News
REPORT | Pirates edge frantic cup tie
It’s all to play for at Goldington Road next Saturday with Cornish Pirates taking a one-point lead to Bedford with a 38-37 victory at The Mennaye in an absolutely classic Championship Cup Quarter Final first leg.
Having led by 16 points midway through the first-half, Mike Rayer’s side will be massively disappointed not to have got the job done at a ground they haven’t tasted success at since October 2018, but there were so many positives to take from the performance that it all stands in good stead for Ladies Day at Goldington Road. Buy tickets here.
Blues have played some magical stuff on the road this term and this was no different following more quality, attacking rugby to leave Pirates marooned and all at sea for large parts of the game. To score four tries at The Mennaye is no mean feat, but Rayer’s side looked like they could score at will.
Will Maisey struck the first points of the game with a neat nudge on the angle from the tee, before Pirates took control of the early stages in the first-half. On his final appearance before retirement, Tom Channon dotted down before Nico De Battista went under the posts. Two conversions made it 14-3.
For a good hour from that point, Blues completely reversed the ascendency to control large parts of the game. The whole pack got involved to shove Jordan Onojaife over the line for Bedford’s first try of the afternoon, before some unbelievable stuff off the back of a strong scrum saw Alex Day loop around the back to crash over.
A breakaway try through Tommy Wyatt gave Pirates parity on the scoreboard but still Blues continued to hold the greater threat from all departments of the field – the set piece was strong against the Championship’s best pack and that offered further ways to get to the line.
On the stroke of half-time, Blues finally got their just rewards to take the lead into the interval as Bazalgette got impatient when Pirates couldn’t break through on halfway. He tried an outrageous pass over the top, but Matt Worley picked it off to run clear unopposed.
That made it 24-21 and Blues continued where they left off as Joey Conway spotted a gap when the lineout collapsed and sailed through it. The conversion and a couple of penalties from Maisey extended the lead to 16 before Pirates mounted the comeback.
The hosts were sent down to 14 just before the last penalty from Maisey as Matt Bolwell was sent to the bin, but if anything, that galvanised the hosts who stormed back to win.
It was evidently obvious that the driving maul was their chosen method of attack and they profited from it again through replacement Syd Blackmore, then again through Carwyn Penny and finally Bolwell with the last passage of play to steal the spoils.
All set to be a cracker on Ladies Day next weekend. Buy tickets now to join us at GR!!!!!
*Matchday Photography provided by Cornish Pirates photographer, Brian Tempest*
Teams
BEDFORD BLUES
15. George Hendy, 14. Matt Worley, 13. Ethan Grayson (40'), 12. Joel Matavesi, 11. Dean Adamson, 10. Will Maisey (60'), 9. Alex Day (60'); 1. Joey Conway (45'), 2. Jacob Fields (45'), 3. Oisin Heffernan (45'), 4. Jordan Onojaife (60'), 5. Alex Woolford (45'), 6. Luke Frost, 7. Joe Atkinson (C), 8. Tui Uru
Replacements
16. Will Biggs (45'), 17. Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi (45'), 18. Osman Dimen (45'), 19. Oli Stedman (60'), 20. Robin Williams (45'), 21. Connor Tupai (60'), 22. Louis Grimoldby (60'), 23. Tom Litchfield (40')
CORNISH PIRATES
15. Carwyn Penny, 14. AJ Cant (40'), 13. Rory Parata, 12. Nico De Battista (55'), 11. Tommy Wyatt, 10. Harry Bazalgette (55'), 9. Ruaridh Dawson; 1. Jack Andrew (60'), 2. Tom Channon (50'), 3. Alfie Petch (60'), 4. Cory Teague (70'), 5. Danny Cutmore (50') (75'), 6. Matt Bolwell, 7. Will Gibson (75'), 8. Tom Duncan (50') (70')
Replacements:
16. Syd Blackmore (50'), 17. Hayden King (60'), 18. Sam Rodman (60'), 19. Ed Scragg (50'), 20. Josh Caulfield (50'), 21. Tom Kessell (40'), 22. Arwel Robson (55'), 23. Shae Tucker (55')
REFEREE
Harry Walbaum
ATTENDANCE
655
