3 days ago
Cornish Pirates finish fourth after thrilling Nottingham win
Cornish Pirates overcame a 13-point half-time deficit to beat Nottingham 35-34 and finish fourth in the were helped by some wayward kicking from the visitors, who missed four conversions and three penalties in the clash at the Mennaye. Nottingham had a bonus point secured within 22 minutes as David Williams went over twice alongside tries from Harry Graham and Ryan Olowofela to put them 20-7 ahead as Matt Pritchard replied for the hosts. Chester Ribbons' try reduced the gap only for Jay Ecclesfield to go over soon after as Nottingham led 27-14 at the extended their advantage to 34-14 soon after the restart thanks to a try from a driving maul before the hosts came back. Milo Hallam, Harry Yates and Harry Hocking all crossed in a seven-minute spell to put Pirates ahead before a scoreless final 20 minutes. "We probably didn't deserve that one," Pirates joint-head coach Gavin Cattle told BBC Radio Cornwall. "I think the rugby gods were on our side a little bit and they left a lot of kicking points out there. "But then you look at first half and second half and it was night and day."We had a bit more energy about us, we looked a bit too pretty in that first half by playing a bit of structured stuff, rather than going back to the fundamental of winning collisions, winning the one on ones and that was the message at half time - we were looking for the perfect picture, let's take somebody on one on one and things will happen."
