Cornish Pirates 31 Jersey
20
British & Irish Cup, pool
6
Three weeks ago Jersey scored 10 points in the final four minutes
of play to claim a dramatic victory over the Pirates.
Yesterday it was the Cornishmen's turn to stage an 11th hour
comeback, with converted tries in the 77th and 80th minute. The
first saw them reclaim a lead that had been seized by a cussed
Jersey side, and the second was a hammer blow, taking Jersey's
losing bonus point and upgrading the hosts' haul to a full-house of
five.
The result, and an impressive win for Ayr at home to Ulster Ravens
by 41-22, saw Pirates pull clear in pool 6 of the British &
Irish Cup - they have a maximum 15 points, well clear of Jersey
(6), Ayr (5) and Ulster (4), although Jersey will be looking to
gain revenge at St Peter next Saturday. Three wins could yet propel
the Islanders to the cusp of qualification for the B&I
quarter-finals, especially with two places available to the best
runners-up in the six pools.
After a lively start from the visitors, playing their first game
under Interim Head Coach Steve Boden, it was Pirates who got on the
scoreboard through tries by James Phillips and Kyle Moyle; Moyle
converted both scores.
Niall O'Connor (above) got Jersey back into the game with a
penalty on 18 minutes, and Jersey fought back into the game on the
back of some committed forward play that showed a real dominance
over the home pack, especially at scrum time. A penalty try on 30
minutes and another O'Connor penalty soon afterwards made it 14-13
at the break.
A crowd of 1,223 were looking for the home side to score first
after the interval - the Pirates achieved this, but only via a
Moyle penalty after 58 minutes, and otherwise were repelled by
Jersey's defence.
The scrum remained Jersey's most potent weapon and with 15 minutes
to go there began a series of scrums on the Pirates' line. It was
estimated that there were around 12 scrums, including re-sets and
numerous penalties, and eventually the referee gave another penalty
try, converted by O'Connor to give Jersey the lead for the first
time (17-20) after 74 minutes.
Matt Evans, scorer of a hat-trick at St Peter in Jersey's first
Championship game 15months ago, took an inside pass from scrum-half
Gavin Cattle to score his side's third, and then Darren Barry
crossed during the final play to seal a bonus point and leave
Jersey empty-handed.
The return match is next Saturday at St Peter (k-o 3pm) and
Jersey will be hoping for a big crowd to cheer them back to winning
ways.
Scorers
Cornish Pirates
Tries: James Phillips, Kyle
Moyle, Matt Evans
Conversions: Kyle Moyle 2,
Angus Sinclair 2
Penalty: Kyle Moyle
Jersey
Tries: Penalty 2
Conversions: Niall O'Connor
2
Penalty: Niall
O'Connor
Cornish Pirates: 15 Craig
Holland, 14 Kyle Moyle (Mike Pope 74), 13 Tom Riley (Alex Dancer
35) 12 Rheon James, 11 Luke Jones (Angus Sinclair 54), 10 Matt
Evans, 9 Gavin Cattle (capt); 1 Shane Cahill, 2 Rob Elloway (Tom
Channon 74), 3 Peter Joyce (Jack Andrew 47), 4 Will Graulich, 5
James Sandford (Darren Barry 49), 6 Chris Morgan, 7 Joel Conlon, 8
James Phillips (Alex Cheesman 77)
Jersey: 15 Drew Locke, 14
James Copsey, 13 Mark McCrea (Jimmy Williams 13), 12 Mark Foster,
11 Jack Burroughs, 10 Niall O'Connor, 9 Joel Dudley; 1 Tom Fidler,
2 Dave Felton (Elvis Taione 54), 3 Nick Selway (Jon Brennan 54), 4
Nick Campbell (Alex Rae 61), 5 Dave Markham, 6 James Voss (Latu
Makaafi 61), 7 Fred Silcock, 8 Tom Brown (capt). Replacement not used: Luke
Stratford
Referee: Dean
Richards
