Spring Came With a ‘P’ an ‘I’ and an ‘AAARGH’ In It
Cornish Pirates 25 Sarace
By DC
March 8 2021
Spring Came With a ‘P’ an ‘I’ and an ‘AAARGH’ In It
Before the Pirates even took to the field on Saturday, Pirates Fans were already feeling full of spring and renewed hope.
Dicky’s chat with the Guardian’s Robert Kitson had not only blown away the winter cobwebs and Covid blues, but also revitalised our hopes for the Stadium and the onward progress of our beloved team.
Dicky told Kitson that he has decided there is only one solution left: “I made a decision the other day … I’ll fund the stadium now. I’m going to leave a lot of money in my trust, and my son and daughter are on board, too. We want to copy Edinburgh. They opened a stadium the other day that cost £5.7m.”
If his companies can be restructured, a usable facility – shared with Truro City FC – might even be possible in 18 months’ time for the 2022-23 season.
Still, though, he dreams of Trelawny’s army rising again. “Absolutely there’s a future for professional rugby in Cornwall. We could have been ready back in 2012 and 2013. I had a couple of former England players ready to come in. But in the end we didn’t go for it, basically because we didn’t have a stadium then.”
Speaking of Saturday and Sarries visit, Dicky said “We’d get a hell of a crowd if we weren’t in a pandemic, even the pasty stall will be shut, which really is sacrilege”
The Full Guardian Article is Available here >>>>
The sun shone on the Mennaye on Saturday as all eyes were on the ‘Match of the Day’ and a Pirates side that wasn’t even match fit, having only played one game in the last 12 months. “The guys weren’t match fit,” said Alan Paver, the architect of the Pirates’ eye-catching scrum dominance. “They were probably good for 60 minutes but it was about sheer want and passion.”
Woll summed it up in the Cornish Pirates match report: “Few would have expected the illustrious visitors to have left the humble Mennaye with nothing – and yet despite their best efforts – this is exactly what happened. And then some…
Make no mistake this was no fluke, as the Pirates – buoyed by the statement this week in the national press by the irrepressible Dicky Evans – recovered from a shaky start and set about taking the game to the Saracens instead. By the time fly half, Luke Scully, checked with Sara that time was indeed up deep in the hosts’ 22 and the clock well into the red – the Londoners were a well beaten side in all departments.”
The Final score - Cornish Pirates 25 Saracens 17 – hit the headlines across the sporting press, who normally pay scant attention to the Championship.
Headlines such as:
‘Star-studded Saracens shipwrecked by Cornish Pirates' set-piece power’ The Guardian.
‘Cornish Pirates bloodying Saracens' nose shows why ring-fencing is wrong’ The Telegraph.
'Saracens stunned as Cornish Pirates show pride of Championship' The Times
‘Cornish Pirates 25-17 Saracens: Former European champions lose Championship opener’ BBC Sport
As The Times said "It was also a day and a result which means that any move by Premiership Rugby to seal off the Premiership from aspirants, any move to make it a closed shop, will be viewed as the height of sporting immorality.
The Pirates had played one solitary match in a year, and that a warm-up against Jersey. Their whole existence has been a struggle considering the way they have been abandoned – like the other Championship clubs – by the professional clubs and by their own national union."
And to finish, what better than this from the Guardian’s match report:
The Pirates’ three try-scorers, Duncan, Dan Frost and Rhodri Davies, and their goal-kicker, Luke Scully, certainly deserve more respect than has been emanating lately from the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby.
As the Pirates’ chief benefactor, Dicky Evans, has made clear, moves to ringfence the top division and switch off the funding to Championship sides disregards the potential benefits the league has to offer.
In France, for comparison’s sake, the top three leagues are set to benefit from a bumper new Top 14 TV deal worth three times the Premiership one. Here, there is only short-sightedness and, as recently as Friday, not a hint of regret at the 75% funding reduction this season.
“The money subsidised losses and was not a good investment for the game,” said an RFU spokesperson.
Really? As the shipwrecked Saracens now understand, English rugby’s world does not begin and end in the Premiership.
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"More than anything else, this match showed there is quality rugby being played in the Championship. For the RFU and Premiership to even consider ringfencing the top-flight and prevent the likes of Pirates, Trailfinders or anyone else, from having a chance of promotion should now be legislated for as a criminal offence.
The blazer brigade in south west London must stop doing their utmost to ruin the game in an effort to line the deep pockets of Premiership owners and its newly arrived venture capital investors.
Perhaps if the RFU had not blown countless millions on a conference centre at Twickenham in which to hobnob with its corporate mates, then there would be more days like this one in deepest Cornwall."
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