visitors capitalise on two bad errors in the opening 25 minutes to go 14-0 up. A knock-on from the kick-off by Liam Dwyer – playing out of position in the six shirt following Tom Rawlings' hamstring tweak the previous day – led directly to the Exiles' opening try by No.8 Mark Soden. Another knock-on by skipper Mal Roberts opened the way for full-back John Bordis to cross, with deadly fly-half James Brown converting both tries.
Between the two scores, Bayliss had received his marching orders as the Londoners' persistent killing of the ball at the ruck went unnoticed. The misery was complete when Brown's 40th minute penalty established that 17-point advantage.
It was a different ball game on the resumption when the All Blacks finally put together some punishing phase rugby, Roberts keeping his team on the front foot with booming punts downfield and superb tactical kicking from hand while the home pack's dominance became apparent.
Brown completed his side's scoring on 50 minutes with a penalty after, ironically, the Launceston side were penalised for going in at the side of a ruck, but after that it was all one-way traffic – albeit with scant reward.
Momentum was not lost following a reshuffle in midfield – Jake Murphy replacing scrum-half Rob Coote but slotting into the fly-half berth with Lewis Webb taking over at the base of the scrum – and on 64 minutes man-of the-match Ben Hilton scored the first of his side's two tries after the Scots were penalised for a late tackle and the hosts switched play to the left corner where the former Mounts Bay lock rumbled over for an unconverted try.
Webb's last-minute converted try reduced the arrears to eight but once again the Cornishmen were left to ponder what might have been, and look ahead to next week's derby showdown at Redruth.
That game has enormous significance for the Cornish neighbours who, for the first time, will both go into the traditional mid-season showdown facing the very real threat of relegation.
Roques said: "I know my boys are very angry with the position they're in. They're playing teams and winning second halves, but there's only so many times you can take that, so they're going to turn up next week."
Cornish All Blacks: Roberts (capt); Hawken, Westren, Pale,
Bright; Webb, Coote (Murphy 65); Andrew, Salter (Semmens 46), Bayliss, Hilton,
Jenkins, Dwyer (Hurdwell 25), Childs, Lord
Replacements (not used): Lockley,
Done
London Scottish: Bordis, Holgate, MacDougal, Trueman (capt),
Howells; James Brown, Page (Walbyoff 50); Clarke (Kwasniki 46), Standfield
(Johnson 46), Fahey, Karonias, Joshua Brown, Lipp, Lonnergan (Newman 41),
Soden
Replacement (not used): Corsi
Referee: M Caton
Attendance: 585
The Cornish Pirates registered an emphatic nine-try win on the road at Damson Park on Wednesday night as they maintained their challenge at the top of the Championship table.
After Saturday's high scoring cup tie against Scottish side Currie they served up a similar performance, with some scintillating offensive play, but moments of madness in defence which rewarded the league's bottom club with four tries.
Fly-half Jonny Bentley opened the scoring for the Pirates with a try after three minutes, but the Bees stole the lead shortly afterwards as Ed Binham capitalised on indecision in the Pirates' backs to race home from half-way. Woodrow converted.
Dave Ward and Laurie McGlone added further tries for the Pirates before the half-hour, but with Sam Betty sin-binned the Bees scored twice through Taulava and Hunt either side of a bonus point clinching Rob Cook touchdown.
The Pirates' half-time lead was then cut to five at 28-33 courtesy of Hunt's converted score before the Pirates' coaches summoned the cavalry from the bench.
Two late tries from Blair Cowan and wings Rhodri McAtee and Grant Pointer made for a satisfactory night's work in the Midlands.
Birmingham & Solihull: Foden, Tanumi (Hunt 26), Winter, Binham, Culpin, Woodrow, Williams (Petty 54), Dugard (capt), McMillan (Gerry 63, Tau 75), Halavatau (Sperandio 71), Taulava, Sanderson (Preece h/t), Bentall (Webster 65), Denbee, Wright
Bees scorers: tries Hunt (2), Binham, Taulava; cons Woodrow (4)
Cornish Pirates: Cook, McAtee, Winn (Locke 25), Hopper, Pointer,
Bentley, Cattle (capt) (Davies 68), Storer (Paver 63), Ward, Brits (Andrew 63),
McGlone, Nimmo (Gulliver 63), Betty (sin-bin 33-43, Cowan 63), Burgess,
Marriott
Replacement (not used) Elloway
Pirates scorers: tries Cowan (2), Ward, McGlone, McAtee, Pointer,
Cowan, Bentley, Cook; cons Cook (8)
Yellow cards Betty
Referee T Hall (RFU)
Redruth served up a Christmas treat for their supporters as they deservedly took the honours in this must-win Cornish derby, it being the only match to survive from the weekend’s National League 1 programme. This result lifted Redruth out of the bottom two and within touching distance of exiting the dreaded drop zone.
A twenty-six point winning margin and denying the Cornish All Blacks any score at all left the home supporters thinking Christmas had come a week early. Only the most partisan would have bemoaned the lack of a try-scoring bonus point to complete their festive haul, but Redruth will probably reflect in hindsight that they should have claimed all five points on offer. Rarely has a Cornish All Blacks’ side put in such a disappointing performance in a fixture that means so much to both clubs and their respective sets of supporters. It will no doubt be something that Launceston’s director of rugby and joint head coaches Tony Roques and Mal Roberts will look to sort out over the festive period before their next home game against Otley. For Redruth’s director of rugby David Penberthy quiet satisfaction, but also the realisation that his side need to build on this result -- starting at Blackheath in the New Year.
The Cornish All Blacks kicked off playing down the slope and within a minute they had an ideal attacking opportunity as Redruth’s scrum-half Mark Richards was yellow carded by referee Nick Williams for a professional foul. The All Blacks elected to scrum yet Redruth got out of jail as Launceston infringed, conceding a free-kick. Their afternoon went downhill from that point onwards.
Despite missing with an early penalty attempt, Redruth’s Aaron Penberthy was on target with his second effort to put his side 3-0 up after 7 minutes. Play was scrappy and at times frenetic as the pressure of the occasion mounted on both sides as the game progressed. But it was Redruth who showed the capability to deal with it, as they settled and got their set-piece working, with Peter Joyce and Darren Jacques giving Jack Andrew and Neil Bayliss a torrid time in the front row exchanges. The All Blacks’ cause wasn’t helped with the double loss of centre Pale Nonu after just 10 minutes and then his replacement Steve Perry later in the half, nor by full-back Mal Roberts missed penalty from in-front of the posts shortly after.
Redruth moved further ahead with their opening try after 21 minutes scored by full-back Jack Nowell following a period of pressure on the All Blacks' line from the Redruth forwards, with notably Steve Wood and Mark Bright to the fore. The ball was moved wide for Nowell to cross in the scoreboard corner.
Penberthy couldn’t add the extras. However, the pressure was etched on the All Blacks' faces, with joint coach Roques prowling the touchline inwardly seething at his side’s lacklustre display.
Further fine play from the Reds’ saw Bright, Lewis Vinnicombe, Jacques and Richard Brown all involved in a promising passage of play. Bright and man-of-the-match centre Nathan Pedley were at it again as the All Blacks' line came under renewed pressure, with All Blacks' centre Ryan Westren getting back to foil Redruth on this occasion. Westren was one of the few shining lights for the visitors, along with both locks Ben Hilton and Bryn Jenkins, who worked their socks off, and skipper Tom Rawlings, as ever a bundle of energy all around the pitch.
Redruth were not to be denied and got their second try just before half-time. Following a couple of catch-and-drives, the second paid off as Wood dived over to give the Reds a healthy 13-0 advantage at the break.
Fired up after their half-time team talk, the All Blacks looked livelier during the opening stages of the second half. Paul Thirlby’s pass outside was picked off by Westren, who raced away on a good run. However, Redruth’s cover got back just in time to cover. Redruth conceded a penalty from the move, which the All Blacks kicked to the Strawberry Lane corner. From the catch-and-drive the ball was moved in-field. With winger James Hawken cutting in from his wing at speed taking the ball to the line, Penberthy’s tackle dislodged the ball and saved a certain try. Then to compound their frustrations the All Blacks gave away a penalty, allowing the Reds to clear.
Flanker Jake Childs compounded matters for the All Blacks as he was invited to spend 10 minutes in the cooler by referee Nick Williams following some foul play.
Redruth, having weathered the storm, gradually re-asserted control thanks in part to the fine kicking of scrum-half Mark Richards and some strong runs from locks Luke Collins and Damien Cook.
Despite looking to their bench the All Blacks couldn’t stir themselves out of their ever-deepening malaise, even though Redruth hadn’t crucially added to their tally since the break.
Redruth then had a second player yellow carded. The Redruth faithful groaned in horror as Bright had to sit out 10 minutes having come in at the side of a ruck.
With the game entering its final 10 minutes, the luckless Roberts contrived to knock the ball on with the All Blacks coming in off-side, presenting Penberthy with a penalty opportunity to put his side two scores to the good. As his kick soared through the uprights, All Black heads dropped. Five minutes later and a neat drop-goal stretched the Reds’ advantage to 19-0, and the game was as good as safe.
Sam Parsons, on as a replacement winger for Vinnicombe after his long lay-off due to injury, almost scored down in Hell Fire corner, but Redruth did get their try down in their favourite corner as Bright, now restored to the fray, signalled the chorus of celebrations as he picked up and powered over for Redruth’s third try. Penberthy’s successful conversion from out-wide capped a fine day for the young fly-half and for his Redruth team-mates.
Redruth 26 pts: tries Nowell, Wood, Bright; conversion Penberthy;
penalties Penberthy (2); drop-goal Penberthy
Yellow cards Richards (1),
Bright (71)
Cornish All Blacks: 0
Yellow card Child (49)
Redruth: J Nowell, L Vinnicombe (S Parsons 63), P Thirlby, N Pedley, M Bowden, A Penberthy, M Richards (N Simmons 63); D Jacques (D Job 77), R Brown (M Gidlow 63), P Joyce, L Collins, D Cook, C Fuca, S Wood (O Hambly 47), M Bright (capt)
Cornish All Blacks: M Roberts, R Bright, R Westren, P Nonu (S Perry 10) (R Coote 24), J Hawken, J Murphy, L Webb; J Andrew (J Ham 74), J Salter, N Bayliss (B Pow 60), B Hilton, B Jenkins, J Childs (L Dwyer 60), T Rawlings (capt), J Lord
Referee: Mr. N Williams (RFU)
Crowd: 1,627
Reds man-of-the-match: Nathan Pedley
After the match a beaming Redruth director of rugby Dave Penberthy was delighted with his side’s result and paid tribute to his players. “It’s been frustrating over the past few weeks not playing due to the weather. We trained hard we’ve got a great squad here -- all the youngsters are chomping at the bit to play and there were some disappointed people when I announced the team on Thursday.
“But to actually play as well as we did and dominate the game was really encouraging and hopefully we can take that through to the second part of the season. This was a great Christmas present for everyone at Redruth Rugby."
Penberthy felt that the extra preparation time of the last four weeks bore fruit yesterday. “The key thing for me is that over the three or four weeks we have really worked hard and we have brought the whole team together.
“I think we were a little bit disjointed over the first dozen games of the season, but the last four weeks, wherever I’ve asked them to be they have been there, and I think they deserve this victory. They have worked hard for it.
“Aaron’s penalty, which put us two scores ahead, was crucial. While we were only 13 points up the way it’s been going previously I feared they would claw their way back, score a try, convert it then be within a score themselves. The drop-goal and the try and conversion at the end really put the icing on the cake for the boys.
“We’ve got to keep working and lift ourselves up the table. We will keep ourselves in this league with our team spirit. We have got both Cinderford and Otley to come here but we do need to pick up a couple more wins on the road. The support we had today was tremendous. The supporters have stuck by us through thick and thin and hopefully today’s result helps repay their support in a small way.
“I said this week that I needed players to lead from the front, namely Luke Collins and Damien Cook and they did it today. I also said this week that we needed to watch our discipline and what did we do? Two yellow cards again. Twenty minutes with one man short -- you just can’t do that at this level. But what pleased me was when we had a man off we really pulled together and held in there."
Penberthy was also delighted to see Sam Parsons, another player back from long-term injury back in the mix. “Sam’s a quality player. You don’t get a professional contract with the Cornish Pirates just like that. He’s been so frustrated the last fifteen months. He’s come back, worked hard and got himself back into the squad just like Steve Woods, who is coming back after two years out. He had a brilliant first half. Obviously he tired a bit but then you’ve got a quality player like Owen Hambly to bring on. We’ve got some good players covering key positions, it’s a good feeling”.
Penberthy also indicated that he will use the Rodda’s Milk Cup match against Camborne on Monday 27th to give some of his key players some much needed extra game time in preparation for the resumption of the league on January 8th at Blackheath.
In the Cornish All Blacks’ camp, Director of Rugby Simon Owens was a very disappointed man with his blunt assessment of the game. “It was an error-strewn, unstructured and even underpowered performance, which is just not like us. We didn’t play to our patterns and we allowed Redruth to get into their stride. It’s always tough in a local derby like this. There is always a lot of emotion involved, but they wanted it more than we did. I think this is lowest we have been as a club, but I expect us to push on now and I don’t expect to see another performance like that from a Cornish All Blacks side this season. If we do play like that again then we will go down there’s no question. Obviously the aim is not to go down, the aim is to stay up and play National 1 rugby next season. The boys have got a break now and they need to look at themselves and put it right."
Owens was hopeful of some players returning from injury in the New Year to boost his squad. “Hopefully Ed Lewsey will be fit for the Otley game, Mike Rawlings is on the way back, Bruce Pow made his comeback today, and Ben Turner, all being well, just after Christmas. So hopefully this will give us a bit of depth and the ability to push on, remain positive and keep National 1 rugby at Polson.”
The Cornish Pirates began the new Year in fine form, downing second-placed Bedford Blues at the Mennaye Field to register their tenth straight home win of the season.
In a thrilling match played before the club's biggest home crowd of the season the Pirates took an early stranglehold on the game up front through a dominant forwards display.
An early try from wing Wes Davies after he collected Bentley's deft crossfield kick set the tone for the afternoon and, after Cook and Pritchard had traded penalties, the Pirates scored a second try with the visitors down to fourteen men.
This time Johnny Bentley burrowed over the line from close range as Blues' prop Sam Walsh finished his ten minutes on the sidelines for a yellow card.
Pritchard chipped away at the Pirates' lead with a second penalty and then claimed a fine opportunist try in first half stoppage time as he raced in behind a hesitant defence to score. His conversion made it 17-13 at the break.
The second half was high on tension and low on points scoring, with two Rob Cook penalties either side of the hour mark finally settling the game in favour of the Pirates.
The Blues lost Ed Thrower to the sin bin for a professional foul before a desperate finale in search of a losing bonus point saw them repeatedly repelled in midfield by a tigerish home defence.
Cornish Pirates: Cook, McAtee, Hopper, Winn (Locke 63), Davies,
Bentley, Cattle (capt), Rimmer (Andrew 61), Elloway (Ward 74), Brits (Paver
58), McGlone (Nimmo 77), Gulliver, Morgan, Betty (Burgess 61), Cowan
Replacement (not used) Pointer
Pirates scorers: tries Davies, Bentley; cons Cook (2); pens Cook (3)
Bedford Blues: Pritchard (capt), Schmidt (Thrower 48, sin-bin 65-75), Burke, Vass (Bedford 54), Dodge, Dorrian, Chudley (Walshe 70), Walsh (sin-bin 19-29), Richmond (Clark 58), Seal (Boulton 29), Howard, Rae (Tomes 58), Gillanders, Harding (Lewitt 70), Tupai (Boulton 21-29)
Bedford scorers: tries Pritchard; cons Pritchard; pens Pritchard
(2)
Yellow cards Walsh, Thrower
Referee M. Fox (RFU)
Attendance 3,051
The Cornish Pirates' recent winning run ended in the mud and chill of a South Yorkshire afternoon as the Rotherham Titans fought off a desperate wave of attacks in the final quarter for their first league success since November.
Three early penalties from home fly-half Juan Pablo Socino eased the Titans into a nine point lead as the Pirates struggled with their opponents and referee Mike Tutty.
Despite gaining the upper hand in the second quarter, Chris Stirling's side failed to turn possession into points and Socino struck again in injury time to leave the Titans 12-0 up at the break.
An attritional start to the second period was punctuated by Socino's missed drop goal attempt before the Spaniard stole an interception from a flat Pirates' backs move and raced home under the posts from sixty metres for the opening try.
Having converted for a 19-0 lead, flanker Adam Kettle thought he had increased the Titans' lead further as he intercepted and sprinted a full seventy metres -- only to find his try disallowed. From the resulting penalty Rob Cook struck for the Pirates as they dominated the final half an hour.
Cook landed a second penalty before wing Wes Davies scored a try in the corner. Cook added the extras to cut the Titans' lead back to 19-13.
A series of scrums under the Titans' posts eventually produced a penalty try for the Pirates, but Cook inexplicably saw his conversion attempt charged down -- leaving the Pirates still a point adrift.
