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Pirates 42 Bees 20
By Dick Straughan
September 23 2007
The Cornish Pirates picked up their first home win of the season and crucially first bonus point with a six try thumping of Pertemps Bees at Camborne. It could and should have been a lot more but the injury-hit Pirates have yet to fire on all cylinders. When they do the fireworks will truly start.

After a morning of heavy skies and incessant drizzle a calmer afternoon gathered for the important event of the day at the Camborne Rec. The Pirates, deprived of Brian Tuohy who dislocated a finger in the warm-up , were forced to field Paul Devlin on the wing against a Bees side without a point in three games.

The Pirates kicked off towards the town end of the ground and were almost behind after 4 minutes when Russell Earnshaw intercepted on his own 22m line with a clear sight of the Pirates line. His knock-on was to cost the Bees dearly as Iva Motusaga powered home following good back play off the resulting scrum. Steenson added the extras.

The Bees predictably rallied but were kept at bay by the boot of Steenson. Having missed a penalty attempt after 13 mins the Bees were punished further 5 minutes later when Steenson charged down an attempted clearance from Spee and then forced a penalty from the retreating defence.

At 13-0 ahead the Pirates were seemingly in the box seat but despite good foraging from Cracknell, Winn, Cumming and Buckley allowed the Bees back into the match with two penalties from former Redruth fly-half, Mike Hook. Steenson`s boot increased the lead two minutes before the break after intense Pirates pressure but there was an all pervading sense that the home team had under achieved.

Two minutes into the second half the home spirits were awoken again with several splendid phases of back play that stretched the Bees to the limit. With the move finally in danger of petering out the impressive Cracknell barged over the line for his first of two tries. Steenson added the extras.

With almost an hour gone the Pirates finally clicked and launched themselves into a purple patch that yielded four tries in nine minutes. Nathan Kemp scored his first Pirates try when he smashed home from a close range driving maul. Steenson then missed his first league goal attempt at Camborne from the conversion.

Five minutes later the Pirates were back. The Bees turned over possession on half-way and the Pirates launched a wave of assaults downfield with Paul Devlin instrumental. Kemp was finally accredited with the scoring pass for Cracknell in the Scoreboard corner. Devlin then bagged his first after an incisive break from Motusaga before seconds later scorching down the right flank from half-way for a second. In the meantime, Steenson had developed an attack of the kicking yips missing four conversions.

Disappointingly for the Pirates they failed to increase the lead further and the Bees rallied with two late converted tries for Griffiths and Aston.

It was hardly a performance to worry the top three with but there was enough to suggest that there really is a lot more to come from the Pirates this season.

 

Cornish Pirates

Winnan (Parsons 65), McAtee, Winn, Buckley (Whatling 58, Elloway 67)), Devlin, Steenson (capt), Moore (Bolt 63), Cook, Kemp, Heard (Seal 51), Beardshaw (Hobson 65), Cumming, Gesinde, Motusaga (Betty 65), Cracknell

Replacements:- Seal, Betty, Elloway, Hobson, Whatling, Parsons, Bolt

 

Tries:- Cracknell (2), Devlin (2), Kemp, Motusaga

Cons:- Steenson (2)

Pens :- Steenson (3)

 

Pertemps Bees

Spee, Benjamin (Aston 75), Murchie, Maggs, Grove (Mitchell 67), Hook (Knight 48), Griffiths, Long, Pearl (Mullen 51), Bucknall (Osbourn 75), Davidson, Campton (McComb 51), Preece (Daish 60), Matthews, Earnshaw

Replacements:- Osbourn, McComb, Daish, Mullen, Mitchell, Aston, Knight

 

Tries:- Griffiths, Aston

Cons:- Knight (2)

Pens:- Hook (2)

 

Referee – Chris Sharp (RFU)

 

Attendance – 2358

 

 

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