Delighted to have won this season's Greene King IPA Championship 'double header' opener 23-21 against Bristol back in September, the Cornish Pirates followed up that result at Sandy Park, Exeter, with yet another deserved win against Andy Robinson's side.

It was a fifth versus second clash which attracted the biggest crowd of the season to the Mennaye Field, where conditions were all but perfect for playing rugby.

Both sides had chances for early points, the Pirates luckless  from two penalty attempts by fly-half Angus Sinclair, whereas Bristol spurned kickable opportunities before ultimately accepting three easy points on offer, resulting in the visitors taking a three points lead thanks to a penalty kicked from in front of the Newlyn posts by Nicky Robinson, their former Welsh international '10'.

The score injected Bristol with the energy to again take play deep inside the Pirates' half, with hooker Ross Johnston then scoring the game's opening try. Robinson's conversion attempt from wide on the right missed, leaving the scoreline reading 0-8.

The Pirates needed to conjure up something to lift the crowd, and a run from man-of-the-match wing Kieran Goss did just that. Taking the ball on halfway he ran clear to the line with burners once again in evidence, his try converted by Sinclair.

Senior supporters had already cried out chants of 'Give us a Aarrgh!', which groups of youngsters in the crowd also now repeated as the atmosphere suddenly built about the ground.

The Pirates lost the services of prop Peter Joyce, who was directed to the sin bin by referee Mr. Meredith, but the Pirates defended superbly to deny Bristol any further points before the break.

A welcome guest at the match was Harry Matthews, who had a brief spell playing for Bristol United in the late 1940s and was also in the Pirates side that played away for the very first time in 1950. Harry kindly made the half-time 50/50 Draw.

This game was billed pre-match as one likely to be a little bit special, as has so often been the case when the two teams have met. The first have conjured up signs that this would again be the case, but the 40 minutes that followed would confirm this.

After Sinclair was unlucky with a lengthy penalty attempt at the start of the second half, Bristol then attacked at the other end of the field. It looked twice as if they should have scored, but mistakes were made apparent chances went begging.

The Pirates pressed for a score at the Newlyn gate corner as the hour mark approached, and when a try was suddenly signalled the home support roared with delight. It appeared to many that a forward   had driven over, but no. Scrum-half Tom Kessell has developed a nose for the line this season, and it was he who was identified as the scorer of what was his seventh Championship try of the season, thus keeping him second in the league's top try-scorers list    Replacement Kieran Hallett added the conversion and the Pirates now led for the first time in the match.

Ahead one minute, just three minutes later the Pirates would concede their advantage when Bristol's replacement centre Luke Eves powered over for a try at the scoreboard corner. Another replacement, Adrian Jarvis, landed a fine conversion to make it 14-15.

This game was always likely to be a close, and in a now floodlit second half was providing a great advert for Championship rugby. It would, however, from a Pirates perspective appear even better when Goss stretched his legs to fly in at the Newlyn gate corner, for what was his second-important converted try of the afternoon.

There was still time for Bristol to hit back, but in the period remaining the Pirates were in no mood to leak any further points. All of the troops were heroic in their efforts, and although it was a natural worry to see lock Darren Barry, who was one of four Pirates playing against his former club, injured and aided off, they admirably kept 'Bris' at bay.

Following Barry's departure, the final replacement used by the home team saw the introduction of young John Stevens, who was proudly making his Championship debut.

Supporters were ecstatic at the end, viewing this win as the match of the season, or even of the last two seasons - and they weren't alone.

Cornish Pirates:   15 Craig Holland, 14 Mike Pope (Matt Evans 59), 13 Tom Riley, 12 Junior Fatialofa (Rheon James 61), 11 Kieran Goss, 10 Angus Sinclair (Kieran Hallett 59), 9 Tom Kessell; 1 Shane Cahill.2 Tom Channon (Rob Elloway 66), 3 Peter Joyce (Kieran Davies 72),  4 Neale Patrick (Will Graulich 54),5 Darren Barry (John Stevens 79), 6 Chris Morgan (capt), 7 Alex Cheesman ,8 Jake Parker. 
Yellow card: Joyce.

Bristol Rugby:   15 Adam D'Arcy, 14 Ryan Edwards, 13 Andy Short, 12 Ben Mosses (Luke Eves 51), 11 Charlie Amesbury, 10 Nicky Robinson (Adrian Jarvis 59), 9 James Grindal (capt, Callum Braley); 1 Mark Lilley, 2 Ross Johnston (Ollie Hayes h/t), 3 Gaston Cortes (James Hall 54), 4 Glen Townson, 5 Ben Glynn, 6 Nick Koster (Marco Mama 51), 7 Redford Pennycook (Ben Skirving 67), 8 Mitch Eadie.

Scorers:-
Cornish Pirates – tries: Goss (2), Kessell; cons: Sinclair, Hallett (2)
Bristol Rugby – tries: Johnston, Eves; con: Jarvis; pen: Robinson.

Referee:   John Meredith     

Attendance:   2,176