In a frenetic finale Jonny Bentley missed a drop goal attempt and Blair Cowan barged over for what he thought was the winning score, only to find the referee calling play back for a knock-on.
This defeat and London Welsh's win against Moseley means that the Pirates drop a place to fourth in the table.
Rotherham Titans: Hodgson (Swatkins 33), Welding, Hepworth,
Godfrey (Hunt 18), James, Socino, Rhodes (Bedford 61), Kilbane (Steenkamp 61),
Loney, Quigley, Sandford, Smidt (Dougall 61), Dickinson (Harris 75), Kettle,
Burrows
Replacement (not used) - McGregor
Titans scorers: tries Socino; con Socino; pens Socino (4)
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Pointer, Hopper, Winn (Locke 53), Davies, Bentley, Cattle (capt) (McAtee 12), Rimmer (Andrew 49), Elloway (Ward 46), Brits (Paver 46), Myerscough (Morgan 46), Gulliver, Cowan, Betty (Holmes 53), McGlone
Pirates scorers: tries Davies, penalty; con Cook; pens Cook (2)
Referee M.Tutty (RFU)
Attendance 1,067
The Cornish All Blacks will need all hands on deck if they are to avoid relegation this season, and their resources were boosted massively last Saturday by the return from injury of Mike Rawlings.
The potent loose forward has been counting down the days – literally – after suffering a broken fibula early in the campaign, but made a barnstorming return in the All Blacks’ 25-15 victory over Otley in which he scored a try and was named man of the match.
“I’ve been out for three months and 13 days exactly,” Rawlings said after playing a key role in a match that the All Blacks simply could not afford to lose as they battle to escape the League One basement.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better comeback, and it’s great to see that the side still has the winning spirit, just as it did when I was injured. It’s going to be a difficult second half of the season, but hopefully we can get enough points to stay up and hopefully I can play a part.”
Rawlings certainly seized the opportunity to vent his frustrations at Polson Bridge last Saturday, when Otley’s forwards started strongly but were dismantled in the second half by a home pack that produced one of its best performances of the campaign – despite being inactive since the derby defeat at Redruth before Christmas.
Rawlings said: “I was chomping at the bit, and I think we beat them in the up-front battle. Our line-out was superb and we scrummaged well. We had to blow away a few cobwebs in the first half, but it was great to put a good side away. They didn’t look like scoring in the second half.
“We’ve set targets this year looking at games that we might lose and games we need to win, starting with today’s match, and we just need to keep hitting the target.”
The All Blacks have suffered some serious injuries in recent months but Rawlings’ recovery could prove the precursor to a return to action of several key players, with prop Tim Mathias and backs Ed Lewsey, Ben Turner and Keiron Lewitt all making good progress.
On the down side, Kai Doen suffered an ankle injury at the weekend and joins fellow threequarter Pale Nonu in the treatment room, with both players likely to be out of action for several weeks.
Rawlings is delighted that his own rehabilitation went according to plan, and paid tribute to the All Blacks’ back-room staff. He said: “The rehab was fantastic – the physios here are superb and I would like to thank them and the club for supporting me when I was injured. I’ve had a few pins and plates put in, and hopefully that means I’ll come back stronger than ever.’’
Director of rugby Simon Owens was as pleased with Rawlings’ performance as he was with the victory. He said: “Mike has been desperate to get back and was outstanding at the weekend. He carried, he tackled, he rucked, he made a nuisance of himself at the breakdown, and we’re very glad to have him back.
“He has done everything he possibly can to make sure he comes back, and he was man of the match on Saturday for a good reason. He has put strength and depth back into our back row, which we’ve been lacking.”
Next up for the All Blacks is a daunting trip to Tynedale on Saturday and Owens accepts that the marathon journey, which is always a burden on the club’s limited resources, comes with the territory in National League One. He said: “It’s a long old journey but, until the RFU decides what it’s going to do organisation-wise, we just have to take it on the nose and get on with it.
“Tynedale are a very good outfit and I’ve not won there so it’ll be tough but, if we play like we did on Saturday and cut down on basic errors, we’ll come away with something. It’s one of my goals to go up there, put in a performance and come with a victory.”
The Cornish Pirates won a league game for the first time in five years at Brickfields as they overcame atrocious conditions to take the points and climb back to fourth in the Championship table.
In a game of few chances all the points came in the first half, with fly-half Mark Lee kicking Albion into a three point lead with a sixth minute penalty. But the advantage was short lived.
The Pirates drove upfield and a huge driving maul displaying control, skill and brute force rumbled up to and eventually over the whitewash with prop Rudi Brits credited with the score. Rob Cook converted.
Midway through the half Cook cleverly slotted a twenty-two metre penalty from a wide angle as he beat the south-westerly gale with a low trajectory for his kick.
Five minutes later Albion's Davies pulled the score back to 10-6 to the Pirates with his second penalty. But when he missed his third kick right on half-time from distance that became the last time that Albion would threaten the Pirates' line.
The second half was far more attritional as the conditions worsened and both teams implemented a kick-chase game to varying effects.
Only in the final quarter did further points look likely as the Pirates pressured the Albion defence with wing Wes Davies and hooker Dave Ward especially lively.
But despite holding firm Albion had no outlet and they finished deep in their own half as they suffered their first league reverse in four outings.
Plymouth Albion: Hallett, Mercer, Fisilau, Tu`ipulotu, Mitchell, Davies (Lee 73), Cushion (Kessell 72), Porter, Evans (O`Meara 61), Hopkins (Morton 72), Collier (Hotson 80+4), Skelding, Stephen (capt), Watts-Jones (Sprangle 19, Hocking 61), Carpenter (Hocking 45-48)
Albion scorers: pens Davies (2)
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Pointer, Hopper, Winn, Davies, Bentley, Doherty, Paver, Elloway (Ward 65), Brits (Storer 65), Myerscough, Gulliver, Morgan, Betty (Holmes 71), Marriott (capt) (McGlone 80). Replacements (not used) – Currie, Locke, McAtee
Pirates scorers: tries Brits; con Cook; pen Cook
Referee M.Tutty (RFU)
Attendance 2,512
With the final kick of the match, fly-half Aaron Penberthy snatched a well-deserved losing bonus point for Redruth after a titanic National League 1 encounter with high-flying London Scottish.
Two well-matched packs locked horns as they drove into each other time and time again, the scarred face of Redruth prop Darren Jacques at the final whistle testimony to the ferocity and intensity of the battle.
Redruth’s best periods were at the beginning and end of both halves. They got the game off to a fine start with a try after seven minutes.
Following a scrum in London Scottish’s 22, the ball was worked to winger Sean Hawkey who put in a strong run being just hauled down before the line. The ball was then re-cycled and driven by the forwards, with full-back Paul Thirlby crashing over in the scoreboard corner for an unconverted try.
Despite the early set-back London Scottish showed their pedigree with some excellent driving from their big forwards, with both locks, Andy Newman and Josh Brown, assisted by their excellent No. 8, Willie Lipp.
The visitors got their first try on 23 minutes following a series of pick and drives near the Redruth line, with former Reds’ flanker Lewis Calder being driven over. Fly-half James Brown added the extras.
Just eight minutes later London Scottish had doubled their score with a second try, again scored from a big forward drive, with Lipp being propelled over the whitewash. Brown was once again on cue with the conversion.
Redruth had a good period of pressure towards half-time with prop Peter Joyce in the thick of the action. Centre Nathan Pedley went close down in the Strawberry Lane corner, then fellow centre Steve Parsons looked for a gap but to no avail, with the move faltering as Penberthy’s snap drop-goal attempt sailed wide.
Early pressure in the second half went unrewarded for the Reds. Instead it was the Scottish exiles who scored their third try. From another scrum near the Redruth line, Lipp picked up and stretched his big paw to score his second try, Brown’s third conversion putting his side in a comfortable position.
The feeling at that moment was that the visitors would pull away and comfortably claim the bonus point try, but not at all. Redruth dug in, putting the exiles under pressure. Scrum-half Mark Richards was held up over the line, then No. 8 Mark Bright lost the ball over the line. As Redruth pressure built so the exiles were forced to infringe. Both their try-scorers, Calder and Lipp, trooped off to the sin bin within a minute, as referee Mr Davies’ patience finally ran out.
With numerical advantage in the scrum Redruth pressed down towards Hell fire corner, eventually getting a penalty-try on 69 minutes. Penberthy’s conversion giving the Reds a sniff of some reward.
Bright had a strong run before being tackled by winger David Howells. Nick Simmons, on for Richards, made a dart deep into the twenty-two, forcing London Scottish to infringe yet again, with replacement prop Craig McGrath earning his side’s third yellow card of the afternoon.
With time almost up Penberthy kicked the penalty to give Redruth another vital league point in the battle to avoid relegation.
Redruth 15 pts: tries Thirlby, penalty try; conversion Penberthy; penalty Penberthy
London Scottish 21 pts tries Calder, Lipp (2); conversions Brown
(3)
Yellow cards: Calder (64), Lipp (65), McGrath (79)
Also in National League 1, the Cornish All Blacks lost at Tynedale by 26-8. Flanker Mike Rawlings got the All Blacks’ try, with full-back Jake Murphy kicking a penalty.
A spirited second-half display was not enough to get the Reds back in contention against a classy Rosslyn Park on Saturday.
Redruth director of rugby David Penberthy was frustrated as his side went down by five tries to three in an entertaining National One game in West London.
"We were disappointed with our first-half first 20 minutes, when we allowed them too much space and were forced to defend on the back foot," he said. "You cannot do this against a team like Rosslyn Park. They used the ball well and have got good players in key positions.
"We have got to learn from it. We can take some heart from our second-half performance. Again, we gave away a couple of soft tries when we were dominant by trying to run out of defence and got turned over.
"We are learning all the time but it is going to be tough now, Barking next week and Macclesfield the week after -- it does not get any easier. We targeted six points from January. We have got five and had a couple of opportunities today to get that bonus point but did not execute them."
Redruth came out all guns blazing and set up camp in the Park 22. But despite three penalties and a free-kick the Reds came away with nothing from a seven-minute spell.
Two minutes later, though, a massive penalty from the halfway line by Aaron Penberthy went over off an upright to give the Reds the lead after nine minutes.
Once Park started to get their hands on the ball they showed their ambition with a series of flowing handling moves, replacement Mark Atkinson going over in the left-hand corner after good work by Charlie Gower in the 11th minute. Ex Plymouth Albion player Ross Laidlaw converted from wide out.
Prompted by Laidlaw and former Bath scrum-half Mike Baxter, Park had Redruth all over the shop for the next 15 minutes with some fluent back play. Laidlaw kicked a penalty in front of the posts following a scrum offence, while Baxter darted over near the posts following quick ruck ball that Laidlaw converted to open up a 14-point gap after 23 minutes.
Coming in for Lewis Vinnicombe, Sean Hawkey was a major success for the Reds, terrorising the Park defence with his determined running. His 40-metre try under the posts in the 29th minute after Mark Bright won a loose ball was a big lift for the Reds, with Penberthy adding the extras.
The hosts raised the stakes as the interval approached. Good defence from Paul Thirlby and Matt Bowden forced Chris Lewis to lose the ball as he went over the line, but a couple of minutes later Nev Edwards crossed wide out on the right for an unconverted try that saw Park take a 22-10 interval lead.
From the restart Redruth controlled possession and took the game to Park for ten minutes. Hawkey had a good run and Nick Simmons darted over in the corner after a strong scrum. Penberthy converted and added a penalty three minutes later to haul the Reds right back into the game.
However, two tries in three minutes killed off any Redruth hopes. First Park skipper Mark Lock got away down the blindside to put Baxter over in the right-hand corner. Then, after Redruth had held a series of bursts from Park, Edwards slipped through a tackle to claim his second try. Laidlaw converted both to open up an 18-point advantage with 23 minutes to go.
The strength of the spirit in the Redruth camp was evident as they came back in the final ten minutes.
Bright proved an inspiration as his strong run led to an unconverted try for Thirlby in the corner. The Redruth skipper then had the chance of a try but knocked on trying to gather a loose ball.
Rosslyn Park: Edwards; Strong, Gower, Lewis, Rudd (Anderson 7); Laidlaw, Baxter (Holmes 69); Huggett (Millard 61) Gotting (Tauialo h-t), Williams, Quigley, Pape, Gates, Barrett (Burton 47-55), Lock (capt) (Burton 66)
Rosslyn Park scorers: tries Edwards (2), Baxter (2), Anderson; conversions Laidlaw (4); penalty Laidlaw
Redruth: Thirlby; Hawkey, Parsons, Pedley (Kenward 18), Bowden (Notman 63); Penberthy, Simmons; Jacques, Brown (Gidlow), Joyce (Wright 75), Cook, Collins, Fuca, Hambly (Wood 53) (Wright 54-57), Bright (capt)
Redruth scorers: tries Hawkey, Simmons, Thirlby; conversion Penberthy; penalties Penberthy (2)
Referee: T Hall (RFU)
A dramatic second half fightback from Worcester Warriors saw them steal victory in stoppage time in a pulsating contest at the Mennaye Field as the Cornish Pirates' unbeaten home record finally fell, writes Dick Straughan.
The Championship leaders took an early lead through Alex Crockett’s interception try, but two Rob Cook penalties steadied the home side and, roared on by a capacity crowd, they cut loose in the second quarter of the game.
Hooker Dave Ward conjured up a try out of nothing on 32 minutes as he set up Wes Davies to provide a scoring pass for flanker Phil Burgess.
Two minutes later Jonny Bentley’s sublime inside pass in midfield released Wes Davies on a blistering diagonal run and his floated pass to the wing fed Grant Pointer for the score. Cook added a second conversion, this time from the touchline.
Then, three minutes into injury time, turnover ball allowed the Pirates to counter-attack down the left touchline from half-way and Matt Hopper put Davies in for the try to make it 25-7 at the break.
But the Warriors reverted to a ten-man game after the break and used their pack to devastating effect, pummelling the Pirates repeatedly back into their own twenty-two.
Andy Goode crossed the home line after 42 minutes, Pat Sanderson barged over from a driving maul with 54 minutes on the clock, and then on the hour -- with Dave Ward sin-binned for the Pirates -- replacement hooker Aleki Lutui drove over for the Warriors.
Goode’s conversion was ruled out by the touch judges but then over-ruled by the Television Match Official and Worcester controversially led 26-25.
Rob Cook missed two penalty attempts for the Pirates kicking into a strong easterly breeze but then, with just a minute to play, seemed to have won it for the Pirates with a fourth try after excellent work by Doherty.
But Cook missed the conversion and from the restart the Pirates lost possession as Kyle Marriott knocked on. The Warriors pack regrouped, drove upfield and with three minutes of stoppage time on the clock won the game with Sanderson’s second try, converted by Goode.
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Pointer (McAtee 62), Hopper, Winn, Davies,
Bentley, Doherty, Paver (Rimmer 80+4), Ward (sin-bin 61-71), Brits (Storer 72),
Myerscough (McGlone 80), Gulliver, Morgan (capt), Burgess (Elloway 68), Cowan
(Marriott 61)
Replacement (not used): Luke
Pirates scorers: tries: Burgess, Pointer, Davies, Cook; cons Cook
(2); pens Cook (2)
Yellow Cards Ward
Worcester Warriors: Carlisle (Arscott 80), Garvey, Crockett,
Higgitt (Rasmussen 61), Benjamin, Goode, Arr, Black, Fortey (Lutui 56),
Taumoepeau (Douglas 74), Rawlinson, Gillies, Best, Sanderson (Kvesic 80+5),
Horstmann (capt)
Replacements (not used): Bowley, Frost
Warriors scorers: tries: Sanderson (2), Crockett, Lutui, Goode; cons Goode (4)
Referee: J P Doyle (RFU)
The Pirates lost for the third successive match with an abject performance at Championship strugglers Esher.
Despite leading 12-0 after half an hour they managed to surrender their advantage midway through the second half and even a drop goal attempt from Jonny Bentley nine minutes into injury time was spooned wide as nothing went right for the Pirates.
On a hard pitch and in blustery conditions the Pirates went ahead after four minutes with a penalty try as a series of driving mauls were pulled down by the Esher pack. Rob Cook converted.
After a Jonny Hylton interception was brilliantly halted by the retreating James Doherty, Esher lost replacement prop Hugo Watney to the sin bin and the Pirates' pack soon piled over the home line for a second try.
This time Tyrone Holmes claimed the score from a driving maul after a close range penalty and ensuing lineout.
Home skipper Sam Ulph finally got Esher on the scoreboard with a penalty right on half time, but as the game lost its structure the pedantic officiating of referee Rowan Kitt took centre stage.
Finally, with 58 minutes on the clock new signing Richard Mayhew claimed an unconverted try for Esher and, sensing glory, the Surrey side pushed on.
Six minures later the winning score arrived as wing Gerard Mullen broke from half-way and out-paced Gavin Cattle to score in the corner.
