Cornish Pirates Match Report 29th April 2006

Cornish Pirates v London Welsh

With the Cornish Pirates having no licence to play at Kenwyn on Saturdays, it was back to the Mennaye Field, Penzance, last weekend for the final game of an especially interesting season.

Pressure off, following an excellent win away to Coventry which secured third place in National 1, their best ever final league standing, supporters anticipated a free-flowing rugby occasion to end the season on an entertaining high.

The main team changes provided a recall for Tongan favourite Viliami Maasi at hooker, with young Sam Betty also given a starting role in the absence of Tim Cowley whose close season break arrived a few days earlier when he returned home New Zealand to attend a family wedding.

Pre-match there was a mini-rugby exhibition, with there also being a good mix of sponsors and past players given refreshment in the hospitality marquee. The atmosphere was good, but the crowd of 1.724 was not surprisingly the smallest for a league game this season.

If the Pirates were looking for a good start, then they did not disappoint, an immediately swift passage of play rewarded in only the second minute when good handling from centres Duncan Roke and Wade Kelly enabled flanker Joe Bearman to hit the line at pace and run thirty-five metres to score. Fly-half Tom Barlow, playing his last game for the Cornish club before joining Nottingham, slotted the conversion.

From the restart, The Welsh proceeded to build up pressure in the old Western National corner of the ground, it resulting in a try for bulky prop Johnny Marsters. They certainly looked confident, skipper and scrum-half Allen Chilten wasting no time to get his backline moving. Centre Matt Cannon almost pierced a hole in midfield, the same player gifted a simple penalty chance, but he pulled his kick to the left of the Newlyn posts.

Barlows drop out from the 22 was perfectly executed, lock Heino Senekal making a magnificent take for the Pirates to then take play to halfway. Not for the first time a big gap appeared in the city teams defence, Roke latching onto the opportunity to quickly utilise the same, with full-back Rhodri McAtee on hand to receive the ball and blaze a trail and score a try in the scoreboard corner.

This was a game that always had the potential to excite, and the crowd were not disappointed. Players from both sides were displaying their range of skills, former Bristol star Jim Brownrigg and gifted fly-half Mark Meenan being stand outs for the visitors who soon put pressure on the Pirates once more on the left. A powerful burst and platform set by prop Dan Seal, backed up by a kick from hand by Barlow, relieved the pressure, but open briefly.

Still determined to attack, the efforts of a determined London Welsh provided a fine example of their cutting edge, wing John Swords pinning back his ears to score an excellent try in the corner. The conversion was again missed, but the Pirates had been given the wake up call they needed to respond with a fine piece of precision play. With a penalty on offer they opted to go for a catch and drive on the left, prop Dan Parkes driven over for a try converted by Barlow.

There was now hope that the Pirates would increase their lead still further by the break, but London Welsh finished the half strongly, a penalty from Cannon making it 19-13 by the sound of the half-time whistle.

During the interval Graham Granite Waters, on behalf of the 1976 Cornwall K.O. Cup winning team who were celebrating a thirty years reunion, made the 50/50 Draw which made loyal supporter Roger Hawes £280 richer and happier.

In the early part of the second period there was still passion and pace in abundance, McAtee electric on a bright afternoon, as he lit up the ground still further when counter-attacking from deep. Indeed, just before the next score came, it was him and man-of-the-match Senekal who led the charge into the Newlyn half before No 8. Matt Evans scored a converted try from a second catch-and-drive opportunity. Barlow soon also added a penalty, before the game went off the boil just for a spell.

The Pirates made a number of changes to give all of their replacements a run out, it enabling Academy hooker Owen Hambly, who has been on loan to Mounts Bay, to make his National 1 league debut from the bench.

This has been a successful season, one which deserved to finish on a high, and at the end it did, the Pirates soaking up a spell of pressure before replacement fly-half Lee Jarvis seized the chance to break out on the left before releasing wing Kevin James who outpaced the cover to run sixty metres to score the final try of the game that Jarvis converted.

Scorers:-
Cornish Pirates tries: Bearman, McAtee, Parkes, Evans, James; cons: Barlow (3), Jarvis; pen: Barlow.

London Welsh tries: Marsters, Swords; pen: Cannon.

Cornish Pirates
R. McAtee, R. Welding (M. Jess 66), D. Roke (J. Beardshaw 80), W. Kelly (M. Jess 15-25), K. James, T. Barlow (L. Jarvis 61), G. Cattle (capt N., Chivers), D. Parkes, (A. Paver 40, Parkes 73-80), V. Maasi (O. Hambly 61), D. Seal (N. Adams 50), H. Senekal, S. Hockings, J. Bearman, S. Betty, M. Evans.

London Welsh
G. Swales, J. Swords, M. Cannon, D. Hayward, (A. Hopkins 63), L. Cousins 67), T. Holgate, M. Meenan, A. Chilten (capt R. Shaw 67), S. Millard (S. Croall 21), A. Tauialo, (R. Griffith 63), J. Marsters, H. Quigley, (M. Barker 63), J. Brownrigg, R. Woods (C. Waring 63), S. Etheridge, P. Cox.

Man-of-the-Match Heino Senekal.

Referee Mr. Nick Williams (RFU).

Attendance 1724.

The Presidents Cup to Joe Bearman.

On behalf of Dicky Evans, Cornish Pirates director Martin Hudson presented The Presidents Cup to Joe Bearman

He stated it was a just reward to someone who had arrived as a boy and quickly grew into man in his nine years at the club, him being an inspirational player in each and every step taken up the league ladder.

Mr. Hudson also thanked all the volunteers who made match days possible at Kenwyn, the supporters who have followed the team, and finally Jim McKay and the players on what they had achieved.