Pirates Review 2006

By Dick Straughan
January 1 2007

Its been another hectic year for Pirates fans. After the Kenwyn experiment and a 3rd place finish in the league we upped sticks and moved back west to Camborne. Players came and went whilst new supporters came aboard. This is my snapshot of the last twelve months.

January 2006 dawned pretty much as this one has in West Cornwall - grey, damp and mild. I cut short my New Year festivities and drove back from the Irish Republic for the home fixture with Doncaster and was glad I had. A crowd of 3,000 was treated to a nine try thriller at Kenwyn with a brilliant hat-trick for Rhodri McAtee as the Pirates triumphed 43-26. A similar result for us against the same opposition in just four short weeks from now would be ideal.

The Pirates extended their winning streak to five games with a defeat of Newbury in their next fixture thus maintaining second place and keeping the pressure on Quins. We were a happy bunch of supporters prior to the Rotherham game and after thumping them on the opening day of the season travelled quietly confident of success. It was not to be. Rumours of dark discontent in the camp suddenly surfaced and on the field the wheels came off spectacularly in a second half collapse on a par with England`s cricketers. The Titans stuffed us 41-7 and the doom-mongers on the TASC website had a field day. Whatever was said in the dressing room on that dark day in Yorkshire has remained a secret.

If we thought things were bad a week later it got worse with a dismal Pirates performance handing our unbeated home record at Kenwyn to Exeter. The match will be remembered west of the Tamar for Gavin Cattle`s scandalously disallowed try and little else. It was not a good day to be a Pirate. Now back in third place behind Bedford the Pirates huffed and puffed their way to a nervous 26-21 win over the Blues and scraped past the Bees in the Kenwyn mud. The problem was that inbetween these victories came a narrow defeat at Ireland Avenue and yet another humbling at Sedgley Park.

On Sunday March 26th 2006 a capacity crowd of 6000 packed Kenwyn for the visit of Quins. Out-gunned we may have been but never out-fought and the final score of 7-29 ever so slightly flattered our illustrious visitors. Many friendships had been forged when we visited the Stoop and as a rugby occassion this weekend was also unforgettable for all but a few - our civic leaders and tourism bosses having completely missed the boat. Fittingly the season ended with four straight wins and another epic in the Kenwyn curtain call when Kevin James` injury time try under the posts pipped Plymouth Albion 29-28.

It was time to move again. Kenwyn was too expensive, Camborne needed help and a deal was done. We bade fond farewells to Will James, Kevin James, Shaun James, Bearman, Jess, Jarvis, Adams, Davis, Barlow, Ince, Hocking, Chivers, Kelly, Peters and Welding. In came a total of 24 new faces including Academy boys, leading league points scorer from 2005-06 James Moore, Canadian International Stan McKeen, and soon to become firm crowd favourite Alberto Di Bernardo. Off the field Jimbo re-shuffled his coaching team whilst Dicky took a chainsaw to the dead wood leading to the appointments of Rod Coward, Geoff "Dotcom" Nicholas, and Rudi Grenfell. Suddenly we had not only a new team and home but a top notch website and a reborn unofficial website, a publicity machine and a club shop that opened when the customers could get to it! Happy days!

Its been another roller-coaster ride since September though. Until Albion arrived just over a week ago and spoilt our Christmas party all our visitors had been comfortably beaten with the exception of the drawn match against the Tykes. The 34-5 defeat of Bedford had been splendid followed just a week later with a 39-20 triumph against Exeter. The nail biter of a win at Doncaster, the mother of all comebacks to win at Titans, the demolition of Moseley - twice. Many Tykes fans said we were unlucky to lose at Headingley. So how on earth did the Pirates lose at Otley? And what happened at Waterloo?

The answer is simple. This league is a fantastic league and the Pirates are still a way short of being the finished article. If we are to reach the Premiership there will be many more changes and I dare say a few more Waterloo`s for if there is a banana skin out there somewhere then our boys will find it! Played 31 Won 21 Drawn 1 Lost 9. Not a bad return on 2006. The team can improve but us fans will always keep smiling.