Esher: Ulph, Hylton, P.Mackenzie, Jewell (Loizides 12-21, 29),
Mullen, Slemen (capt), J.Mackenzie, Rowland (Watney 16, sin-bin 19-29), Walker
(Campbell 53), Nebbett, Inglis, Barker (Rudzki 53), Downey, Stitcher, Renwick
(Mayhew 53)
Replacements (not used): Clayton, Gibbs
Esher scorers: tries Mayhew, Mullen; pens Ulph
Yellow cards:
Watney
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Pointer, Hopper, Winn (Locke 65), Davies, Bentley, Doherty (Cattle 51), Storer (Andrew 51), Elloway (Ward 51), Rimmer (Paver 54-68, 73), Nimmo, Myerscough (sin-bin 55-65), Betty (Marriott 51), Holmes (McGlone 73), Burgess (capt)
Pirates scorers: tries Penalty, Holmes; cons Cook
Yellow
cards: Myerscough
Referee R.Kitt (RFU)
Redruth Director of Rugby David Penberthy was ecstatic after Ross Winney's last minute penalty dropped just short of the posts and Redruth held on for a deserved win.
"I thought today that the whole team were outstanding, there is nobody you can pick out," he said. "Conditions were awful, both teams played the same way but the tackles that were going in when we were under pressure in the first half were immense and again in the second half, everybody made their tackles.
"This morning we had a real heart to heart with some of the players; we said this is all about playing for Redruth now, we are in a dog fight and to come away with four points here is brilliant."
Redruth led by two points going into the final minutes with their forwards expertly running down the clock with a series of pick-and-drives until, with a minute to go, replacement Jonathan Wright hurt his neck as a ruck collapsed on him.
The prop was forced to go off with one minute to go with Redruth putting the ball into an uncontested scrum.
Again they ran the clock down and Macclesfield's forwards, desperate to turn the ball over, came in from all angles and referee Greg MacDonald awarded the Reds a penalty. However, assistant referee Lionel Spooner flagged in that Redruth's Steve Wood had stepped on a Macclesfield forward and the flanker was sin-binned with the penalty reversed.
With time up, former Plymouth Albion player Winney had no option but to kick for goal from long range but the attempt dropped a couple of feet short.
Soaking conditions had dictated the game would be a forward slog and early pressure resulted in Redruth prop Peter Joyce scoring in the left corner.
A catch-and-drive try from a line out in the 33rd minute by hooker Sam Moss was converted by Winney to take Macclesfield into the break with a two-point advantage, before Joyce was forced off with a rib injury early in the second half to be replaced by Wright.
An irresistible catch-and-drive by the Reds ended with Matt Gidlow darting over for a try in the 47th minute, Penberthy converting.
Winney booted a penalty from 22 metres in the 57th minute and Redruth's resolve was tested to the full when they were penned in their 22 for a long period before prop Tom Mantel burrowed over 10 minutes later. Winney converted to put his side five points in front. Redruth showed their fitness in gruelling conditions in the closing 10 minutes after Blues replacement Chris Townsend was yellow-carded for a trip on Simmons.
The penalty gave Redruth the chance to kick into the corner and Bright was first held up over the line before powering over for the winning score, Penberthy converting.
Macclesfield: O'Regan (Townsend h-t); Hardwick, Hughes,
Davenport, Fowles; Winney, Eaton; Mantel, Moss (Allen 52), Robinson (Luckett
65), Marsh, Owen, Sayce (Jones 70), Stewart (capt), Keep
Replacement (not
used): Parkinson
Macclesfield scorers: tries Moss, Matel; conversions Winney 2;
penalties Winney
Yellow card: Townsend
Redruth: Thirlby; Hawkey, Parsons, Kenward, Bowden (Notman 70);
Penberthy, Simmons; Jacques, Gidlow (Brown 50), Joyce (Wright 45), L Collins, C
Fuca, O Hambly (Penney 70), Wood, Bright (Capt)
Replacement (not used):
Rule
Redruth scorers: tries Joyce, Gidlow, Bright; conversions
Penberthy (2)
Yellow card: Wood
Referee: G MacDonald (RFU)
So near yet so far would be an apt summary of this hard, close-fought confrontation at Goresbrook between the top and bottom clubs in National League One.
The visitors eventually fell 27-16, but they went ahead after eight minutes with a try from scrum-half Lewis Webb.
Barking were caught on the hop at a breakdown and, following some powerful drives and rucks, the ball was spun wide with further phases leading to Webb shooting through a gap and scoring.
The game was close right until the last quarter. At the interval the All Blacks trailed by only five points, 15-10, and then early in the second half went into the lead.
Only in the final 15 minutes did the Londoners pull away with some impressively controlled possession and two late tries.
All Black skipper Tom Rawlings, playing at number eight, said: "To be fair we could have won the game. We had worked really hard to keep them out but they all work for each other and even when they had two men sin-binned they held up OK. But they were definitely beatable."
Rawlings' analysis might smack of putting a brave face on defeat but that would be a misreading. In fact, the All Blacks gave one of their most impressive displays of the season.
At the end of the first quarter Barking narrowed it to 5-3 when their full-back Adam Armstrong landed a fine penalty, and they went ahead just before the half hour, prop Aaron Liffchak coming up with the ball after his strong pack had driven a maul and crashed over the line for Armstrong to convert.
Eight minutes later they had made it 15-5 with a try from wing David Vincent rounding off a fluent three-quarter move which split the All Black defence; but their flanker Anthony Andrews was now sin-binned for killing the ball and All Black prop Jack Andrew touched down after a remarkable 11 phases of pick-and-go driving.
At the re-start there was just one score in it and within minutes the All Blacks had surged back and earned two penalties which centre Mal Roberts landed beautifully to put his side in front by a point.
Barking fly-half Harry Owens was sin-binned for foul play and suddenly an upset seemed possible. However, after the All Blacks had heroically defended their lead throughout the third quarter, the advantage swung decisively back to Barking. Perry was carded for coming in at the side and Vincent got his second try in the 66th minute after a series of scrums. Then, with the Londoners controlling possession superbly, home centre Sean Flannery clinched victory, with Armstrong adding the extras.
Barking: Armstrong; Vincent, Flannery, Sorrell, Fraser; H Owens, Heeks (Shaw 57); Liffchak, Cobb, McKenzie; Burns, Thomas; Andrews, Kellard (capt), Griffiths. Replacements (not used): Stenbridge, Ambrose, J Owens, Gash
Barking scorers: tries Liffchak, Vincent (2), Flannery;
conversions Armstrong (2); penalty Armstrong
Yellow cards: Andrews,
Owens
Cornish All Blacks: Murphy; Bright (Chew 77), Westren, Roberts, Turner; Perry, Webb; Andrew (Mathias 74), Salter (Semmens 62), Bayliss (Pow 62); Lord, Jenkins; Dwyer, Rawlings (capt)(Fleming 76), Rawlings
All Blacks scorers: tries Webb, Andrew; penalties Roberts
(2)
Yellow card: Perry
Referee: P Knowles (RFU)
Attendance: 250
The Cornish Pirates produced a dominant display against fifth-placed Nottingham at the Mennaye Field, running in six tries as they look to secure third in the Championship table ahead of the play-offs.
Glenn Delaney's much changed Nottingham side rarely threatened the Pirates' line at any stage of the game and fell behind after 13 minutes as home fly-half Jonny Bentley broke down the right flank before putting in wing Grant Pointer to score under the posts.
Rob Cook converted and added a penalty but, despite enjoying almost total dominance, it took the Pirates until five minutes from the break before another score arrived.
This time the pack forced Nottingham back from a five metre scrum and Number 8 Kyle Marriott claimed the touchdown in the Clubhouse Corner to make it 15-0 at half-time.
Pointer grabbed his second try early in the second half after latching onto a perfectly-judged grubber kick from Bentley and Cook's 52nd minute penalty made it 23-0.
Rhodri McAtee replaced Pointer on the right wing and then bagged a brace of tries himself, with the first coming on 66 minutes after a fine break from Cook and Drew Locke.
Skipper Gavin Cattle claimed a real poacher's effort with time almost up as he forced his way over the line from two metres with the home pack camped on the whitewash. And McAtee completed the scoring in injury time as he hacked on from half-way and won the race to claim the try.
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Pointer (McAtee 62), Hopper (Locke 62), Luke, Davies, Bentley, Cattle (capt), Storer (Paver 40+4), Elloway (Ward 65), Rimmer (Currie 78), Nimmo (Gulliver 54), Myerscough, Betty, Holmes, Marriott (Burgess 77)
Pirates' scorers: tries Pointer (2), McAtee (2), Cattle, Marriott; cons Cook, Bentley; pens Cook (2)
Nottingham: Savage (Sempere 45), Cobden, Hamilton, Sifa
(Bradford 62), Blake, Marshall, Barnham (Usasz 56), French (Fowkes 54, French
78), Philpott (Stevens 62), Buxton, Kench, Carter, Sherriff (capt), Armstrong
(Hammond 67), Shaw
Replacement (not used) Kalamafoni
Referee P.Knowles (RFU)
Attendance 2,486
Redruth gave a battling second-half performance to secure a vital bonus point win over visitors and fellow strugglers Otley - a result which moved them out of the bottom three, reports Luke Tregoning.
Otley settled the quicker and were soon eight points up thanks to an opening try from winger James Keinhorst, followed shortly after by a penalty from fly-half Jervis Manupenu.
Redruth managed to post their first points after 20 minutes thanks to an Aaron Penberthy penalty.
The Reds then drew level on 26 minutes when a powerful forward drive saw skipper Mark Bright crash over, Penberthy’s conversion giving them a 10-8 lead.
However, Redruth were rocked back on their heels by two quick tries from Otley, as the visitors showed their pace in the backs with winger Curtis Wilson and then a minute later full back Christian Georgiou scoring tries, Manupenu adding a conversion to Wilson’s effort.
Otley’s scrum-half Stephen Depledge was sin-binned following a Redruth counter involving Bright and winger Sean Hawkey, leading to Penberthy kicking a penalty before half-time to leave the Reds trailing 13-20.
Redruth needed an early score in the second half and it came following a loose kick from Otley full back Georgiou, which was run back by Penberthy from his own 22. The fly-half found his skipper Bright, who ran hard towards the Otley 22, timing his pass to supporting centre Sam Parsons who just had the legs to avoid the cover to score, Penberthy’s conversion making it 20 points all.
The pressure continued to mount on the visitors as Bright grabbed a second try, Redruth’s third, with Penberthy again adding the extras after 52 minutes.
With their tails up Redruth sensed the all-important bonus point fourth try as they pressed hard up in the Piggy lane corner, Otley’s repeated infringements eventually seeing lock Howard Parr dispatched to the sin-bin.
From another scrum Otley again infringed, leaving referee Mr Harding no alternative but to award a penalty try, Penberthy’s fourth conversion stretching Redruth to a 34-20 lead.
In the dying moments Otley managed to salvage a precious try-scoring point, which Redruth may yet rue, as replacement winger James Twomey squeezed over in the scoreboard corner.
Redruth 34 pts: tries Bright (2), Parsons, penalty-try; conversions Penberthy (4); penalties Penberthy (2)
Otley 25 pts: tries Keinhorst, Wilson, Georgiou, Twomey;
conversion Manupenu; penalty Manupenu
Yellow cards: Depledge (38), Parr
(63)
The Cornish All Blacks produced a memorable defensive display in the final ten minutes of this pulsating match to take a vital five points off a side also fighting for its National One existence.
Leading by four points deep into injury time the hosts found themselves pinned on their own line as Cinderford pressed desperately for the decisive score. Bustling centre Dewi Scourfield came close, stopped inches from a try under the posts by a huge hit from the All Blacks' ultra-energetic scrum-half Lewis Webb before the game was decided in a titanic forward battle in the left corner.
Time and again Cinderford's potent pack were held as they drove for the line on the back of a succession of penalties, gaining ground inch by inch and seemingly poised to surge over the whitewash as defending full-back Jake Murphy was binned and victory appeared there for the taking.
Their hopes were destroyed at the final scrum as All Blacks' replacement tight-head Bruce Pow demolished opposite number Paul Price. Cinderford's tiring pack imploded from the front and was instantly overrun by a black tide of jubilant home forwards. There was scarcely time to reset before referee Marcus Caton blew time on a success that may be looked on as a defining day in this most desperate of seasons for Cornish rugby.
"That was monumental, phenomenal; the boys stood up and were counted," said All Blacks' director of rugby Simon Owens. "To come up with a result like this against a very good Cinderford side is outstanding and we're over the moon. I think that earlier in the season we would have conceded a try in that situation but we're made of sterner stuff now. This will give us confidence to go to Cambridge next week and get something out of it because we're good enough to stay in this league. Today's performance proves that."
As is usually the case these days, the All Blacks were better in the second half of a game where their patience was sorely tested by a Cinderford side that continually pushed its luck at ruck time and indulged in plenty of off-the-ball provocation. The All Blacks' discipline wasn't always flexible enough to adapt and they were fortunate to be punished only twice by the deadly boot of opposition full-back Dan Trigg, who booted two first-half penalties as well as converting an early try by winger Nev Codlin that gave the visitors a 7-0 lead within ten minutes.
The All Blacks hit back with a try from Mike Rawlings that resulted from a good multi-phase movement in which winger Richard Bright was instrumental. Murphy's conversion attempt shaved the right upright, the first of a string of missed shots at the posts in which ten points from two penalty attempts and two kickable conversions were squandered as both Murphy and centre Mal Roberts endured an off day with the boot. Trigg showed how it should be done with a penalty after a dubious tackle-area decision against the Cornishmen and rounded off the half with another three-pointer from in front of the posts to give his side a 13-5 lead at the break.
However, the All Blacks knew they were in with a chance and made an immediate impression on the restart as skipper Tom Rawlings combined with Bright to put fellow winger Ben Turner over in the left corner. Roberts' conversion attempt was way off target but the All Blacks took the lead ten minutes later, Bright touching down this time to cap his side's best passage of attacking play as the ball was shipped from one side of the field to the other, fly-half Steve Perry's long, looping pass to lock Ben Hilton in the line the decisive moment.
At 15-13 it was anybody's game and although Mike Rawlings grabbed the bonus-point try – Murphy on target with the extras to establish a commanding 22-13 lead – Cinderford's 69th-minute touchdown by No.8 George Evans closed the gap to four points to set up the fraught final few minutes of a victory marred only by Perry's fractured cheek bone.
Cornish All Blacks: Murphy; Bright, Westren, Roberts, Turner;
Perry (Hawken 59), Webb; Andrew (Matthias 73), Salter (Semmens 69), Bayliss
(Pow 69), Hilton, Jenkins, Lord, T Rawlings (capt), M Rawlings
Replacement
(not used): Dwyer
All Blacks' scorers: tries M Rawlings 2, Turner, Bright; conversion Murphy
Cinderford: Trigg, Codlin, Knight (capt), Scourfield, Boston
(Betty 62); Davies, Adams; P Price, Hall (S Price 52), Bundy (Wilkes 52),
Rimmer (McKee), King, Allen, Nicholls, Evans
Replacement (not used) Carter
Cinderford scorers: tries Codling, Evans; penalties Trigg 2; conversion Trigg
Referee: M Caton (RFU)
Attendance: 620
The Cornish Pirates booked their place in Pool B of the Championship play-offs alongside Bedford Blues, Rotherham Titans and Doncaster Knights with a solid performance in the South Yorkshire mud at Castle Park.
In a physical and often fractious encounter the Pirates were ahead after just three minutes with a fine try from centre Tom Luke, who scored against his former club as he took Gavin Cattle's flat pass 30 metres out and broke the Knights' defence before sliding over the line.
After Rob Cook's conversion the Knights got back in the game with a Christian Lewis-Pratt penalty but, with their scrum already in trouble, a penalty against them allowed Cook to extend the Pirates lead to 10-3.
A mass brawl saw Knights' flanker Zack Farivarz and Pirates' centre Luke sin-binned. After Cook and Lewis-Pratt had exchanged further penalties, Doncaster lost wing Dougie Flockhart to the bin for a horribly high tackle on Jonny Bentley.
It took until the hour mark for the Pirates to make the game safe as Cook landed his third penalty of the game.
And a second half strangled almost to death by the Pirates' pack ended with a Doncaster try against the run of play.
Number 8 Ed Jackson was driven over from close range under the posts and Lewis-Pratt converted with the final kick of the game.
Doncaster Knights: McColl, Williams, Goss (Briers 58), Gidlow,
Flockhart (sin-bin 40+2 – 52), Lewis-Pratt, Jones, Thiede (Corsar 50),
Boden, Cusack (Thiede 80), Challinor, Parsons, Farivarz (sin-bin 27-37),
Cochrane, Jackson
Replacements (not used): Doughty, Brown, Hampson, Devlin,
Gates
Doncaster scorers: try Jackson; con Lewis-Pratt; pens Lewis-Pratt
(2)
Yellow cards Farivarz, Flockhart
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Pointer, Hopper, Luke (sin-bin 27-37, Winn
64), Davies, Bentley, Cattle (capt), Rimmer (Storer 74), Ward (Elloway 74),
Paver, Nimmo (Myerscough 56), Gulliver, Betty, Holmes (Burgess 74), Marriott
Replacements (not used): Currie, McAtee
Pirates' scorers: try Luke; con Cook ; pens Cook (3)
Yellow
card Luke
Referee T Hall (RFU)
Redruth led for more than an hour on their travels in this National League One clash with Tynedale before a Ricki Sheriffe try eight minutes into stoppage time consigned them to a 31-26 defeat.
