Cornish Pirates 39 Sedgley Park Tigers 13
By Dick Straughan
February 5 2007
The Cornish Pirates edged up to second place in National Division One after a comfortable but scrappy win against Sedgley Park Tigers.
Pirates Tame Tigers
Cornish Pirates
39 Sedgley Park Tigers 13
Pix from Dick & Big Brian
After two hard earned home victories by the skin of their teeth the Pirates faithful had prayed for a routine triumph at Camborne, yet somehow left the Rec disappointed this evening after success in a match that never quite got going.
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Sedgley Park Tigers arrived in the Duchy as a team in form but rarely posed a serious threat against a Pirates side often labouring in 3rd gear. It took barely a minute for Alberto Di Bernardo to exercise the scoreboard operators with a routine penalty after an incisive diagonal run from Jonny Hylton had drawn a foul.
With their noses in front the Pirates dozed off allowing the whistle-happy Mr Hall to step forward and award the Tigers the first of a string of penalties. Phil Jones slotted the kick and then traded a further penalty apiece with Di Bernardo to leave the score even stevens at 6-6 after 21 minutes.
Just as they had done so seven days previously against Doncaster the Pirates then woke up and hit the Tigers with three tries in fifteen minutes to effectively seal the match. First up was a driving maul destined for the goal line that seemed to have every Tigers forward desperately attempting to pull it down.
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Mr Hall responded to the hollerings of the home faithful and correctly awarded a penalty try. Di Bernardo slotted the extras.
Minutes later the Pirates again found themselves in an advanced position with a 5 metre scrum. Quick ball was secured and Tim Cowley picked it off the base off the set piece and blasted over through a pedestrian Tigers defence to score.
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This time Di Bernardo missed his conversion after a premature attempetd charge down from the Tigers defence. Unlike last week`s game against Doncaster no re-take was offered. However right on half-time Duncan Bell stretched the lead even further with a further try under the posts after an excellent midfield burst set up by a strong Pirates driving maul deep in Tigers territory.
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Di Bernardo made no mistake this time and at half-time the score of 25-6 was welcome if not slightly flattering.
The second half was not a pretty affair and the Tigers took first blood with a try for flanker Ledua Jope after a scruffy and often illegal forwards scrap close to the Pirates line. Jones added the conversion but within a minute the Pirates stormed back to restore parity with a stroll home for Motusaga following a Duncan Bell break and another effective driving maul.
Perhaps with one eye on Fridays cup clash at Leeds Jim McKay began to ring the changes, yet as the game became more and more fractious and fragmented it was Dan Seal who saw yellow seconds after coming on as the inconsistent Mr Hall asserted his authority. The Tigers then spurned the chance of a try as a three man overlap was ignored and swallowed up by the incensed Pirates defence. The Tigers kept their collective feet on the gas but continued to waste good attacking opportunities through poor decision making.
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 | The Pirates continued to counter attack through Hylton and McAtee with the latter repeatedly receiving neck high tackles for his troubles. The home crowd were furious but Mr Hall played on
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Finally in the 80th minute the game was put beyond any last lingering doubt when Grant Anderson claimed the try after another well worked driving maul.
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This time replacement fly half James Moore bagged the conversion.
It was an effective five point win but rarely pretty. Sedgley Park came to disrupt the Pirates and feed off the scraps.
They acheived their first objective but all too often wasted the latter. With much bigger battles to fight in the coming weeks Jim McKay will be happy. The Pirates won with so much to spare.
PIRATES:-
Winnan,
McAtee, Roke, Bell, Hylton, Di Bernardo, Cattle, Paver, Makin, Heard, Senekal,
Inglis, McKeen, Motusaga, Cowley.
REPS:- Moore, Vinnecombe, Evans, Beardshaw,
Ma`asi, Seal
TIGERS:-
Hall, Monsell, Briers, Voortman, Craig,
Jones, Leck, Gazzola, Roddam, DuPlessis. Lloyd, Norris, Jope, Newton, Skurr,
REPS:-
Roberts, Keys, Fourie, Ponton, Livesey, Albinson, Duffy.
Referee:- Terry Hall (RFU)
Attendance: 2,012.