Plymouth Albion 12, Cornish Pirates 29

To round up their pre-season the Cornish Pirates crossed the River Tamar to face old rivals Plymouth Albion. In the process they made it three wins on the trot.

Having last played at the Brickfields in December 2014 it was a welcome return, with sporting greetings extended by certain familiar faces. On the field, though, the Pirates expected a tough challenge, aware that their hosts had also won their two previous pre-season ‘friendlies’, 21-19 against Bedford Blues and 54-21 against Exeter University.

For this encounter Matt Evans was named skipper of a much-changed Cornish Pirates side. Indeed, only four of the named XV had the previous weekend started against Exeter Chiefs.

The Pirates had got off to a flyer against the Chiefs, however this was not the case against former ‘Pirate’ Kieran Hallett’s Albion side. Yes, they enjoyed the better off the opening exchanges but it was not until the 28th minute that the first points materialised. It followed a first meaningful visit by Albion into opposition territory, when Pirates’ full-back Maliq Holden suddenly acquired possession and sprinted 80 metres to score. Fly-half Harvey Skinner had the formality of adding the extra two points.

During the period up to half-time the Devon side continued to be competitive and were unlucky not to finish off a score of their own, which followed a break by scrum-half ‘Cam’ Setter. Then, in a strong finish before the whistle the Pirates added to their points tally with an unconverted try scored by wing Alex O’Meara.

First use of the Pirates bench to start the second period saw scrum-half Alex Schwarz emerge from the changing rooms in place of Jake Ashby and Georgian international lock Nodar Cheishvili replace Toby Freeman. Other changes would follow but it was Albion who started the half best. An unconverted try scored by full-back Matt Shepherd opened their account and approaching the hour a further period of committed play was rewarded when referee Ben Russell signalled a penalty try.

At this stage of the game a scoreline reading 12-all was not what many would have expected, so how would the Pirates respond? The answer was ‘admirably’, despite losing the services of flanker John Stevens to the sin bin for 10 minutes.

Fit again replacement centre Dan Koster ran well for a try, whilst Skinner added the conversion and then a penalty. Finally, to put the result beyond doubt it was replacement wing Robin Wedlake – a former Plymouth Albion player - who gathered Skinner’s well-weighted cross field kick and pinned back his ears to score a converted effort at the posts.

Speaking after the game, co-coach Gavin Cattle said: “Pre-season was always about giving everybody a shot and we obviously had quite a few new faces and combinations on show. However, it was a great work-out against a hungry, passionate and together Plymouth Albion side.

“Ill discipline cost us at times but we always knew it would be a little disjointed. I was happy with the way everyone just kept going though and especially the momentum swing.”

Gavin added: “The focus now is our Championship opener against Doncaster Knights next Sunday. The quality of our training has been upped and the squad have trained hard, leaving us with certain headaches selection-wise, which is always a good thing.”

Plymouth Albion: 15 Matt Shepherd, 14 Jordan Gott, 13 Dean Squire, 12 Robbie Weeks, 11 Josh Skelcey, 10 Fraser Honey, 9 Cameron Setter; 1 Will Norton, 2 Paul Davis, 3 Dan Pullinger, 4 Dan Collier, 5 Lewis Pearson, 6 John Kelly, 7 Sam Daly, 8 Herbie Stupple (captain).

Replacements: James Kenny, Jamie Salter, Marcus Street, Kieran Westlake, Rusi Tuima, Joe Snow, Mitch Pinkus, Dan Powell, Teegan Minkley, Sam Fellows.

Cornish Pirates: 15 Maliq Holden, 14 Alex O’Meara, 13 Rory Parata, 12 Harry Strong, 11 Matt Evans (captain), 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Jake Ashby; 1 Billy Keast, 2 Dan Frost, 3 Tyler Gendall, 4 Toby Freeman, 5 Danny Cutmore, 6 Josh Caulfield, 7 John Stevens, 8 James McRae.

Replacements: Jack Andrew, Christian Judge, Sam Matavesi, Nodar Cheishvili, Jake Clemson, Matt Bolwell, AJ Cant, Dan Koster, Alex Schwarz, Robin Wedlake.

Yellow card: Stevens.

Scorers:

Plymouth Albion – Tries: Shepherd, Penalty Try.

Cornish Pirates – Tries: Holden, O’Meara, Koster, Wedlake; Cons: Skinner (3); Pen: Skinner.

Referee: Ben Russell