"We have got to take the positives from this," said Redruth director of rugby Dave Penberthy. "If in the week somebody had offered me a point on Saturday I would have taken it but I am now very disappointed that we have not got four let alone two.
"I think if you look at the game as a whole a draw would have been a fair reflection on the game. We were dominant in the first half and Tynedale came back and played the way they always do, throw the ball around with runners coming in from every direction possible.
"From where we were three months ago we have come on a lot. I think if our fitness levels now were there at the start of the season we would not be in this dog fight. Looking at the table this morning there was nine points separating sixth place and us.
"We have got to pick ourselves up now, there is hope there."
While five miles away Hadrian's Wall was covered in a blanket of snow, the shelter of the Tyne valley in Corbridge ensured the pitch was in good condition with the temperature just above freezing.
Redruth had the better of the first half with Aaron Penberthy putting the Reds ahead with penalties after 14 and 19 minutes.
Runs from Jack Nowell and Sean Hawkey split the home defence, but Redruth did not cash in the chances when they were on top and ultimately that was what cost them the game.
"Captain Marvel", Mark Bright, opened the home defence in the 24th minute and Owen Hambly was in support to run in a well-taken try, Penberthy's conversion giving Redruth a 13-point start.
Tynedale quickly got back into the game when their forwards burst through a line-out on the 22 for Greg Irvin to touch down a score that Gavin Beasley improved.
Chris Fuca had a decent game for the Reds, winning good line-out ball. He intercepted on half way in the 33rd minute to race away and give a classic scoring pass to Hambly, who ran over for an easy try that Penberthy converted.
The home side played a high-tempo game and just before the break a spell of pressure ended with Gavin Beasley putting Seb Visser over for a try at the posts which the fly-half converted.
The third quarter was scoreless and in the Redruth front row teenager Lloyd Fairbrother, on loan from the Exeter Chiefs, had a good game against the experienced England Counties prop Jonny Williams.
The home side started to get their game together. A sharp chip by Beasley saw Visser win the race for his second try in the right-hand corner to narrow the gap to a point as the game went into the final quarter.
A massive penalty from the ten-metre line by Penberthy took him past 150 points for the season. Jackson, on loan from the Pirates, put over his fourth penalty from in front of the posts for Redruth to lead by seven points with 12 minutes to go.
Luke Collins stole a couple of line-outs in the Redruth 22 but a series of errors saw the Reds concede a try to replacement scrum-half Matthew Outson after 76 minutes. Jack Harrison levelled the scores with a straight-forward conversion.
In stoppage time Penberthy and Nowell saw space to attack as they looked to run out of defence. However, the ball slipped from the full-back's grasp and the Reds conceded a scrum in a good position for Tynedale.
Tynedale turned the screw and kept Redruth under pressure until Sheriffe -- on loan from Newcastle Falcons -- grabbed the winning score.
Tynedale: Visser; Cole, J Harrison, Bramwell, Rogers (Sheriffe 58); Gavin Beasley, Peck (Outson 69); Williams (H Harrison 76), Graham (Ridley 58), Shields, Boyle, Irvin (Cousin 68), Murray, Shires, Grant Beasley
Tynedale scorers: tries Visser (2), Irvin, Outson, Sheriffe; conversions Gavin Beasley (2), J Harrison
Redruth: Nowell; Hawkey, Parsons, Kenward (Jackson 47), Pedley;
Penberthy, Simmons; Jacques, Brown (Gidlow 63), Fairbrother, Cook, Collins,
Fuca (Wood 53), Hambly, Bright.
Replacements (not used): G Thirlby,
Wright
Redruth scorers: tries Hambly (2); conversions Penberthy (2); penalties Penberthy (4)
Referee: Andrew Vertigan (RFU)
The Cornish All Blacks are becoming experts at how to lose narrowly despite having matched your opponents in every department of play. They did it again at Grantchester Road on Saturday.
The All Blacks are fighting desperately to survive in National One and time is not on the All Blacks' side. They simply must harvest some away victories.
That said, they have played superbly at times on the road, and did so at Cambridge, yet have come away with nothing but a long return journey in front of them. Skipper, flanker Tom Rawlings was commendably upbeat about his men's display against the East Anglians.
He said: "The boys have put in three or four awesome performances away and yet have come up short. At Cambridge we worked very hard and defended very well for long periods of time.
"However, we struggled to put phases together. Our defence was very, very good but defence doesn't win matches."
It might be added in this context that towards the end of the game there seemed perhaps to be some debatable decisions made in the breakdown and scrummage areas which did no favours to the All Blacks.
Cambridge came at the Cornishmen from the kick-off and defence was the order of the day for the visitors, with territory 80-20 to Cambridge. Eventually a home score came in the 15th minute: a lineout, a maul, and flanker and captain Darren Fox was driven over for scrum-half Benjamin Spencer to add the extras. Ten minutes later All Black fullback Jake Murphy narrowed it with a penalty for holding on at a ruck and a further ten minutes on the All Blacks were in front.
They were getting more possession now and it was they who now stretched the home defence. Fly-half Lewis Webb broke beautifully through and flanker Josh Lord, on his shoulder, took a high overhead pass with superb deftness and shot through under the posts for Murphy to convert and put the All Blacks 10-7 in front.
Back came Cambridge with replacement left wing Michael Ayrton crossed in the corner for Spencer's boot to add two more points to give them a 14-10 interval advantage.
The All Black defence held until the last three minutes of the match; and then a questionable penalty, apparently for coming in at the side, was awarded to Cambridge and Spencer landed the goal; and with a minute to go the hosts attacked again and prop Ben Cooper was driven over from a catch-and-drive for Spencer to convert. But the All Blacks weren't done andthe pack surged unstoppably and lock Ben Hilton was driven over.
Cambridge: Robinson; White, du Toit, Wheatcroft, Martin (Ayrton 21); Mugford (Ellis 61), Spencer; Reeves, Pearl (Hunter 81), Cooper; McComb (Ashcroft-Leigh 51), Hurrell; Edison, Fox (capt), Ingles
Cambridge scorers: tries D Fox, M Ayrton, Cooper; conversions B Spencer (3); penalty Spencer
Cornish All Blacks: Murphy; Bright, Westren, Roberts, Hawken;
Webb, Turner; Andrew (Mathias 65), Salter (Semmens 65), Bayliss (Pow 43);
Hilton, Jenkins (Dwyer 69);J Lord, Rawlings (capt), Rawlings
Replacement
(not used): Childs
All Blacks' scorers: tries J Lord, B Hilton; conversion J Murphy; penalty Murphy
Referee: Mr Steve Lee (RFU)
Attendance: 380
A losing National League One bonus point was scant consolation for Redruth at the end of a thrilling 43-31 defeat to Coventry.
The Reds were close to their mighty best during the opening half, running up a 26-7 lead before a stunning collapse after the break allowed the visitors to claim an unlikely victory.
The result is a bitter blow for Dave Penberthy's relegation-threatened side, who are now two points adrift of safety having played two games more than Sedgley Park above them.
Redruth defence coach Tony Cook could not hide his frustration. He said: "All the boys are absolutely devastated, they realise that it was four points thrown away.
"At this moment in time, we don't know where to start after a game like that. We were in control coming up to half-time. If we kept doing what we were doing we would have had a five-point win."
There were still plenty of positives for Redruth. Cornish Pirates' winger Nick Jackson, borrowed on loan after recovering from multiple leg fractures, scored a hat-trick on his home debut.
There were also home tries for Nathan Pedley and Richard Brown. However, Coventry winger Thomas Harris and lock Sam Herrington scored hat-tricks of their own in reply.
Pedley got the hosts off to the perfect start with a fifth-minute touchdown before Jackson showed his undoubted class to add a second, finding the perfect line to the posts, four minutes later.
Although visiting fly-half Ben Russell replied, Jackson finished off some more good build-up play from Pedley and skipper Mark Bright to reassert the Reds' authority.
The bonus-point fourth try came after just 25 minutes when Brown circled around under the posts after more sustained pressure. But the first signs of trouble came just before the break when Coventry seized on Darren Jacques' poor handling in midfield to score on the counter-attack through Harris.
The speedy wide man completed a quick-fire treble within six minutes of the restart, exploiting huge gaps and poor tackling on two further occasions.
Redruth looked to have settled when Jackson provided another clinical finish on the hour mark. But three Herrington tries from close range after powerful mauls put the visitors clear.
Cook said: "We tried to play too much from deep positions and made very poor decisions in the middle of the field. We gave the ball back to them when we were fragmented.
"We were disappointed to concede that try right on half-time. We knew their two main threats – they have quick men who can score on the counter-attack and they have a strong driving maul. The end result shows that's how they got most of their points."
Redruth: G Thirlby; Hawkey, Parsons, Pedley, Jackson; Penberthy
(Rule 69), Simmons; Jacques, Brown (Gidlow 55), Fairbrother; Cook, Collins;
Fuca, Hambly (Wood 60), Bright (capt)
Replacements (not used): Wright,
Kenward
Yellow card: Fuca
Redruth scorers: tries Pedley, Jackson (3), Brown; conversions Penberthy (3)
Coventry: Sadler (McDonald 50), Gregson, Stevens, Green, Harris;
Russell, Audis; Beales (Pateman 45), Agar (Price 60), Parkins; Herrington,
Southern (capt); Daynes (Tibbatts 60), Nash, Pearson
Replacements (not
used): Richards
Coventry scorers: tries Russell , Harris (3), Herrington (3); conversions Audis (2), Russell (2)
Referee: A Jackson (RFU)
Attendance: 810
If ever a team had the right to use the word 'unlucky' to explain their defeat rather than to excuse it, it was the All Blacks after this National One clash with Blackheath at the Rectory Field.
With two minutes of proper time remaining the All Blacks went ahead 31-30, replacement prop Tim Mathias going over after waves of sustained pressure and debutant fly-half, 18-year-old Robert Avery-Wright (who bagged 11 points with his boot), adding the extras.
The All Blacks must have thought they'd won. They had not, however, banked on the referee allowing ten minutes of injury time. In the ninth minute of that time, the Londoners struck with a penalty goal head-on from 30 metres by centre Sam Windsor. The referee blew up and Blackheath had won by two points.
All Blacks' skipper, flanker Tom Rawlings, said: "There was supposed to have been a high tackle by us in front of the posts. It didn't seem particularly high to me, but the referee was probably under pressure.
"Nevertheless, we did get two points – for scoring four tries and getting a losing bonus point, but it might so easily have been a five-pointer. We have to look at the positives. At least we didn't come away with nothing."
It was close, with the All Blacks, arguably the better side, having the lion's share of possession and territory.
By the end of the first quarter they were 7-0 up. Attacking the home line, they won a scrum, drove, recycled and scrum-half Lewis Webb went in under the posts.
On the half-hour Blackheath hit back with prop Harry Allen crossing after some determined driving. Centre Sam Windsor converted. They then looked to be pulling away with a Windsor penalty and a try from scrum-half Luke Baldwin. After 11 minutes of injury time they were 15-7 in front at the interval.
Back came the All Blacks with a superb 15-man interpassing move which ended with No.8 Mike Rawlings crossing.
Then the ball popped unexpectedly out of an All Black scrum and home wing James Stephenson snatched it up and raced 75 yards to score.
Avery-Wright landed a penalty before Baldwin crossed again, Windsor converting.
Just after the hour the All Blacks were awarded a penalty try. Seven minutes later, with Blackheath pressurising, they sent the ball back to Windsor who dropped a goal. Then came Mathias's try and the All Blacks were in front with the winning-post just minutes away. But it wasn't to be.
Blackheath: Humphries (Lankshear 62); Stephenson, Moan, Windsor,
Tyson; Squires, Baldwin; Winwood (Legg 46), Allen (Covington 62), Brett;
Vanner, Bason (capt); Knight, Harris (Cooke 70), Allen
Replacement (not
used): Walsh
Blackheath scorers: tries Allen, Baldwin (2), Stephenson; conversions Windsor (2); penalties: Windsor (2); drop-goal: Windsor
Cornish All Blacks: Murphy; Bright (Nonu 50), Westren, Roberts,
Hawken; Avery-Wright, Webb; Andrew, Semmens, Pow (Mathias 50); Hilton, Dwyer;
Fleming (Childs 70), T Rawlings (capt), M Rawlings
Replacements (not used):
Hurdwell, Chapman
All Blacks' scorers: tries Webb, M Rawlings, penalty try, Mathias; conversions Avery-Wright (4); penalty Avery-Wright
Referee: N Cousins (RFU)
Attendance: 457.
This week Redruth ended up on the right side of yet another high-scoring encounter at the Recreation Ground, reports Bill Hooper.
Thanks in part to a faultless goal-kicking display from man-of-the-match fly-half Aaron Penberthy, who contributed 21points towards his side’s 36-32 win.
For the Redruth supporters it was another roller-coaster ride of emotions as Stourbridge played their part in an entertaining St. Piran’s day encounter -- out-scoring the home side on the try count by five tries to three.
Early Stourbridge pressure brought an early unconverted try for winger Ashley Smith.
Penberthy replied with a couple of penalties to ease his side 6-5 ahead after 19 minutes. Stourbridge’s kicker, Jamie Hean, and Penberthy then traded penalties before the visiting full back ran from deep to set up his side’s second try, scored by centre Charlie Hayter. Hearn was on hand with the conversion for a 15-9 lead.
With half-time approaching Redruth racked up the pressure through the forwards, which saw lock Luke Collins driven over up in the scoreboard corner. Penberthy added the extras, as well as a penalty shortly after, which saw Stourbridge flanker Rupert Cooper sin-binned for foul play.
Turning around 19-15 up and playing down the slope with a man advantage Redruth looked to capitalise early in the second half.
Pressure from the forwards saw lock Damien Cook power over for the start they hoped for, Penberthy’s conversion stretching Redruth’s advantage to 26-15.
While pressing in the Stourbridge half Redruth were caught out by a swift counter-attack from the visitors, which saw winger Nigel Baker score his side’s third try to cut the Reds’ advantage to just six points.
Redruth continued to press and a further period of pressure was rewarded when a quick pass from Penberthy found winger Sean Hawkey in space, who eluded the cover to squeeze over in the Piggy lane corner. Penberthy was once more on cue from wide out with the conversion.
The game looked to be as good as safe for the Reds when Penberthy knocked over his third penalty of the game just eight minutes from time.
However, the home supporters had to endure a nerve wracking finale as Redruth quickly found themselves down to thirteen men as the front row duo of Darren Jacques and Richard Brown were sin-binned in quick succession. Stourbridge took advantage, scoring two late tries, the first from replacement back row Ben Sparkes, converted by Hearn, and then by the full back himself with the final move of the game to leave Redruth with two league points of their own.
Redruth 36 pts: tries Collins, Cook, Hawkey; conversions
Penberthy (3); penalties Penberthy (5)
Yellow cards: Jacques, Brown
Stourbridge 32 pts: tries Smith, Hayter, Baker, Sparks, Hearn;
conversions Hearn (2); penalty Hearn
Yellow card: Cooper
This narrow defeat at Polson could turn out to have been the watershed of the All Blacks' battle to keep their place in the National League One.
All Blacks' skipper Tom Rawlings was disappointed but still determined that the club could get out of the drop-zone.
"We could have won," he said. "We just let it slip, especially in the first half when we were asleep. Not getting wins and particularly the ones we targeted can be a tiring business. Losing like this can be demoralising and take it out of you. But if this April we can get within a couple of points of sides above us, anything can happen."
Macclesfield attacked from anywhere at any time with a spirited set of backs. Fly-half Tom Eaton dummied in the 22 and put prop Tom Mantell through to stroll in, with fullback Ross Winney coverting and adding a penalty goal.
At the end of the first quarter left wing Josh Fowles crossed wide out for Winney to add the extras and the All Backs were 17-0 down.
Scrum-half Lewis Webb was mauled over the line after a series of powerful rucks and runs round the fringes. Murphy's conversion attempt flew wide.
Just after the half hour Macclesfield stretched their already considerable lead when they pounced on an error by the attacking All Blacks – Fowles getting a clear run to the line.
An All Black penalty from Murphy meant they trailed 8-22 at half-time.
The visitors weren't to score again until the 76th minute as the All Blacks tried to come back. Webb touched down his second score after a penalty and a scrum close in. Roberts' conversion missed by inches and he was then wide with a penalty shot.
In the 69th minute he kicked to the corner and from the catch-and-drive replacement prop Tim Mathias drove over. Ryan Westren landed a spot-on conversion and the Cornishmen were now just two points adrift, 22-20.
The key score came seven minutes later when after a rare Macclesfield counter-attack they took a scrum under the posts, spun the ball left and in the melee scrum-half Chris Townsend crossed. The reliable Winney klicked the extras and the All Blacks were two scores behind again.
Deep into injury time they did get the bonus-point try, replacement hooker Jamie Salter driven powerfully over from a catch-and-drive with Westren again converting, but it was too late.
