Cornish Pirates 28 Richmond 19

Richmond will take huge satisfaction from the quality of this performance, on their furthest away trip against a side bang in form. However, they will feel equal frustration that they could not turn their wholehearted effort into league points. They will undoubtedly play less well on future occasions but will emerge with more reward.

Richmond drop below Doncaster to eleventh in the table, but none of the sides now below them picked up any points tris week. Cornish Pirates climb to fourth after their fifth successive win.

Richmond had four changes from the starting XV against Hartpury. Conor Slevin of the Harlequins became Richmond’s first loan or dual registration player this season, coming in at full back in a backline full of positional changes. In the pack Luke Frost made his first start. Additionally, there was a late change on the bench, Freddie Charles replacing Luc Jones.

The game was played on a heavy pitch in front of a crowd of just over 1700. Richmond kicked off but did not get the start they wanted. Penalised as they followed up the kick, they found themselves a score down within a minute. The Pirates’ big centre Harry Yates ran straight and hard to burst through a defensive hole and give a scoring pass to scrum half Dan Hiscocks. Young Exeter Chiefs loanee Louie Sinclair added the conversion.

Things got worse before they got better. Winger Ben Cambriani was almost away down the blindside of a scrum, but Jason Baggott scrambled the ball into touch. At the line out, thirty metres out, Richmond gave away a second penalty and Sinclair kicked accurately into the corner. The Cornish pack made it look easy, driving to the line for Jack Forsyth to get the touch down. Sinclair’s conversion made it 14-0 after just five minutes.

‘It's going to be a landslide’, muttered a few of the crowd. Fortunately, it certainly wasn’t. Instead, Richmond settled down and gave away just one more first half penalty. Once again there was a lot of box kicking in the middle part of the pitch as both sides competed for territory.

After ten minutes, Richmond managed to turn over Pirates’ possession following a midfield line out, and a neat kick into space put some pressure on the home side. For the first time, Richmond went through several phases inside the Pirates’ 22, drawing a penalty after they besieged the try line. From the five metre lineout, the Richmond pack drove forward clinically, and ex Pirate Harry Hocking got the touchdown. Callum Grieve converted to take the score to a much more palatable 14-7.

However, after twenty-one minutes, Pirates restored that fourteen point lead. Centre Joe Elderkin and fly half Sinclair were both involved in the set up, sending Iwan Price-Thomas storming into clear space. The full back drew the last defender before offloading to Hiscocks who ran in his second try.

Despite the score, Richmond were now competing hard, with Sam Pim showing the way with some shuddering hits. Under increasing pressure, Pirates now made a couple of errors, firstly kicking out on the full and then conceding a penalty for a high tackle. Callum Grieve kicked to the 22 and, from a scrum, Xavier Hastings broke on the blindside, feigning a pass to the outside. With momentum gained, Richmond went patiently through the phases before Baggott and Slevin worked long passes to send the excellent Greg Kitson diving into the corner.

There were no more scores before half time, but the Richmond pack especially were now edging the contest. The respective front rows were evenly matched, Richmond driven back at one scrum but promptly responding with a scrum penalty at the next. Frustratingly Richmond then lost the close range line out, the looming six foot eight Pirate lock Alfie Bell blocking the daylight. At half time the game was evenly set, but Richmond needed the next try.

Happily, they duly got the try in the 48th minute. George Nugent had one early second half break but that was just warming up. This time he crashed through two tackles, clearing them with the help of a big hand off before cantering some twenty metres. Luke Frost was in perfect support and took the scoring pass to complete an important try, which was converted to close the gap to two points.

The score remained unchanged for the next twenty-five minutes. However, Richmond now dominated territory and had the opportunities. Two penalties went wide but it was always likely to be a try which would decide the game. A late tackle by Bell in the 58th minute drew a yellow card and seemed to edge the game further in Richmond’s favour. Ten metres out, the Richmond pack drove to the line, but they could not quite break the obdurate home defence and were held up.

The deciding try came in the 73rd minute. Hiscocks hoisted another steepler, and this time, among a sea of bodies, six foot five flanker Josh King claimed a towering catch on the edge of the 22. The ball was switched to centre Joe Elderkin and he in turn gave the scoring pass to co-centre Harry Yates. When Sinclair nailed the tricky conversion, Richmond needed another score of any sort to get at least one point.

They pressed hard till the final minutes with Lewis Dennett throwing some lovely long passes. In the 79th minute Richmond earned a penalty, which looked to be at the higher end of possible kicking range. Instead, they opted to try for two points via the corner. Again, they got close, but it was just not their day. Deep in the opposition 22 in front of the posts, Richmond were pinged, and the Pirates kicked gratefully for touch.

Rob Powell commented: ‘It was really disappointing not to get any points. Speaking to their coaches, they are saying the wrong team won the game today, which is what we think. The boys tried fantastically hard but unfortunately, we made a couple of errors in that final third that really hurt us, and they defended really well’

Team: C.Slevin, C. Obonna, R. Du Randt, C.Grieve, G.Kitson, J. Baggott, A.Schwarz, B. Vaughan, H. Hocking, L. Spring, J. Monson, G. Nugent, L.Frost, X.Hastings, S. Pim
Subs: W. Goffey, C. Freeman, J. Litchfield, M.Wakeling, T.Benson, F.Charles, L. Dennett, S. Dardis

Tries: Hocking, Kitson, Frost
Conversions: Grieve (2)