CORNISH Pirates' high performance manager Chris Stirling was realistic in defeat. He said: "We can take a good first 40 minutes from that. We got the boys in the changing room at half-time and said that there was only going to be one team who would win this game, and I didn't think it was going to be London Welsh.

"We were quite dominant in that first period and definitely took our chances, but in the second half we came out and the opposition just took the ball, controlled it and we couldn't get hold of the ball. When we did we gave it back to them cheaply and all credit to them, they took their chances when they came and went away with a win."

He added: "The first one (try) we got was an intercept and we went the distance with it, but the cross-kick where Nick Jackson got his second try was a strategy – the move was called and we executed it. There was a lucky bounce but we took our chance. We were happy with that and things were going quite well because we were dominating the breakdown which we were really pleased with, because that was an area we wanted to dominate. But things turned around a bit in the second half."

The New Zealander agreed that the Pirates never really got going in the second half.

He said: "When we did get the ball we gave it straight back to them through silly errors and I don't think we got in their 22 once in the second half.

"If we did, it was through a brief foray, but we missed touch from several penalties and missed the corners three times when we went for them.

"We have always told our kickers to go for maximum distance and maybe they struggled a bit with the different environment and the fact that the wind coming off the far touchline was blowing the ball back infield. That is something we will have to look at."

Stirling added that the number of replacements in the second half caused some disruption. He explained: "It did actually. There were a couple made to preserve guys for next week against Bristol, but it definitely disrupted things a wee bit.

"All credit to the Welsh, though, because once they got the momentum it was hard for us to get it back and when we did get our hands on the ball, we made stupid errors and the penalty count cost us."

And with an opening play-off match at Bristol next up for the Pirates, Stirling was blunt in his summing-up of events.

He said: "We spoke to the guys at half time and said great 40 minutes. But we added that they would only be judged on the second 40.

"We said that the crowd would not remember the first 40 if we did not finish the job, and the second half was pretty woeful, so we have got a lot of work to do this week."