Cornish All Blacks: Murphy (Roberts 40); Hawken, Westren, Nonu,
Turner; Perry, Webb; Andrew (Mathias 45), Semmens (Salter 45), Pow; Hilton,
Jenkins; Lord, T Rawlings (capt), M Rawlings
Replacements (not used): Dwyer,
Childs. Yellow card: Nonu
All Blacks' scorers: tries Webb (2), Mathias, Salter; conversions Westren (2); penalty Murphy
Macclesfield: Winney; Moorhouse, Addison, Davenport (Simpson 51),
Fowles; Eaton, Townsend; Mantell, Moss (Taylor 69), Robinson; Marsh, Owen
(Parkinson 69); Sayce, Stewart (capt), Keep (Jones 62)
Replacement (not
used): Coulbeck. Yellow card: Eaton
Macclesfield scorers: tries Mantell, Fowles (2), Townsend; conversions Winney (3); penalty Winney
Referee: Marcus Caton (RFU)
Attendance: 400
Cornish Pirates got their play-off campaign off to the start they wanted, with a bonus-point victory over Doncaster Knights yesterday.
However, they were made to work very hard at the Mennaye by the injury-hit Yorkshiremen, who included assistant coach and former Pirates' favourite Brett Davey on their replacements' bench.
Pirates had only one try in the bag with eight minutes of normal time remaining and clung to a 16-13 lead.
A dazzling seven minutes later though, they were out of sight at 33-13 ahead, having scored three more tries to wrap up the bonus point.
Even then, they allowed Doncaster back into the match, with the Knights collecting two tries in injury time, and if fly-half Tristan Roberts had slotted a relatively simple conversion with the last kick of the match, the visitors would have had a losing bonus point to show for their efforts.
"We made hard work of it right from the start," said Pirates' high-performance manager Chris Stirling.
"We created probably ten or 12 try-scoring opportunities, and blew most of them.
"It was due to inaccuracy, lack of composure, and some poor decision-making."
Roberts gave Doncaster a seventh-minute lead to reward their bright start, slotting over a 40-metre penalty, but that was swiftly cancelled out by Pirates' full-back Rob Cook, and when right winger Grant Pointer kicked a howitzer of a penalty from halfway, the hosts led 6-3.
Another Cook penalty just past the half-hour, for hands in the ruck, increased that advantage, and then openside flanker Phil Burgess picked up a loose ball just inside opposition territory, and raced 45 metres, escaping the attentions of four Knights' players to score his 11th Championship try of the season. Cook converted to make it 16-3.
Roberts slotted a penalty from halfway in the 51st minute and then Doncaster winger Dougie Flockhart intercepted a Laurie McGlone pass and sprinted 60 metres to score a try that Roberts converted for 16-13 behind.
However, the Knights' brave challenge was killed off with three tries in seven minutes.
Pointer collected the first in the Newlyn Gate corner, after a Jonny Bentley surge down the right flank, though there was considerable doubt he actually grounded the ball properly.
Cook added another soon after when Bentley brilliantly offloaded to the full-back after gathering his own kick ahead, and winger Wes Davies grabbed the bonus-point try against his old club after the ball rebounded favourably into his path from a fly-hack.
Cook converted the first and the Pirates led by 20 points.
Doncaster managed two tries in nine minutes of injury time, from centre Olly Goss and blindside flanker Latu Makaafi. Roberts converted the first score, but his second kick at goal was just wide.
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Pointer, Hopper, Luke (Locke 67), Davies, Bentley, Cattle (capt) (Doherty 77), Storer (Brits 52), Ward (Elloway 77), Paver (Andrew 80), McGlone (Myerscough 63), Gulliver, Morgan, Burgess (Betty 73), Marriott
Pirates' scorers: tries Burgess, Pointer, Cook, Davies; conversions Cook (2); penalties Cook (2), Pointer
Doncaster: McColl, Flockhart, Goss, Wright, Williams, Roberts,
Jones, Thiede (Brown 49), Boden (Lawrie 73), Cusack, Challinor, Kenworthy
(Parsons 73), Makaafi, Cochrane (capt), Jackson
Replacements (not used):
Doughty, Davey, Gates, Briers
Doncaster scorers: tries Flockhart, Goss, Makaafi; conversions Roberts (2); penalties Roberts (2)
Referee: Steve Lee (RFU)
Attendance: 2,185.
Redruth fell badly in the first of three games against fellow strugglers that will define their fate this season.
Director of rugby David Penberthy was unable to hide his disappointment over a supine Redruth performance: "We are staring right down the barrel now," he said.
"There are a lot of players who are struggling with confidence at the moment. We have got to help them as we are a big club and we take responsibility collectively.
"It is basics, poor tackling, poor handling, poor passing that is giving the opposition momentum and killing us.
"The first 20 minutes of the second half we were diabolical, the handling was poor; basic, basic errors, giving them turnover ball.
"We felt at half-time they were one of the weakest teams we have played this year but we made them look like superstars."
Aaron Penberthy, the league's third highest scorer, continued his rich vein of kicking form when he converted a penalty from wide out on the left touchline in the third minute.
Giant lock Damien Cook then broke through the fringe defence and took play to the home line after ten minutes.
From a five-metre scrum the power of the Reds' pack gave skipper Mark Bright the chance to pick up and crash over for a try near the posts that Penberthy converted.
Lisiate Tafa brushed through the Reds' defence in the 25th minute and chipped over Rule to run on and gather the ball to claim a try that Steve Nutt converted.
Just before the interval a soft penalty gave Park the chance to kick to the corner. Redruth held out for a series of attacks but the home side's prop Daren Birchall crashed over in the right-hand corner for an unconverted try that left the Reds trailing 12-10 at the interval.
The first score of the second period was going to be crucial and it came after 54 minutes when England Counties player Matt Riley ran strongly to touch down near the posts for Nutt to convert.
A 35-metre penalty by Nutt with ten minutes to go was followed on the restart by a try for Park skipper Chris Wilkinson after a strong run by Garth Daw, converted by Nutt, to leave Redruth 19 points down.
Powerful Tom Duncan had a big impact when he came on, showing an appetite to take the ball forward.
He touched down in the 77th and 80th minutes, with Penberthy converting both for 12 kicks in a row, to pull Redruth into bonus point territory.
Redruth went for another score to win the game but when the move broke down Nutt got the ball and ran in from 30 metres.
Sedgley Park: Riley; Nutt, Wainwright, Tafa, Hurst (Dutton 72); Jones, Wilkinson (Capt); Rirchall, Roberts (Black 51), Flynn (Lewis 65), Atkinson (Smith 72), Hall, Oxley, Livesey, Dew
Sedgley Park scorers: tries Tafa, Birchall, Riley, Wilkinson, Nutt; conversions Nutt (3); penalties Nutt
Redruth: Rule; Hawkey, Parsons (Notman 65), Pedley (Kenward 62), Jackson; Penberthy, Simmons; Jacques, Brown, Fairbrother (Wright 72), Cook (Duncan 66), Collins, Wood (Fuca 46), Hambly, Bright (Capt)
Redruth scorers: tries Duncan (2), Bright; conversions Penberthy (3); penalties Penberthy
Referee: Darren Gamage (RFU)
The Cornish All Blacks' performance at The Butts against a powerful Coventry, who lay sixth in the National One table and had run some of the league's top sides very close, was a sight to behold. They ran in six tries – including a hat-trick for lock Ben Hilton – and had the four-try bonus point in the bag by half-time.
Captain, flanker Tom Rawlings, said: "Coach Tony Roques had said to the lads, 'Look, I'm giving you licence to go out there and just play rugby'. And we did. This win has been a real confidence-booster and has set us up now for a really good run-in to the season.
"We scored six tries and played some awesome rugby. We had been putting too much pressure on ourselves before games but this time we could just go out there and play as we wanted.
"When Jack Andrew and Darren Semmens came on into the front row in the second half, it raised our level of play yet again. In fact, the front row laid the foundation for victory.
"We have been under fire a lot for some of our performances but we blew them away on Saturday – even when we were a man down."
It was nip-and-tuck up to the interval and it didn't start well for the All Blacks.
By the second minute the Midlanders were 7-0 up. After some open play their lock Samuel Herrington crashed through a gap and a tackle to score from 25 metres out. Fullback Daniel Richards converted.
The All Blacks hit back within minutes, several phases of play leading to the backs releasing wing Ben Turner to outrun the defence and go in at the posts for centre Ryan Westren to add the extras.
The visitors infringed on the 22 and Richards slotted the penalty, but the All Blacks regained the lead soon after with lock Ben Hilton touching down the first of his three tries, breaking off a driving maul to score.
This lead was twice stretched when first Westren made an outstanding break to touch down, and then Hilton crossed again from another driving maul.
Back came Coventry in the 36th minute, No.8 Sebastian Pearson going over from an attacking scrum near the visitors' line. But at the break the All Blacks led 22-15.
Flanker Josh Lord was sin-binned for stamping, and Richards landed the home penalty. The Midlanders went back into the lead in the 57th minute when Richards scored after a series of driving mauls close in and converted his own try.
But that was it for Coventry. With 12 minutes remaining their skipper, openside flanker Alexander Nash, was sin-binned for persistently coming in at the side.
In the last ten minutes the All Blacks came on strong. First hooker Semmens crossed after some powerful driving mauls and rucks, with Westren adding the extras.
Then came the victory clincher. When a scrum ball bobbled loose on their own line they snatched it up and scored their sixth try.
With the pack showing superb control and composure, Hilton crossed for his hat-trick and the desperately needed and well-deserved away win.
Coventry: Richards; Gregson, Mcdonald (Stevens 22), Green,
Harris; Russell, Audis; Paterman, Price (Ager 60), Parkins; Herrington, Weaver;
Daynes (Southern 48), Nash (capt), Pearson
Replacements (not used): Read,
Beales
Coventry scorers: tries Herrington, Pearson, Richards;
conversions Richards (2); penalties Richards (2)
Yellow card: Nash
Cornish All Blacks: Roberts; Bright, Westren, Nonu, Turner;
Perry, Webb; Mathias (Andrew 57), Salter (Semmens 57), Pow; Hilton, Jenkins;
Lord, T Rawlings (capt), M Rawlings
Replacements (not used): Dwyer, Childs,
Murphy
All Blacks' scorers: tries Turner, Hilton (3), Westren, Semmens;
conversions Westren (2)
Yellow card: Lord
Referee: G Macdonald (RFU)
Attendance: 798
The Cornish Pirates rattled Bedford Blues with three second-half tries at Goldington Road to snatch what could turn out to be a significant result in the Championship run-in.
Bedford had lost only one Championship fixture on home soil this season prior to the visit of Chris Stirling's side and in going down to the Pirates have surrendered first place in the play-off pool.
With the winner securing home advantage in the semi-finals of the competition next month, this fully committed display from the Pirates could prove to be crucial. Pirates' backs coach Harvey Biljon said: "It was a fantastic effort and result for the boys and I think they really dug deep at the end there.
"Credit to Bedford because like us they are a team which likes to play rugby and they kept playing. I think if you had been a supporter here you would have enjoyed the fixture."
After a cagey start the Pirates took the lead playing down the infamous Bedford slope with a brace of penalties from full-back Rob Cook.
The Blues were dealt a massive blow after 16 minutes when skipper James Pritchard was forced to leave the field following a collision with Pirates' fly-half Jonny Bentley.
Ed Thrower quickly made his mark with the opening try of the game as the Pirates failed to clear their lines deep in their own 22. Myles Dorrian converted for a one-point lead.
Cook restored the Pirates' advantage with a third penalty.
Another moment of slackness at the back proved costly again as, on a rare Blues foray to the Pirates' line, lock Mike Howard barged over to be awarded try number two.
With Dorrian's conversion off target Grant Pointer briefly levelled the scores with a long-range effort. But Dorrian had the last word, slotting the Blues back into a 15-12 interval lead.
The Cornish side scored their first try on 52 minutes. Phil Burgess and Matt Hopper led a counter-attack down the left flank and the chip ahead from Hopper caused problems for the retreating Thrower, who tripped and fell as he fielded the ball before being bundled over his own try line.
From the resulting Pirates' five-metre scrum the ball was worked through the phases and then spun right for Cook to dash home to finish the move. Cook converted for a four-point lead.
Four minutes later it got better for the Pirates as Cook's break after Kyle Marriott's steal in the loose proved the catalyst for Ward to set up Gavin Cattle for a second try.
Bedford edged back into the game with Dorrian's second penalty but, with the Pirates defending tigerishly and pilfering turnover ball almost at will, they became frustrated. The contest was settled after 72 minutes as Cattle fed Ward in the home 22, who broke free to touch down under the posts.
Cook made no mistake with the conversion.
Three second-half tries from the Cornish Pirates earned them a win at Goldington Road which could prove crucial in the race to qualify for the Championship semi-finals, writes Dick Straughan.
Not only did the victory give Chris Stirling’s side a massive psychological edge over Bedford Blues for the remainder of the play-offs but also eased them above the Blues in the table after two matches.
After a cagey start from both sides the Pirates took an early lead through two Rob Cook penalties. But sloppy defending handed a try to Blues' replacement full-back Ed Thrower, and Myles Dorrian converted to edge the home side ahead.
Cook slotted his third penalty for the Pirates on 22 minutes but immediately they squandered the advantage again as lock Mike Howard rounded off an incisive move to score in the corner after a consultation with the TV match official.
Dorrian missed with his conversion but after Grant Pointer had landed a long range penalty to level the scores again, the Australian fly-half nudged the Blues into a 15-12 interval lead with a 40 metre effort.
The Pirates withstood huge Bedford pressure early in the second half before two tries in four minutes from Cook and skipper Gavin Cattle turned the game on its head.
Cook converted his own score but had the second effort charged down and, despite trailing 24-15, Bedford clearly felt there was a way back into the game.
Boss Mike Rayer rang the changes in the closing stages but the Pirates made the game safe with a third try on 72 minutes as hooker Dave Ward broke free to score under the posts. Cook converted to seal a notable success on the road for the Cornish side.
Bedford Blues: Pritchard (capt) (Thrower 16), Schmidt, Dodge, Vass, Taylor (Sharp 60), Dorrian, Veenendaal (Chudley 50), Walsh, Richmond (Clark 62), Seal (Boulton 58), Howard (Tomes 70), Rae, Gillanders, Lewitt, Tupai (Goodman 54)
Bedford scorers: tries: Howard, Thrower; cons: Dorrian; pens: Dorrian (2)
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Pointer, Hopper (Locke 79), Winn (Luke 45), Davies, Bentley, Cattle (capt) (Doherty 79), Paver (Andrew h/t), Ward (Elloway 74), Brits (Paver 57), McGlone (Myerscough 57), Gulliver, Morgan, Burgess (Betty 76), Marriott
Pirates' scorers: tries: Cook, Cattle, Ward; cons: Cook (2); pens: Pointer, Cook (3)
Referee: D Gamage
Attendance: 2,725
Redruth stay firmly in the relegation zone, despite twice clawing their way back from being 21 points adrift at Blaydon -- only to finish two points short of victory in a nail-biting finish.
Redruth director of rugby David Penberthy had mixed emotions as Redruth took two bonus points back to the Recreation Ground.
"We said today we have got to put in a performance and stick together," he said. "Our pride and passion came through but unfortunately it was not enough to take the spoils. We had a kick to win the game but it did not go our way."
With Blaydon starting the game three points above the Reds this was a game neither side could afford to lose, but questionable decision making in the first half allowed the home side to run in four tries and take a 28-14 lead into half-time.
Redruth were 21 points behind after 18 minutes before Brett Rule sparked the recovery with a break on the half-way line that led to Mark Bright giving Tom Notman a scoring pass.
With Chris Wearmouth in the sin-bin Redruth took advantage for Bright to claim a push over try in the 35th minute, Aaron Penberthy converting both.
With the interval looming, Redruth tried to play too much rugby in midfield and Blaydon cashed in – Matt Clark breaking through to send Simon Barber over for a try.
Blaydon's Andy Baggett brushed off Steve Wood's challenge five minutes after the restart to touch down near the posts and convert his score.
A dogged Redruth continued to fight back, led by skipper Bright and Chris Fuca. For much of the second half Redruth controlled procession. When the home side attacked Rule and Bright made some important tackles.
A long pass from Bright gave Notman the chance to run in his second try in the 54th minute, Penberthy adding the extras.
Six minutes later Nick Simmons ran in from 35 metres for a try in the left-hand corner. Penberthy could not convert but a 63rd-minute penalty in front of the posts got Redruth back to within six points of the hosts.
Tom Rock had a good chance to wrap up the game for Blaydon but Rule made a try-saving tackle close to the posts.
Home fans were looking at their watches when, from the back of a ruck ten metres out, Owen Hambly twisted and turned his way over the line to the right of the posts.
Penberthy's kick went agonisingly across the face of the posts, leaving the Reds with a couple of minutes to find another score. They gave it a go but Blaydon held on.
