Jersey went down to a disappointing defeat in Cornwall in their
first outing of 2015.
The Islanders held a narrow edge at the break after a 40-minute
arm wrestle that was shaded by the visitors - Jonny Bentley landed
four penalties shots at goal to take his side ahead of the hosts,
for whom Kieran Hallett landed his three penalty kicks.
Try-scoring opportunities were rare in the first period,
although Jersey may well have scored after good work from Bishop
and Williams, only for Robling's handling to let him down, and a
great run by Grant Pointer was also close to yielding a try.
Pirates' most threatening period came in the closing minutes:
Bentley made a fine catch of a high ball in his 22 but was scragged
by the Pirates' defence and lost the ball forward. A series of
scrums ensued, and a penalty try looked possible, but Jersey
regrouped, won a penalty and the half-time whistle blew.
The second half began badly for Jersey, with Paula Kaho fumbling
the kick-off and the home side taking advantage for a wave of
pressure from the forwards which culminated in Neale Barry being
driven over.
The game was still in the balance when Sam Lockwood was
sin-binned after 52 minutes. Jersey centre David Bishop had to be
sacrificed while replacement prop Nacho Lancuba came on, and the
Pirates' backs took advantage, unleashing a well-worked move in
which Max Bodilly and Craig Holland worked Alex Dancer over.
Hallett's conversion was his fifth consecutive success and put
his side 23-12 ahead. Jersey still had a chance to get back into
the game, especially once restored to 15 players, and were pressing
hard for a try when disaster struck: Kieran Goss spotted what could
have been a scoring pass and intercepted, racing almost the entire
length of the pitch to score.
Pirates couldn't add a bonus point try, but were nevertheless
well-pleased with their second win of the festive season, which
moved them up to fifth in the Greene King IPA Championship table.
Bedford's 15-23 win at Moseley took them up to seventh, ahead of
Jersey who dropped one place to ninth.
The Islanders will welcome league leaders Bristol to St Peter
next Saturday - kick-off is at 3pm.
Jersey: 15 Pointer, 14 Locke, 13 Bishop (Lancuba
53-63), 12 Robling, 11 Foster, 10 Bentley (Penberthy 77), 9 Glynn
(Dudley 66); 1 Lockwood (YC 52) (Lancuba 69), 2 Buckle (Selway 79),
3 Williams (Herriott 69), 4 Rae (c), 5 Campbell (Markham 69), 6
Kaho (Haining 49), 7 Hodson, 8 Noone.
Pirates: 15 Bodilly, 14 Goss, 13 Riley, 12 Dancer,
11 Holland, 10 Hallett, 9 Kessell; 1 Ford-Robinson, 2 Channon, 3
Deformes, 4 Carrick Smith, 5 Barry, 6 Morgan (c), 7 Atkinson, 8
McGlone.
Reps (all used): Elloway, Davies, Graulich, Bolwell,
Townsend, Hendrickson, May.
Referee: Tom Foley (RFU)
Attendance: 1,727
Half-time: 9-12
Scorers
Jersey
Penalties: Bentley 2, 15, 24, 32
Pirates
Tries: Barry 43, Dancer 54, Goss 63
Conversions: Hallett 43, 54, 63
Penalties: Hallett 7, 19, 28
