Pirates sunk by the re-brands.

Ever since the fixtures were announced I had my eye on the first weekend of September for a quick trip to Cornwall watching Yorkshire Carnegie play the Pirates. The combination of Cornwall, Rugby and Sun is always a winner but the final decision to go was a late one after the weather came good mid-week.....   .

Prior to the Rugby the weekend had been brilliant, good weather, good company, good food. Having seen the injury list (particularly the 2nd row) there was some nervousness in our party, how would our new players perform? We are not renowned for starting the season strongly- could we break the hoo-doo? And most importantly could I remember not to shout Leeds? The announcer seemed not to know what to call us either and he eventually settled for Car-nay-gie

. We kicked off in blazing sunshine and shortly afterwards Doc was down injured after taking a high kick from the Pirates 22. Thankfully he was soon back up. The first scrum was pretty even with a couple of resets before the Ref awarded a Pirates penalty. But it was Carnegie who were first on the board from a Hughes penalty, and shortly afterwards we came close to our first try, but couldn't quite break the line, Hughes then missing the resulting penalty. Then it was the Pirates turn to attack, with Kieran Hallett levelling the scores from a penalty.

Hughes then made a great break, though the purists might argue he made more metres sideways than down the pitch but Carnegie were on a roll, and our first try soon followed- from a catch and drive from a Lineout. Although Burrows was announced as the Try scorer, the official result credits it to Joe Graham. From the far end of the field, squinting in the sun I cannot confirm or deny either..... it was converted by Hughes anyway 3-10.

Play was scrappy however, and we conceded a second penalty almost straightaway after Casson was isolated from the restart. Hallett again converting 6-10. We then won 2 successive scrum penalties, and Glyn Hughes went for an unsuccessful 3rd attempt on goal - an odd decision as it looked at the far end of his range and we had looked dangerous from the catch and drive.

Pirates were far from out of it and then had an attempt on goal which narrowly missed, although it looked for a split second as though Doc had been set free to fly down the wing, however our second try did soon follow, Ben Harris powering over. Again converted by Hughes 6-17.

Casson had looked to be struggling and was replaced by Jack Ramshaw, and the Pirates ended the half rueing their missed chance as excellent Carnegie defence stopped them from scoring after 2 attacking scrums on the Carnegie line. Burrows leading by example to keep the Pirates out.

At the start of the second half we continued the habit of running the ball from our own 22, which almost gives me heart failure every time we try it. But this time it worked, and after pretty much every player had touched the ball, Chris Jones finished the move off. Conversion missed. 6-22 .

Carnegie were pretty dominant now and the bonus point try was scored after Jon Clarke had made a great run, the resulting penalty was kicked to the corner and Ben Harris scored from the Lineout converted by Hughes to make it 6-29

Then came the raft of replacements that we as fans have come to expect, irrespective of who is Head coach, the entire front row was replaced and Pirates had their best attacking spell of the game. Our defence worked pretty well, and although we didn't look like scoring again, we never looked in danger of losing. Pirates did score 2 late consolation tries - the second of which was scored after what seemed to be an extreme amount of injury time.

So bonus point win, and some flashes of great play, I for one would happily have taken that on Sunday morning, particularly as the Scrum and Lineout both functioned well. Some areas to improve on, and tougher tests are coming, Bris next Sunday for example. After having started the weekend in last position in the table, it was good to finish it joint top. Oh and for the record I only shouted for Leeds once.......