Blaydon: Yarnton; Barber, Clark, Dias, McShane; Baggett, Rock;
Williams, Hall (capt), Kaibraier (Trethewey 56), Wearmouth, Archibald,
Smithson, Bell, Jones (Vinnicombe 56)
Replacements (not used): Bentham,
Nutley, Mellish
Blaydon scorers: tries Wearmouth, Clark, Yarnton, Barber,
Baggett; conversions Baggett (5)
Yellow card: Wearmouth
Redruth: Rule; Hawkey, Jackson, Kenward (Pedley 48), Notman
(Parsons 65); Penberthy, Simmons; Jacques, Hambly, Morcom, Cook, Collins, Fuca,
Wood (Duncan 65), Bright (capt)
Replacements (not used): Gidlow, Brown
Reds' scorers: tries Notman (2), Bright, Simmons, Hambly; conversions Penberthy (3); penalty Penberthy
Referee: R Kelly (RFU)
The Cornish Pirates announced themselves as real promotion contenders with a 67-14 annihilation of Rotherham Titans at the Mennaye Field yesterday.
A few Pirates supporters had voiced their concerns in the days leading up to yesterday's Championship play-off match, as the Cornish side followed a victory over Bedford Blues earlier in the season by losing to Rotherham in the next league game.
Those doubts were dispelled as Pirates scored ten tries.
Pirates' backs coach Harvey Biljon said: "It was a fantastic first-half performance. Everything we've worked on during the week paid off. The preparation and attitude from the players has been excellent and we have to keep building performance on performance."
Full back Rob Cook got them going with a penalty before skipper Gavin Cattle scored the first try, speeding over in the left corner after a successful line-out in the Titans' 22.
The Cornish side's strong superiority in the line-out and scrum also extended to rucks and mauls, so it was no surprise when the forwards drove their way to a second home try after 17 minutes with No.8 Kyle Marriott dotting down.
Centre Matt Hopper was next to breach the Titans, touching down under the posts and leaving Cook a simple kick.
A quick line-out led to Hopper flying down the opposite wing virtually unopposed. He had Sam Betty in support but the centre went alone, scoring close to the posts for Cook to add the conversion.
Then fly-half Jonny Bentley – for the second time in the first half – tackled his man and stole possession on the Rotherham 22 before completing an easy run into the left corner.
The Pirates' ten then turned provider with a nicely weighted grubber kick down the left wing for Wes Davies to charge onto before running clear under the posts. Cook added the conversion.
It took the Pirates just three minutes of the second half to resume the onslaught with Paul Andrew sneaking through the Titans' defensive line to bring up the half century with an unconverted try.
Man-of-the-match Bentley was certainly in a merciless mood, brushing off three tackle attempts before setting replacement Drew Locke free in the right corner for another unconverted score.
A rare defensive lapse from the Pirates allowed Rotherham to score their first consolation try through Louis McGowan, with Juan Pablo Socino adding the extras.
Bentley added his second try for Cook to convert, but McGowan added another try for the Titans, with Socino converting.
Pirates' replacement scrum-half James Doherty finished the scoring with an unconverted try just before the whistle.
The Pirates, who top Pool B, face Rotherham again next weekend at Clifton Lane.
Cornish Pirates: Cook; Pointer (McAtee 50), Hopper (Locke 40), Luke, Davies; Bentley, Cattle (Doherty 61); Andrew, Ward (Elloway 50), Paver (Rimmer 33); Myerscough (McGlone 65), Gulliver; Morgan, Betty, Marriott (Burgess 40-48, 65)
Pirates' scorers: tries Cattle, Marriott, Hopper (2), Bentley (2), Davies, Andrew, Locke, Doherty; conversions Cook (7); penalty Cook
Rotherham Titans: Hunt; Hampsey (Bedford 28), Welding, Hodgson,
Du Randt (Swatkins 51); Socino, Rhodes; Harris, Aikman (Loney 28), O'Donnell;
McGowan, Burrows; Worral (Doneghan 61), Dougal, Baines (Kilbane 66)
Replacements (not used): Smidt, McMahon
Titans' scorers: tries McGowan (2); conversions Socino (2)
Referee: L Pearce (RFU)
Attendance: 2,285
Redruth's National League One safety still hangs in the balance but their 19-12 victory over Cinderford at the Recreation Ground over the weekend gives them a great deal more hope.
A try from inspirational skipper Mark Bright, along with some pin-point kicking from fly-half Aaron Penberthy, gave the Reds the required impetus to see off a dogged Forest of Dean side.
The result came as a huge relief to Redruth director of rugby Dave Penberthy. He said: "We did what we wanted to do today. It was another great game of rugby from the neutrals' point of view. It was nip and tuck but an open game and we came out on top."
Redruth are now just two points behind Blaydon in the last safe League One spot.
The Reds' eventual success owed much to Dave Penberthy's fly-half son, Aaron, who nudged past the 200-point mark for the club this season with 14 of his side's 19 points coming from his boot.
His only miss of the afternoon came in the opening five minutes when he hit the right post from distance. The ball bounced back into play and Cinderford bungled their attempt to clear and conceded another penalty which Penberthy struck through the posts.
This set the scene for the next 20 minutes, as Cinderford struggled to contain a Cornish side playing with exceptional focus and drive.
The second half was certainly more balanced, with Redruth showing a defensive resilience that has sometimes been lacking this season.
Winger Tom Notman, who displayed an impressive array of talents during the game, made one try-saving tackle to prevent Robert Winchle going over just before the hour mark. However, Cinderford deserve much credit for their perseverance and were duly rewarded with a breakaway try after Winchle intercepted a Redruth pass in midfield.
Home fly-half Brett Rule refused to give up the chase, making an astonishing recovery near his own try line but his team-mates were unable to scramble their defence before Luke Allen crashed over the final few yards for a score converted by Daniel Trigg.
Redruth kept their composure, launching a counter-attack that eventually yielded a try for Bright after a series of pick-and-goes from the forwards in Hellfire Corner.
Aaron Penberthy then added an impressive conversion from close to the right touchline to put his side seemingly out of reach. There was still time for Cinderford's skilful winger Nevaro Codlin to score his side's second try of the game but Redruth deservedly closed out of the match.
A tough trip to Cambridge next week will be followed up with crucial clashes with Macclesfield (home), Coventry (away) and Blaydon (home). However, Dave Penberthy can look forward to the run-in with expectation and more than a little hope.
Redruth: Rule; Hawkey, Pedley, Parsons, Notman; Penberthy,
Simmons; Jacques, Gidlow (Brown 55), Morcom (Fairbrother 49); Cook (Wood 55),
Collins; Hambly, Fuca (Duncan 75), Bright (capt)
Replacement (not used):
Kenward
Reds' scorers: tries Bright; conversion Penberthy; penalties Penberthy (3); drop-goal Penberthy
Cinderford: Trigg; Codlin, Winchle, Scourfield, Boston; Blair,
Brown; P Price, Hall (capt) (Wilkes 58), S Price (Stout 70); Rimmer, King
(McKee 70); Allen, Nicholls, Evans
Replacements (not used): Carter, Lee
Cinderford scorers: tries Allen, Codlin; conversion Trigg
Attendance: 950
Referee: M Tutty (RFU)
The Cornish All Blacks responded to their threat of relegation by playing like a team looking for promotion as they ran in five tries for a five-point victory in their National One encounter with Blaydon on Saturday.
Skipper Tom Rawlings said: "It was good to start and end very well and I think we were in control throughout – it was ours to win. We went out and showed what we could do."
The All Blacks raced to a 19-5 lead with the interval five minutes away and might have killed the match off, but Blaydon rallied for a half-time scoreline of 19-12, and then again 15 minutes into the second half to trail by just two points.
The northerners managed only one more score, while the All Blacks switched on the jet-thrust and roared away out of sight to post an exhilarating further 17 points.
The first home score came in the fourth minute when Richard Bright salvaged a wayward Ryan Westren pass on halfway, chipped and sent a grubber kick towards the corner, which he followed up and touched down. Westren's conversion flew wide – his only miss of the afternoon.
Blaydon were unruffled and attacked persistently in the home half. Then Rawlings was sin-binned for stamping.
A good clearance kick by scrum-half Lewis Webb took play away from the All Blacks' line and they were inches wide with a penalty shot.
When the Blaydon defence fumbled a high ball in the 22, the All Black pack swarmed to the line, drove twice and Webb got the touchdown with Westren adding the extras. With only 14 men the All Blacks had stretched their lead to 12-0.
They were tackling well too but a determined Blaydon countered, their strong centre David Clark shimmying through and linking with wing Simon Barber, who shot over. Baggett's conversion failed and the All Blacks surged forward again. Fly-half Steve Perry arrowed through and was almost clear before a series of rucks saw players queuing up on the blindside with an overlap and prop Tim Mathias thundered over. Westren added two more points.
Yet the northerners kept countering and some superb crossfield interpassing ended with full-back Ed Yarnton scoring for Baggett to convert. Shortly after half-time there was another Blaydon score, flanker Jason Smithson finishing off some bullocking drives by his pack to make it 19-17. But that was as close as the visitors got. The All Black after-burners were lit and Blaydon were just blown away.
Cornish All Blacks: Roberts; Bright, Westren, Nonu, Turner; Perry (Lewitt 72), Webb; Mathias (Andrew 41), Salter (Semmens 47), Pow (Bayliss 47); Hilton, Jenkins; Lord (Dwyer 60), Rawlings (capt), Rawlings
All Blacks' scorers: tries Bright, Webb, Mathias, Westren (2);
conversions Westren (4); penalty Westren
Yellow card: Rawlings
Blaydon: Yarnton (Wilson 81); Barber, Clark, Dias, Kyle; Baggett, Rock; Williams (Clarke 40), Hall (capt) (Bentham 70), Kilbraier; Wearmouth (Laughlin 70), Archibald; Smithson, Bell (Nutley 61), Jones
Blaydon scorers: tries Barber, Yarnton, Smithson; conversion Baggett
Referee: M Carley (RFU)
Attendance: 500
The Cornish Pirates are almost, but not quite, in the Championship semi-finals after completing a play-off double over Rotherham Titans at Clifton Lane.
This win coupled with Bedford Blues' surprise defeat at home to Goldington Road now means that the Pirates just need to win against the Blues at the Mennaye Field next weekend to secure a home draw in the last four of the competition.
But the Titans were a much changed outfit to the one which went down 67-14 in Cornwall a week ago and victory here was only sealed when hooker Dave Ward raced through for the opening try of the game after 54 minutes.
Until then the contest had been close on the scoreboard and played at a stagnant pace dictated by the home pack.
Four Rob Cook penalties against two from Juan Pablo Socino put the Pirates 12-6 up at the break before Ward`s try finally put some clear daylight between the sides.
Socino clawed three back with a third penalty before Phil Burgess, playing on the wing in the second half, ran in a match clinching try right on the 80 minute mark.
Cliffie Hodgson bagged a consolation try for the Titans deep in stoppage time converted by Matt Rhodes.
Rotherham Titans: M.James, Swatkins, Welding (S.James 44),
Socino, Rhodes (capt), Hodgson, Bedford, Harris (Kilbane 60), Loney, O`Donnell
(Aikman 77), McGowan, Smidt, Donnegan (Worrall 65), Baines, Burrows
Replacements (not used) George, McMahon, Hampsey
Rotherham scorers: tries Hodgson; con Rhodes; pens Socino (3)
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Pointer, Hopper, Luke (Doherty 76), Locke (Burgess h/t), Bentley, Cattle (capt), Andrew (Storer 70), Ward (Elloway 70), Paver (Rimmer 76), Myerscough (Holmes 80+4), Gulliver, Morgan, Betty (sin-bin 80+5), Marriott (McGlone 20)
Pirates' scorers: tries Ward, Burgess; cons Cook; pens Cook (4)
Yellow card Betty
Referee T.Hall (RFU)
Cornish Pirates booked themselves a home Championship semi-final against London Welsh with a hard-fought victory over Bedford Blues at a sun-kissed Mennaye Field.
They made it five play-off wins out of five to guarantee top spot in Pool B, and make next Saturday's trip to Doncaster meaningless, at least from their point of view.
The Welsh game is likely to take place at the Mennaye on May 1.
It was job done by the Pirates yesterday, but not the best of displays, as forwards coach Ian Davies conceded.
"We have played much better than that this season," he said. "I thought our performance was poor, but we achieved a 5-0 result, which is testament to the boys that they can do that even when they play poorly."
Full-back Rob Cook gave Pirates the lead after a fast and furious opening with a penalty for hands in the ruck, but any thoughts Bedford would merely roll over were firmly quashed six minutes later.
Fly-half Jake Sharp made the most of a mismatch in midfield, against Pirates' prop Alan Paver, to create space and draw the last line of cover, before sending tight-head prop Phil Boulton in under the posts, with Exeter Chiefs-bound Myles Dorrian – handed kicking duties in the absence of James Pritchard – adding the simple conversion.
Pirates' hooker Dave Ward caused mayhem, rampaging deep into opposition territory before cleverly offloading to former Northampton winger Grant Pointer to cross the whitewash. Cook's conversion put the hosts back in front.
The ding-dong affair continued, with Bedford regaining the advantage with their second try of the game after 28 minutes; Sharp going over, Dorrian adding the extras.
Six minutes later, Cook collected the ball on his own 10-metre line and set off on a run through the Blues' defence. It looked like he had taken the wrong option when he ignored an inviting overlap on the left, in favour of going for the line himself, and was tackled, but when prop Paul Andrew was halted only a metre short after the initial recycling of the ball, fly-half Jonny Bentley threw out a long pass for outside centre Matt Hopper to squeeze over for a 15-14 lead.
Bentley popped up as the provider again in first-half injury time as Pirates scored their third try. The Kiwi's sumptuous offload sent centre Tom Luke over beneath the posts, after Sam Betty had taken play into Bedford's 22 with a surging run off a line-out. Cook's conversion gave Pirates a 22-14 lead at the end of a breathless opening period.
Pirates did not start the second half well, giving away a succession of penalties, with Dorrian helping himself to three points. However, that score was cancelled out by Cook's 59th-minute penalty after a scrum offence.
Dorrian was given two more chances at goal from around the 40-metre mark, but he messed up both, and goalkicking is an area he will need to improve if he is going to be an able deputy to Gareth Steenson next season.
It was still too close for comfort, as far as Pirates were concerned, but they could relax after 74 minutes, when a multi-phase passage of play chiselled out the opening for a limping Wes Davies (Achilles injury) to bound down the left wing for the Pirates' fourth try before coming off.
Man-of-the-match Pointer's mammoth penalty a minute from the end of normal time put the seal on the game, but there was still time for Bedford flanker Alex Rae to grab a late consolation touchdown.
Pirates: Cook; Pointer, Hopper (Doherty 80+4), Luke, Davies (Winn 74); Bentley, Cattle (capt); Andrew (Storer 64), Ward (Elloway 74), Paver (Rimmer 69); McGlone, Gulliver; Morgan (Holmes 80), Betty (Myerscough 52), Burgess
Pirates' scorers: tries Pointer, Hopper, Luke, Davies; conversions Cook (2); penalties Cook (2), Pointer
Bedford: Thrower; Schmidt, Dorrian, Bedford (Dodge 49), Taylor; Sharp (Bassett 76), Chudley (Veenendaal 55); Seal (Walshe 55), Richmond (Locke 78), Boulton (Boot 72); Howard, Kruis (Goodman 69); Gillanders, Rae, Tupai (capt)
Bedford scorers: tries Boulton, Sharp, Rae; conversions Dorrian (2); penalty Dorrian
Referee: Dean Richards (RFU)
Attendance: 2,985
Redruth are still in the chase but their bid to avoid National League relegation faltered slightly after a 17-17 home draw with Macclesfield.
The Cornish side are now four points adrift of Sedgley Park in the safe positions, having played two games more than their rivals.
Dave Penberthy's young guns – the side's average age was 21 this weekend – battled superbly, scoring excellent tries through winger Tom Notman and replacement lock Tom Duncan.
However, the visitors were always dangerous on the break and punished home mistakes – something Redruth failed to do themselves.
Director of rugby Dave Penberthy said: "I'm a bit disappointed. We made too many basic errors in the first 20 minutes – we had three chances that went begging."
The two most frustrating misses came when Chris Fuca and Darren Jacques both knocked on in promising positions. The latter mistake came during an advantage and fly-half Aaron Penberthy was able to get three points on the board from a penalty when play was brought back.
After the Reds failed to capitalise on their superiority, Macclesfield scored the first try on a rare foray into the opposition 22. A line-out routine set up hooker Pete Allen, who crossed wide on the left.
The swirling wind made swift passing moves difficult but that didn't stop Redruth scrum-half Nick Simmons and winger Notman combining brilliantly down the left wing after the former broke from the back of a midfield scrum.
There was still plenty for Notman to do when he took possession at pace outside the Macclesfield 22 but he produced a classy finish, deftly shimmying past full-back Ross Winney and touching down under the posts.
Although Redruth took a five-point advantage into the break, they failed to build on their lead at the start of the second half. They eventually yielded to unrelenting Macclesfield pressure when Evan Stewart went over on the left wing.
Then winger Matt Simpson caught out Notman underneath a high ball, before combining with Tom Davenport and Jack Moorhouse down the right wing to score in Hellfire Corner to snatch the lead.
