Jersey 0 Cornish Pirates 24
December 14th, 2013
British & Irish Cup, Pool 6
words by Tom Innes; pics by William Church
Pirates domination of their British & Irish Cup pool was
reflected with an emphatic win over Jersey.
The Cornishmen were left sitting pretty with the only 100%
record in this season's competition, delighting Head Coach Ian
Davies.
"We got the win at home last weekend but Jersey could have won
it and the boys under-performed," he said. "That made them
determined to put in a better display, and I thought we were the
dominant team in all facets of the game today.
"We only take part in two competitions and so the British &
Irish Cup is very important to us - we want to get a win against
Ayr next month and a home quarter-final in April."
Having conceded a number of early tries this season, Jersey
started well and could have taken the lead when Mark McCrea burst
towards the line but was unable to off-load a scoring pass to
supporting team-mate Grant Pointer.
The game was evenly poised until mid-way through the first half
when a blatant swinging arm by Jersey's Nick Selway as he hurled
himself into a ruck earned the prop a yellow card. The indiscipline
was then compounded by one of Jersey's most common failings this
season - a loose clearance kick by Mark Foster was claimed by
Kieran Goss. The Pirates' full-back countered with intent before
feeding Kyle Moyle who accelerated through the home defence to
score.
Jersey went back up to 15 men after Selway's return, but almost
immediately skipper Alex Rae was sin-binned for preventing quick
ball as Pirates attacked, and from the resultant penalty kick to
touch, the visiting pack took the line-out ball and rumbled over
the line with prop Jack Andrew claiming the try.
Deep into added time the Pirates spurned a kickable penalty and
opted for another forward drive against Jersey's seven-man pack.
The initial drive was repelled, but a further wave of attacks
culminated in James Phillips ploughing over. Moyle's conversion was
the final kick of the half.
The home team changed their entire front row during half-time
and looked the likelier of the two teams to score when the action
resumed. Foster kicked over the Pirates' defence but was denied by
the bounce of the ball.
Jersey attacked with a series of forward drives, but Rae became
isolated as he surged towards the Pirates line and the ball went
loose. Mike Pope was first to react, seizing the ball, haring
forward and then finding Goss. The full-back tore up the wing, beat
a tackle from former team-mate Pointer on the half-way line and
then cruised onwards to score the bonus-point try.
Jersey had conceded four tries in 25 minutes either side of
half-time, three of them while defending with only 14 men. Both
sides could have scored in the closing stages, but in the event the
final half-hour was a scoreless period.
Jersey's Interim Head Coach Steve Boden said he was very
disappointed with his side's display.
"We had plenty of possession, but our execution was really
poor," he said. "We'd talked about combatting the way that the
Pirates defended and worked on this in training but then we failed
to put this into practice today.
"I'll look at my own contribution as well, but until I look at
the recording, I think the execution is the area where we gave
ourselves the most problems.
"Our kicking from hand has been an area where we've been
punished all season, the number of tries we've conceded from loose
kicks is far too many at this level."
Jersey: Locke (Burroughs 65), Pointer, McCrea,
Bishop, Foster, O'Connor, Dudley (Williams 54); Fidler (McCarthy
41), Felton (Taione 41), Selway (YC 20) (Young 41), Markham, Rae
(capt) (YC 33) (Campbell 54), Makaafi (Young 20-30), Silcock (Voss
54), Maidment.
Pirates: Goss, Pope, Riley, James (Dancer 75),
Moyle (Sinclair 65), Evans, Cattle (capt) (Kessell 79); Andrew
(Davies 79), Elloway (Channon 51), Prescott (Davies 13-24),
Graulich, Sandford (Barry 35), Morgan, Cheesman (Atkinson 75),
Phillips (YC 76).
Referee: Andrew Jackson (RFU)
Attendance: 1,638
Star Man: Kieran Goss (Cornish Pirates)
Half-time: 0-19
Scorers
Cornish Pirates
Tries: Moyle 26, Andrew 35, Phillips 40, Goss 51
Conversions: Moyle 26, 40
