Sedgley Park 27 Cornish Pirates 35

THE Cornish Pirates completed their away fixtures for this season at already relegated Sedgley Park running in five tries in an error strewn match.

The match started badly for the Cornish side as their defence went missing with Park`s first attack of the match after two minutes, resulting in a converted try from full-back Matt Riley. The Pirates immediately responded with a try from wing Aisea Havili and a penalty from Simon Whatling to lead by a point after just ten minutes.

With the error count already high from both sides Whatling and Phil Jones traded further penalties before a superb break by Havili just before the break set up Heino Senekal for their second try. Sedgley Park were not done though and Riley secured his second try right on half-time as the Pirates failed to deal with a crossfield kick.

A brighter start to the second half from the Pirates yielded tries from Paul Devlin, Rhodri McAtee and Mike Burak and at 35-15 ahead after an hour the Pirates were in complete control.

Cornish Pirates lock Mike Burak at full stretch to catch the throw in at the line-out. Pic by Simon Bryant/Iktisphoto.com

But old habits returned and concentration levels dropped allowing Sedgley Park to secure a losing bonus point with tries from lock Glen Townson and wing Phil Largan.

This was not a game which will live long in the memory of those who saw it.

Sedgley Park: Riley, Swatkins, O`Hare (Stringer 78), Jones (capt), Largan, Atkinson, Wilkinson, Greenhalgh, Roddam (sin bin 60, Lloyd 73), Du Plessis (Fourie 64), Lloyd (Livesey 60), Townson (Williams 76), Crous (Roberts 61), Newton, Cook (Lamprey 73)

Tries – Riley (2), Townson, Largan

Cons – Jones (2)

Pens – Jones

Yellow Cards – Roddam

Cornish Pirates: Winnan (Tuohy h/t), McAtee, Ireland, Devlin, Havili, Whatling, Griffiths, Paver , Elloway (sin-bin 60-70, Dawidiuk 70), Franklin (Heard 73), Senekal, Burak (capt) (Gulliver 68), Cowan (Dawidiuk 61-70), Betty (Morgan 53), Bedes (Evans 53)

Replacement (not used) – Fairhurst

Tries – Havili, Senekal, Devlin, McAtee, Burak

Cons – Whatling (2)

Pens – Whatling (2)

Yellow Cards – Elloway

Referee – L.Pearce (RFU)