The situation seemed dire for Redruth when influential lock Luke Collins was forced off through injury, but his replacement Duncan stepped up superbly to score under the posts with ten minutes remaining.
There was rarely a chance for Redruth to seal the points, except a long-distance drop-goal from Aaron Penberthy deep in stoppage time. It was the right call so late in the game, but he didn't quite make the right contact and the ball drifted wide.
Dave Penberthy's side have three games left to save themselves, starting at Coventry next weekend. He said: "We're still in there. If we perform well and do ourselves justice, we'll take whatever comes our way."
Redruth: Rule; Hawkey, Parsons, Kenward, Notman; Penberthy,
Simmons; Jacques, Gidlow (Brown 55), Morcom (Fairbrother 55); Cook, Collins
(Duncan 62); Fuca (Hambly 57), Wood, Bright (capt)
Replacement (not used):
Bowden
Redruth scorers: tries Notman, Duncan; conversions Penberthy (2); penalty Penberthy
Macclesfield: Winney; Simpson, Moorhouse, Davenport (Coulbeck
68), O'Regan; Eaton, Mulchrone; Mantell (Latham 29), Allen (Moss 62), Robinson;
Marsh, Owens; Wigham (Jones 50), Stewart (capt), Kepp (Parkinson 70)
Yellow
card: Jones
Macclesfield scorers: tries Allen, Stewart, Moorhouse; conversion Winney
Referee: Phillip Davies (RFU)
Attendance: 957
The shadow of relegation looms for the Cornish All Blacks after they surrendered a 25-10 lead in the final ten minutes of their National One match against Barking on Saturday.
Barking, who are second in the league, hit them with three quickfire tries to snatch victory in injury time.
All Blacks' captain, flanker Tom Rawlings, said: "We couldn't have wished for a better first half. We had it in the bag really. When Ryan Westren landed two penalties midway through the second half, it looked like game, set and match to us at 25-10. If we had got just one more score then that would have been it.
"Now we've got four games left and we've got to finish on a high. If we win all four games we might just have a chance, but it depends too on other results now."
Barking opened the scoring with an early penalty from full-back Adam Armstrong, the league's top points-scorer, but the All Blacks were already buzzing. Full-back Kieron Lewitt linked with fly-half Steve Perry who shot down the middle and put in a beautifully weighted grubber to the posts.
Westren – who had another cracking game, running some lovely lines and scoring all but five of his side's points – raced through and touched down against the left upright.
At the start of the second quarter Westren was in again. Fast-moving, open play took the All Backs into the Barking 22 and a beautifully judged, slipped pass from scrum-half Lewis Webb sent the centre scampering through to convert his own try.
Just after the half-hour the visitors finally made their presence felt when centre Scott Alfeld crossed opportunistically from a scrum on the left for Armstrong to add the extras.
Almost on half-time the All Blacks struck again. Mike Rawlings roared through, Westren took it on and with a two-man overlap left wing Ben Turner scored. Westren missed the conversion but his side were 19-10 up at the interval.
It looked to be going well in the second half. With the wind behind them the All Blacks motored on, two penalties from Westren in the 45th and 59th minutes stretching the home lead to 25-10.
Then, suddenly the All Blacks found themselves up against it and a penalty try was awarded against them for persistently coming up in the scrums. Armstrong converted to make it 25-17 before running over on the left and hooker Thomas Cobb ran almost unopposed round to the posts for Armstrong to add the extras to give Barking victory.
Cornish All Blacks: Lewitt (Avery-Wright 72); Bright, Westren, Nonu, Turner; Perry, Webb; Andrew, Salter, Pow (Bayliss 55); Hilton, Jenkins; Lord, (Dwyer 62), T Rawlings (capt), M Rawlings. Replacements (not used): Fleming, Murphy
All Blacks' scorers: tries Westren (2), Turner; conversions
Westren (2); penalties Westren (2)
Yellow card: Nonu
Barking: Armstrong; Vincent, Alfeld, Staff, Fraser (Shaw 72);
Nelson, Heks; Auterac (Mackenzie 40), Cobb, Liffchak; Lloyd-Jones, Thomas;
Burns, Andrews (capt), Griffiths
Replacements (not used): J Owens,
Stembridge, H Owens
Barking scorers: tries Alfeld, penalty try, Armstrong, Cobb; conversions Armstrong (3); penalty Armstrong
Referee: K Lewis (RFU)
Attendance: 572
The Cornish Pirates made it six wins out of six as they completed their Championship play-offs campaign on a high and denied Doncaster Knights a place in the semi-final.
The Knights simply had to win to progress, with rivals Bedford Blues predictably beating Rotherham with something to spare, but it was not to be for the Yorkshire side and their coach, former Pirate Brett Davey, as the Cornish side ran in three tries.
A Grant Pointer penalty after four minutes got Chris Stirling's side underway in a slow start to the game, before the Knights roared back with a well-taken try from centre Andy Wright, converted by Tristan Roberts.
Roberts extended the lead with a penalty but as the Pirates fought their way back into the contest Pointer landed his second place kick on the half hour mark.
But a well taken Rhodri McAtee try snatched the lead back for the Pirates late in the half after good work by Tom Luke, and Pointer's touchline conversion made it 13-10 at the break.
Doncaster missed two opportunities to get back into the game early in the second half as McColl and Roberts both went wide with penalties, but the pace of wing Matty Williams proved telling after 55 minutes as he squeezed in for a try in the corner. Roberts converted.
The reply from the Pirates was almost instant with Phil Burgess setting off on a 60 metre break which created the platform for McAtee to glide in for his second score.
Pointer added the extras and was on target again as Nick Jackson claimed a third try under the posts after Luke's excellent miss-pass.
Doncaster rallied with a huge spell of late pressure on the Pirates' line, but scrum-half Nathan Jones' 78th minute score ultimately proved too little and too late as the Pirates hung on for a deserved victory.
Doncaster Knights: McColl, Flockhart, Goss, Wright, Williams,
Roberts (Briers 67), Jones, Frazier, Lawrie (Boden 67), Thiede (Corsar 61),
Kenworthy (Parsons 48), Craig, Rowan, Farivarz, Makaafi
Replacements (not
used): Doughty, Hampson, Devlin
Knights' scorers: tries Wright, Williams, Jones; cons Roberts (2), McColl; pens Roberts
Cornish Pirates: McAtee, Pointer, Hopper, Winn, Jackson, Luke,
Doherty, Storer (Currie 57), Elloway (Cowan-Dickie 80+1), Rimmer, Nimmo,
Gulliver (capt), Betty, Burgess (Ward 63, sin-bin 73), McGlone
Replacements
(not used) Paver, Andrew, Morgan, Cattle
Pirates' scorers: tries McAtee (2), Jackson; cons Pointer (3);
pens Pointer (2)
Yellow cards: Ward
Referee C.White (RFU)
Aaron Penberthy's injury time drop goal significantly improved the Reds' chances of staying in National League One for a seventh consecutive year.
David Penberthy, Redruth's director of rugby, said: "It was a huge win. We are in a real dog fight here, but we knew if we could get five points here today with Blaydon at home next week and Wharfedale away in the last match it's all to play for."
The closing stages of this game were pure theatre. Redruth, trailing by a point, had three good chances of tries as they dominated the last ten minutes.
With time running out they were awarded a penalty on the 22 metre line after a scrum but Penberthy's kick was just wide.
From the restart Nick Simmons fed Penberthy and the young fly-half's kick crept over the crossbar from 30 metres to put Redruth in front. However, there was a twist in the tail when Redruth were penalised at a ruck on the right of the 22.
Ben Russell went for goal but his kick was across the face of the posts as Redruth defended the final minute of stoppage time in midfield to claim a well-deserved tenth win.
Earlier, Owen Hambly intercepted on half-way to run away with an unconverted try after six minutes. Six minutes later, Matt Bowden went over, with Penberthy converting.
Mark Bright went to the sin-bin after 28 minutes and Coventry capitalised with a penalty try that Elliot Read converted. Jeff Gregson and Read ran in further tries, both converted by Read.
Within 42 seconds of the restart Bright put matters right with his 15th try of the season, Penberthy converting from in front of the posts. Six minutes later Hambly stretched over the line for an unconverted try to put Redruth back in front.
A Coventry counter-attack saw prop Tom Warren credited with a try in the 55th minute. The final few minutes were tense but Redruth found a way to take five points back to the Recreation ground.
Coventry: Richards; Gregson, Russell, Green, Harris; Read
(Stevens 60), Audis (Glynn 64); Warren, Price, Parkins; Herrington, Weaver;
Daynes (Tibbatts 56), Nash (capt), Pearson
Replacements (not used): Kent,
Beales
Coventry scorers: tries penalty, Gregson, Read, Warren; conversions Read (3)
Redruth: Rule (Kenward 52-66); Bowden, Hawkey, Parsons, Notman;
Penberthy, Simmons; Jacques, Brown (Gidlow 64), Morcom (Joyce 66); Bailey (Wood
55), Cook; Fuca, Hambly, Bright (capt)
Replacement (not used): T Duncan
Reds' scorers: tries Hambly (2), Bowden, Bright; conversions
Penberthy (2); drop goal Penberthy
Yellow card: Bright
Referee: Keith Lewis (RFU)
The Cornish All Blacks' brave battle against National League One relegation came to an end with a home defeat against Blackheath.
The players, as ever, did the club proud. But the burden of twenty league points deducted for going into voluntary liquidation earlier this year finally caught up with them.
It was a bitter moment for director of rugby Simon Owens. He said: "We needed five points today and there's not enough points left for us to play for now.
"We have to look to next year now but we want to finish this season with a bang – the boys are not going to give up even though we're down."
All Blacks' centre Ryan Westren certainly produced some fireworks against Blackheath, scoring an exceptional hat-trick in an increasingly impressive season.
He will surely be a target for Championship sides near and far as the Launceston club look to regroup in National Two South next season.
It took the visitors just two minutes to open the scoring through Sam Windsor's penalty. The Cornish side barely had a chance to respond before flanker David Allen crossed for his side's first try with an assertive run straight through the All Blacks' defence.
However, Westren lifted the mood at Polson dramatically in the tenth minute when he took possession in midfield and set off on a superb individual run to the try line.
And he was at it again ten minutes later, neatly side-stepping through the stretched Blackheath line before accelerating clear under the posts and adding the conversion.
Tyson Lewis struck back for Blackheath before Lewis Webb scored an interception try after reading a stray pass. Two Windsor penalties either side of the half-time whistle brought the scores level.
To make matters worse, home back Ben Turner received a yellow card for a high tackle before the man fouled, Jack Walsh, got his revenge by scoring his side's third try.
The All Blacks collapse continued when full-back Ed Doe and Allen added further scores while the hosts were a man short. Once back to the full quota, the All Blacks mounted a comeback.
Westren completed his hat-trick with another driving run to the line for a converted score. He then set up Kieran Lewitt on the opposite flank to get them back within nine points, but it was not enough.
Cornish All Blacks: Lewitt; Bright (Avery-Wright 25), Westren,
Nonu, Turner; Perry (Murphy 32), Webb; Andrew (Pow 77), Salter (Semmens 55),
Pow (Bayliss 55); Lord, Jenkins; Dwyer, T Rawlings (capt), M
Rawlings
Replacement (not used): Fleming
All Blacks' scorers: tries Westren (3), Webb, Lewitt; conversions
Westren (3)
Yellow card: Turner
Blackheath: Doe, Stephenson, Lankshear, Moan, Lewis (Covington
80); Windsor, Walsh (Ibrahim 67); Legg (Cleverly 60), Woodall, Brett; Bason
(capt), Dewale (Jope 76); Paddick, Allen (Sullivan 68),
Northcote-Green
Replacement (not used): Sullivan
Yellow card: Ibrahim
Blackheath scorers: tries Allen (2), Lewis, Walsh, Doe; conversions Windsor (3); penalties Windsor (3)
Referee: P Knowles (RFU)
Redruth live to fight another day following this narrow win in their final league match at the Recreation Ground this season, reports Bill Hooper.
A see-saw match in which the lead changed seven times, not recommended for those of a nervous disposition, was finally settled in the Reds' favour six minutes from time as fly-half Aaron Penberthy slotted home his fourth penalty of the game.
The young Redruth fly-half kicked six from six, adding the conversions of both Redruth’s tries in a faultless kicking display.
Redruth got off to a good start, with Penberthy kicking his first penalty on 4 minutes as Blaydon failed to roll away.
However, the visitors soon showed they hadn’t travelled the virtual length of England just to make up the numbers.
A sustained period of pressure saw them score their opening try after 18 minutes as lock Chris Wearmouth exploited a gap in the Reds’ cover down in Hell Fire Corner to crash over.
With the visitors again pressing near the Redruth line, lock Luke Collins ripped the ball off the Blaydon forwards to set up centre Sean Hawkey, who ran powerfully to the Blaydon 22. Winger Tom Notman and inspirational skipper Mark Bright took the move on up to the visitors' line, forcing Blaydon to infringe -- with No.8 Gavin Jones shown a yellow card for killing the ball.
Redruth opted for the scrum, with scrum-half Nick Simmons darting in from five metres to score the Reds' opening try on 26 minutes, Penberthy adding the extras for a 10-5 lead.
Frustratingly for the Reds, they too soon found themselves down to fourteen men as Hawkey was adjudged to have deliberately knocked the ball on as Blaydon once again pressed in the Redruth 22, Andrew Baggett slotting home a simple penalty from in front of the posts.
Blaydon finished the half the stronger, adding a second try with full back Ed Yarnton finishing off a good move that had stretched the Reds’ defence in the Piggy Lane corner, Baggett adding the conversion for a useful 15-10 lead for the visitors.
Redruth started the second half strongly with Bright scoring a second try for the Reds on 46 minutes. Penberthy was on cue with the conversion as he was with a penalty just four minutes later to put Redruth 20-15 up.
Blaydon wouldn’t lie down and a fine move involving backs and forwards saw winger Fraser Wilson come off his wing to score a fine try under the posts on 55 minutes and, with Baggett’s conversion, Blaydon were once again in the lead 22-20.
Penberthy and Baggett swapped penalties as the game entered its final 10 minutes. The Redruth crowd held its breath as they knew nothing less than a win would keep the Reds alive to fight again next week in their final game at Wharfedale.
Blaydon infringed as Redruth pressed, allowing Penberthy to kick his fourth penalty and secure a vital win for the Reds -- to the relief of the Redruth faithful.
Redruth will take their fight to stay in National League 1 to the Yorkshire Dales next weekend, but they also know that they will need other results to go their way if they are to survive.
It will no doubt prove to be a gripping finale to the season.
Redruth 26 pts : tries Simmons, Bright; conversions Penberthy
(2); penalties Penberthy (4)
Yellow card Hawkey (28)
Blaydon 25 pts: tries Wearmouth, Yarnton, Wilson; conversions
Baggett (2); penalties Baggett (2)
Yellow card Jones (25)
Referee: Terry Hall (RFU)
Crowd: 1,157
Despite scoring four tries at London Scottish the Cornish All Blacks suffered a 47 – 29 defeat on their travels to London. Ryan Westren, Ben Turner, Liam Dwyer and Jack Andrew all crossed the whitewash for the All Blacks to at least claim a try-scoring bonus point. Westren and Jake Murphy added the other points with the boot.
The Cornish Pirates will play Worcester Warriors in the Championship final after completing an impressive 18-10 comeback win in their semi-final against London Welsh at Mennaye Field yesterday.
The Pirates were rarely at their best, despite being on home turf. But they showed strength of character to pull through against a rugged, well-drilled Welsh side who dominated for more than an hour before the hosts edged clear with tries from skipper Gavin Cattle and winger Rhodri McAtee.
The Pirates will now play a two-leg final on May 11 and 18 against the Warriors, who beat Bedford Blues earlier in the day in the other semi-final. Backs coach Harvey Biljon said: "It's a real mix of emotions. We're really thrilled with the victory.
"The way we started to control the game and handle the pressure in the final 30 minutes was brilliant, but we know there is a lot of work for us to do leading up to the Worcester games. We made a lot of silly errors that we normally wouldn't make."
London Welsh deserve a lot of credit for forcing their hosts into many of those mistakes with a high-tempo pressure game that allowed the Pirates' backs few opportunities with ball in hand.
Fly-half Jonny Bentley, in particular, rarely had time to compose himself throughout a first half played mostly in midfield.
Welsh were first to make meaningful progress territorially and forced the Pirates into conceding a penalty just in front of their own try line. Flanker Sam Betty received a yellow card for killing the ball and Gordan Ross took the chance to get three points on the board.
The Pirates responded despite being a man down, forcing a penalty at the other end just outside the Welsh 22 which full-back Rob Cook fired straight through the posts to level the scores.
But it was still Welsh who looked more likely to score the first try and so it proved after a series of flowing backs moves tested the Pirates' defensive resolve.
In the end it took the brute force of lock Matt Corker to make the final few yards after more astute play opened up a gap to the left of the Pirates' posts. Ross added the extras.
Even when the hosts were back up to 15 with Betty's return, they continually ran straight into a solid Welsh defence.
