Cornish Pirates 18, Bristol 17

A TRY from lock Ian Nimmo, converted by Rob Cook, midway through the second half proved decisive as the Pirates battled back to win a full-blooded West Country derby at the Mennaye Field by a single point.

In a thrilling game played in front of a near full house crowd of 3,115, Chris Stirling's side started brightly, opening up an eight point lead through a Dave Ward try and a long distance Grant Pointer penalty, but then fell away, conceding a try and three Tristan Roberts penalties as league leaders Bristol took control.

The sin-binning of Argentinean lock Mariano Sambucetti after 55 minutes for punching proved crucial and the Pirates made their man advantage tell from the resulting penalty.

Nimmo crashed over after a sustained assault on the Bristol line and Cook's conversion proved telling as Roberts nibbled away at the lead with his fourth place kick of the afternoon.

Pirates boss Stirling said: "It was a great effort by the guys in some quite difficult circumstances really. So I have to say that I'm really proud of them.

Errors

"We were well on top for the first 15 minutes, had a lot of possession and used it really well, putting pressure through good composure on the opposition.

"But unfortunately through our errors we let Bristol back into the game and they deservedly led at half-time because our lack of accuracy."

But the victory came at a cost to the Pirates who lost centre Andy Short with a dislocated shoulder in the first half. Grant Pointer (concussion) had to be replaced at half-time and replacement prop Paul Andrew was hospitalised after injuring his neck in the final exchanges of the game.

Stirling added: "He (Andrew) landed on his head at an awkward angle as Wardy turned the ball over right at the end.

"Andy Short dislocated his shoulder and he will be long term, which I just can't believe. Grant Pointer got concussed right on half-time and for safety reasons we couldn't send him back out.

He added: "I don't know what we have done to the injury gods but we keep losing guys and they aren't just bumps and niggles. They are bad injuries."

Bristol's 11-8 interval lead was an irritation more than a worry for the Pirates' camp and Stirling explained that the half-time team talk revolved around some simple questions to the team.

He said: "I asked the boys what did we have in the first 15 minutes? We had the ball. What did we keep? We kept the ball and we eliminated the errors.

"What didn't we have in the next 25 minutes? We didn't have the ball, because we gave it back to them through our errors. So we set about eliminating our errors."

Roberts and Cook exchanged second half penalties before the departure of the feisty Sambucetti and the penalty and subsequent try for the Pirates were just what Stirling expected. "All we needed was field position," he said. "We didn't kick well but even when we went six (points) behind in the second half I wasn't concerned.

"We knew that our game would ultimately revolve around jersey's one to eight and that is how it unfolded."

In the final quarter the Pirates had chances to kill the contest with further try scoring opportunities but these went begging, ensuring that the one-point lead had to be defended at all costs in a prolonged period of injury time.

But forced to play from deep the pressure told on Bristol who also lost prop Darren Crompton to the sin bin.

Stirling said: "I think our forward play dominated and I think we are one of the better packs in the competition.

"We can still improve a hell of a lot but I'm not sure that the opposition can. Once we get some bodies back on deck I'm sure we can be an exciting team in the play-offs."