Their only excursion into the Welsh 22 came just before the half-time break. Centre Matt Hopper looked to have broken through but was halted five metres short of the try line. When the ball was fed back to Bentley, his grubber kick into the corner for McAtee was over-hit.
A glimmer of hope arrived for the Pirates when visiting prop Shawn Pittman was yellow carded for unnecessary kicking just before half-time. But the Pirates were unable to make the extra man count; their only chance by the tenth minute of the second half was a long-range penalty from Cook which failed to find the target.
Indeed, there were just over ten minutes remaining when scrum-half Cattle crossed by the left flag and circled around towards the posts after some positive running from replacement centre Drew Locke. Cook dealt with the pressure kick superbly to bring the scores level with the conversion.
Suddenly, the mood changed around the Mennaye and there was only one team looking likely to snatch it. The Pirates' pressure was building and Welsh were penalised for going in off their feet inside their own half.
Cook made them pay with a brilliantly struck penalty to take a slender lead and the tension was finally lifted when Cattle peeled off the back of a scrum and sped down the right wing to set up McAtee for an easy finish.
The Championship final first leg between the Pirates and the Warriors takes place on Wednesday, May 11 (7.45pm) at Mennaye Field, with the second leg coming a week later at Sixways (also 7.45pm).
Cornish Pirates: Cook; McAtee, Hopper, Luke (Locke 60), Jackson;
Bentley, Cattle (capt); Andrew, Ward (Elloway 58), Paver (Rimmer 55);
Myerscough, Gulliver (Marriott 60); Morgan, Betty (Burgess 51),
McGlone
Replacements (not used): Doherty, Winn
Pirates' scorers: tries Cattle, McAtee; conversion Cook;
penalties Cook (2)
Yellow card: Betty
London Welsh: Thomas (Shabbo 63); Claassens (Yarde ht), Tonga'uiha, Whatling, Gibson; Ross, Lewis (Stevenson 68); Pittman, Ma'asi (Nelson 78), Ward; Powell (Purdy 51), Corker; Mills (capt), Hills, Russell (Lahiff 53-56) (Beach 54)
Welsh scorers: tries Corker; conversion Ross; penalty Ross
Yellow card: Pittman
Referee: D Rose (RFU)
Redruth put in an outstanding performance in Yorkshire to beat Wharfedale 33-22 and pull themselves temporarily out of the National One relegation zone.
However, the Reds now have to wait a week and see if Sedgley Park can win their game in hand with Macclesfield and save themselves at Redruth's expense.
Director of rugby David Penberthy said: "The attitude in training all week and all month has been superb.
"Sedgley Park losing at Cambridge takes us out of the bottom three and we have just got to hope Macclesfield turn up next Saturday when they go to Sedgley.
"We knew it was going to be a wide expansive game and they would throw the ball around. When we went behind early on, I said to the coaching staff that is not a bad thing as it wakes us up straight away.
"We put in some real solid effort in the first half. We defended really well, and when the opportunities came we may have been lucky. Perhaps it was about time we had a bit of luck – a lot of things have gone against us this season with last-minute defeats."
The hosts made good first use of a strong wind, Steve Graham touching down a try wide out on the left after four minutes that Tom Davidson converted.
The Reds' forwards started to build some momentum. Sam Parsons, enjoying his best game in a red shirt, went close to a try before Tom Notman took advantage of a hesitant defence to kick ahead and win the race for the touchdown. Aaron Penberthy converted.
Redruth piled on the pressure when a great run down the touchline by Matt Bowden and an inside pass saw Mark Bright go over for a try after 28 minutes. Aaron Penberthy converted.
Davidson missed with two penalties for the hosts as Redruth took a seven-point advantage into the change of ends.
Aaron Penberthy was just wide with a drop goal at the start of the second half, but good forward play from Wharfedale saw Tom McGee score an unconverted try five minutes after the break.
Owen Hambly, operating in the centre, intercepted on halfway and forced a five-metre line-out in the 58th minute from which Luke Collins stole the throw to set up Bright's second try, with Aaron Penberthy again adding the extras.
For a ten-minute spell, Wharfedale were irrepressible with forwards Dave Hughes, Talite Vaioleti and Rob Baldwin outstanding as they snatched the lead with unconverted tries by Hughes and Vaioleti – both from pick-and-drive moves.
The four-try bonus point ensured Wharfedale's safety from relegation and they sent on four pairs of fresh legs to close out the game, but Redruth finished the stronger.
Bright dived through a pile of bodies to complete his hat-trick after 71 minutes to put the Reds back in front. With Aaron Penberthy using the wind to kick long, the Cornish side wrapped up the game when Bright sent Steve Wood over for a fifth try. Aaron Penberthy's conversion took him past 250 points for the season.
"Bright was phenomenal, but losing Chris Fuca was a big blow because he is one of our line-out options, he took a real heavy blow putting his body on the line as he always does," David Penberthy said.
"I did not see 15 minutes of the second half as I was in with Steve Kenward, who had a nasty gash on the head. But you could see the will to win. If somebody missed a tackle, someone was there to cover."
Wharfedale: Hart; Taylor, Hodgson, Davidson, Horsfall; Gray (Barrett 69), Black; McGee (Dickinson 57), Graham (Sowery 69), Steel; Vaioleti (R Brown 69), Allen (Rhodes 69); Hughes, Solomi, Baldwin
Wharfedale scorers: tries: Graham, McGee, Hughes, Vaioleti; conversion: Davidson
Redruth: Rule, Notman, Hawkey (Kenward 46; Duncan 54), Parsons,
Bowden; Penberthy, Simmons; Jacques, RK Brown (Gidlow 65), Joyce; Collins,
Cook; Fuca ( Wood 32), Hambly, Bright
Replacement (not used): Morcom
Reds' scorers: tries: Bright 3, Notman, Wood; conversions: Penberthy 4
Referee: S Lee (RFU)
Individual brilliance but collective mediocrity sums up Saturday's defeat by Rosslyn Park at Polson Bridge – the Cornish All Blacks' penultimate match in National League One.
Ryan Westren shone in the centre, bagging all his side's points – two tries, the conversion of his second score and three first-half penalties. That said, he is lucky to have as a fellow midfielder Pale Nonu, who so often releases him perfectly to wreak havoc among defences.
The All Blacks never lacked for courage or determination but their first-up tackling was frequently not good enough.
In the first half the Cornishmen were up against it in the tight and only after a reshuffle did the scrum and ruck come good, which in part led after the turnaround to the visitors being restricted to two penalties – vital ones, admittedly.
The All Blacks were always in touch. They trailed 22-14 at the break and by the 55th minute had narrowed the gap to 22-21. Park, however, finished the stronger, with late penalties from fly-half Ross Laidlaw taking them clear.
"I was a bit annoyed," the All Blacks' club captain, Tom Rawlings, said. "We went up to London Scottish last week and played outstandingly well. We had the chance to perform in front of our own crowd and didn't. We've now got one more game to get off the bottom of the table to show that, if we hadn't been deducted 20 points pre-season, we could well not have been relegated."
Laidlaw and Westren traded successful early penalties before Laidlaw crossed on the right and converted after tighthead Will Collier had stormed through close to the line.
Some ferocious driving by the All Blacks allowed Westren to land another penalty when Park strayed offside, and on the half hour some powerful driving by the visitors in turn saw full-back Ed Lewis-Pratt go over out wide and wing Sam Edgerley cross in the corner, Laidlaw adding a conversion.
But Westren, released neatly by Nonu, then blitzed through the middle to touch down his 23rd try of the season. Park lock Howard Quigley was sin-binned and Westren kicked the goal to leave Park eight points up at half-time.
The All Blacks made front-row changes and began to look the better pack. Westren, again released by Nonu, sheared right through the defence for his second try.
Park scrum-half Mike Baxter was carded for playing the man without the ball, it was suddenly 22-21 and game on. However, the All Blacks made changes in the backs, loosehead Jack Andrew went off with an injured arm, and the new-found momentum seemed to fade.
Westren missed another penalty shot, Park rallied and Laidlaw's boot settled it.
Cornish All Blacks: Turner; Hawken, Westren, Nonu, Chew (Lewitt 62); Murphy (Roberts 59), Webb (capt); Andrew (Bayliss 64), Semmens (Salter 50), Bayliss (Pow 50); Lord, Jenkins; Fleming, Dwyer (Hilton 50), Rawlings
All Blacks' scorers: tries: Westren (2); conversion: Westren; penalties: Westren (3)
Rosslyn Park: Lewis-Pratt; Edgerley, Gower, Jewell, Edwards
(Strong 74); Laidlaw, Baxter (Barr 53); Mines, Gotting (Barratt 71), Collier;
Quigley, Pape; Burton (Gross 50), Rowland, Lock (capt)
Replacement (not
used): Huggett
Park scorers: tries: Laidlaw, Lewis-Pratt, Edgerley; conversions:
Laidlaw (2); penalties: Laidlaw (3)
Yellow cards: Quigley, Baxter
Referee: P Davies (RFU)
Attendance: 780
The Cornish Pirates have work to do if they are to become champions of English rugby's second tier after suffering a 21-12 defeat to Worcester Warriors in the Championship final first leg at Mennaye Field last night.
A series of Pirates mistakes in their own 22 allowed the Warriors to build a lead through tries from Miles Benjamin and Andy Goode in the first half. The home side's only response was four penalties from Rob Cook, leaving them a nine-point deficit to overturn in next week's second leg at Worcester.
The Pirates made a positive start with plenty of quick ball inside the Worcester half and only an early knock-on from full-back Cook prevented them from making serious inroads into the visitors' 22.
But the first moment of Cornish carelessness came as early as the seventh minute. Fly-half Jonny Bentley, so often the creative architect for Pirates, attempted a cross-field kick ten metres from his own try-line over to the right wing for Rhodri McAtee to launch a break.
Bentley's normally reliable boot put the ball straight out of play barely outside his own 22 and, once Worcester completed the line-out, it only took a few phases for the Warriors to score their first try with winger Benjamin crashing through McAtee's tackle attempt to go over in the left corner.
Goode missed the conversion but he had another chance to aim for the posts midway through the half when Pirates were caught offside. This time he made no mistake and extended his side's lead to eight unanswered points.
The Pirates were struggling to gain territory in threatening areas as Worcester started to settle but they grabbed some points when they did through a Cook penalty just outside the Worcester 22.
Despite that progress, the hosts once again shot themselves in the metaphorical foot on the half hour. A Goode drop-goal attempt was deflected by a Pirates' hand and the ball fell short to winger Wes Davies, who inexplicably dotted the ball down rather than clearing into touch.
The resulting five-metre scrum was hard work for the home side, and, after three failed attempts to drive for the line, the Warriors worked the ball out to Goode, who broke through to score a converted try under the posts.
There was a flicker of light for the hosts just before the half-time whistle when Cook held his nerve once more to kick his second penalty of the half, but another Pirates' error straight from the restart allowed Goode to cancel it with his own second successful penalty.
Goode could have added another at the start of the second half but he dragged his 30-metre kick from the right touchline just wide of the left post -- only for Cook to do much the same for the Pirates ten minutes later.
Goode did extend the visitors' lead with a successful kick a few minutes later but they were reduced to 14 men when flanker Neil Best was sent to the sin bin moments after Davies was brought to a sudden halt as he charged towards the try-line in the left corner. The Pirates opted to kick for the posts, allowing Cook to reduce the deficit to 12 points on the hour mark.
The Pirates' high performance manager Chris Stirling made a tactical switch with just over 20 minutes remaining. Forwards Ryan Storer and Rob Elloway came on, with winger Davies and Paul Andrew leaving the field. Phil Burgess moved from flanker to the wing.
Worcester boosted their own ranks by bringing on Adam Balding when Best's ten minutes in the bin were up. Pirates responded with a fourth penalty from Cook – as well as one missed in stoppage time – but there seemed little chance of a potentially decisive home try in the final minutes, leaving them with at least ten points to find at Sixways next week for the title.
Cornish Pirates: Cook; Davies (Elloway 66), Hopper, Luke (Locke
55), McAtee; Bentley, Cattle; Andrew (Storer 66), Ward (Holmes 79), Paver
(Rimmer 73; Nimmo, Myerscough; Morgan, Burgess, McGlone (Marriott
73)
Replacement (not used): Doherty
Pirates' scorers: penalties Cook (4)
Worcester: Pennell (capt); Garvey, Crockett (Grove 60),
Rasmussen, Benjamin; Goode (Carlisle 79), Arr; Black, Fortey (Lutui 55),
Taumoepeau (Douglas 62); Rawlinson (Kitchener 62), Gillies; Best (Balding 73),
Abbott, Horstmann
Replacement (not used): Frost
Warriors' scorers: tries Benjamin, Goode; conversion Goode;
penalties Goode (3)
Yellow card: Best
Referee: M Fox (RFU)
Worcester Warriors secured a swift return to the Premiership with a hard-fought victory over Cornish Pirates at a sold-out Sixways last night.
It gave them a 46-32 aggregate Championship final success, and their promotion confirms Leeds Carnegie's relegation from the top flight.
Pirates needed a very early score to put their hosts under pressure, and they got off to a dream start, with full-back Rob Cook slotting a 35-metre penalty with less than two minutes gone, after Worcester had ventured offside.
That lead only lasted four minutes though, with Andy Goode kicking a 40-metre penalty, and a ferocious attacking move by Warriors soon after only failing to provide a try when number eight Kai Horstmann was held up.
It proved only a brief reprieve for the visitors. Warriors shoved them backwards at a five-metre scrum, number nine Jonny Arr fed mercurial Marcel Garvey wide on the right, and the dangerous winger cut a lovely angle back inside to register his 22nd try of the season.
Goode banged over the conversion for a 10-3 lead, and the home fans were already savouring the prospect of Premiership rugby, even at that early stage, with the aggregate advantage now 16 points.
Referee JP Doyle amazingly needed the help of the television match official to adjudicate on whether Goode had kicked a 30-metre drop goal in the 22nd minute – echoes of the league match at the Mennaye Field in January, when he controversially awarded a conversion to Goode after consulting video replays, and once again the decision was in the affirmative to make it 13-3.
Pirates almost scored a try in the 26th minute when fly-half Jonny Bentley jinked his way into space and headed for the line, but Garvey got back with a superb tackle only six metres out.
With on-loan Exeter Chiefs centre Drew Locke making indents into the Warriors' defence every time he got the ball, Pirates started to work their way back into the game, and when the hosts strayed offside, Cook put over the simple penalty to cut the gap to only seven points on the night at half-time.
Pirates lost winger Rhodri McAtee at the interval to a shoulder injury, replaced by Tom Luke, but if there was any doubt where the Championship trophy was heading, it was put to rest three minutes after the break.
Jonny Arr gathered Nick Jackson's horribly miscued kick, and after the ball had been worked to the left, Benjamin was put in the clear. He was sufficiently concerned about a forward pass or a foot in touch to turn around and see if the touch judge's flag had gone up, but none was forthcoming, and the winger continued his run to the line for his 26th touchdown of the campaign.
Goode delivered a superb conversion from the touchline, and three minutes later, the champagne corks were popping for Worcester as Benjamin this time turned provider with a pass that sent the former England fly-half storming away down the same flank to make it 25-6.
Full credit to the Pirates, who bounced straight back from that double whammy, and a missed long-range penalty attempt by Goode soon after, courtesy of a try of their own in the 53rd minute, with Locke deservedly finishing off a blindside attack, and Cook adding the conversion.
Another 45-metre penalty kick by Goode drifted just wide as the contest entered its closing stages, but the never-say-die Pirates continued to search for a way through.
One of the moves of the night saw Jackson almost reach the line, which led to Worcester flanker Neil Best getting a yellow card, and when Warriors infringed at a five-metre penalty scrum, Doyle marched under the posts for a penalty try, and Cook drop-kicked the conversion, but time ran out for Pirates.
The final whistle sparked scenes of wild celebration at Sixways. The red-hot pre-season favourites promoted after 31 matches.
Warriors' fly-half Goode was full of praise for the Cornish side after the game. He said: "It got pretty close towards the end. The Cornish Pirates are a good side but our defence is strong and we're back in the Premiership now.
Worcester: Pennell (capt), Garvey (Frost 80+4), Grove, Rasmussen
(Crockett 73), Benjamin, Goode (Carlisle 73), Arr, Black, Fortey (Lutui 34),
Taumoepeau (Douglas 78), Rawlinson (Kitchener 73), Gillies, Best, Abbott,
Horstmann
Replacement (not used): Balding
Yellow card: Best
Worcester scorers: tries: Garvey, Benjamin, Goode; conversions: Goode (2); penalties: Goode; drop-goal: Goode
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Jackson, Hopper, Locke, McAtee (Luke ht), Bentley, Cattle (capt) (Doherty 64), Storer (Andrew 59), Elloway (Ward 59), Rimmer (Paver 64), McGlone (Nimmo 58), Myerscough, Morgan, Burgess (Betty 50), Marriott
Pirates' scorers: tries: Locke, penalty try; conversions: Cook (2); penalties: Cook (2)
Referee: J P Doyle (RFU)
Attendance: 12,024