Cornish Pirates 24, London Welsh 28

THE Cornish Pirates' four match winning run came to an abrupt halt at the Mennaye Field as London Welsh staged a dramatic second half fight-back to steal the contest with a try from replacement lock Ben Thomas three minutes from time, writes Dick Straughan.

The result was, however, a fair reflection of a game which was largely dominated by the visitors. How they found themselves 24-6 behind at half-time was certainly the source of much debate and frustration in their changing room at the break, but the Welsh regrouped and barely gave the Pirates a sniff of success in the second period.

Rumbled

London Welsh started strongly on a fine but chilly afternoon in Penzance, but it took until the 16th minute for the deadlock to be broken when full-back Ed Lewis-Pratt slotted a routine penalty after the Pirates had infringed at the breakdown. Rob Cook then levelled the scores straight from the restart as the Welsh were caught offside.

The game dramatically turned in the Pirates' favour five minutes later as a powerful Welsh driving maul rumbled to within inches of the home line. With a try looking a certainty scrum-half Ben Stevenson opted for his backs to supply the killer blow, but a loose pass to wing Errie Claasens was picked off by Cook, who raced 80 metres down field. As Lewis-Pratt closed him down, Cook slipped a delightful pass inside to Nick Jackson and the South African cantered home under the posts to score. Cook converted.

After a second Lewis-Pratt penalty had cut the lead to four points, he obliged with the extras again after a second home try. This time Jonny Bentley's cross field kick to the left wing bounced favourably for Jackson, who gathered and raced clear of Greg Evans for his second try.

The Welsh then lost influential No8 Tom Brown, stretchered off with an injury, before a determined break from Mike Myerscough set up Aisea Havili to sprint down the right touchline for try number three on the stroke of half-time. Cook again converted.

Injuries

Two further injuries in the opening 10 minutes of the second half saw London Welsh lose skipper Nathan Bonner Evans and scrum-half Stevenson but by now, they were a different proposition altogether.

Gone was the indiscipline at the breakdown and handling errors in the tackle and Bonner-Evans had already bundled his way home from a routine close range line-out move for their opening try.

Centre Charlie Gower added a second on 55 minutes as the Pirates were undone by an incisive backs' move and suddenly, the momentum was all with the Welsh.

The Pirates seemed powerless to wrest back control of the game, conceding too many penalties at the breakdown and when they did manage to get their hands on the ball the urge to give it back to the Welsh was all too strong.

Despite losing centre Dominic Shabbo to the sin bin after a professional foul, as Cook took a quick tap penalty, the Pirates' lead was cut to 24-21 with 15 minutes remaining as Mark Ireland was harshly penalised for not releasing a tackled player. London Welsh fly-half Gordon Ross converted the simple penalty.

Then with time running out and the Welsh in total control, the inevitable happened. Another strong driving maul from the visitors deep in Pirates' territory had too much gas for the home defence.

Thomas claimed the score as it rumbled over the line and Ross converted to seal a fine comeback for London Welsh.

PIRATES: Cook, Havili, Ireland, Luke (Winn 50), Jackson, Bentley, Doherty, Andrew (Storer 60), Elloway (Prosser 56), Paver (capt), Collins, Labuschagne (Rimmer 71), Myerscough, Ward (Evans 50), McGlone (Cowan 50). Replacement (not used): Cattle.

Scorers. Tries – Jackson (2), Havili; Cons – Cook (3); Pens – Cook.

LONDON WELSH: Lewis-Pratt (A.Thomas 62), Evans, Shabbo (sin bin 63-73), Gower, Claasens, Ross, Stevenson (Runciman 48), Boot, Whitehead, Holford (Ward 18), Corker, Powell (Gotting 74), Bonner-Evans (capt) (B Thomas 51), Hills, Brown (Mills 38). Replacement (not used) – Mackey.

Yellow cards. Shabbo.

Scorers. Tries – Bonner-Evans, Gower, B Thomas; Cons – Lewis-Pratt, Ross; Pens – Lewis-Pratt (2), Ross.

Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU).

Attendance: 1,560.

Big match marks: Cook 7, Havili 7, Ireland 8, Luke 7 (Winn 7), Jackson 8, Bentley 6, Doherty 7, Andrew 7 (Storer 7), Elloway 7 (Prosser 6), Paver 7, Collins 7, Labuschagne 7 (Rimmer 7), Myerscough 8, Ward 7 (Evans 7), McGlone 8 (Cowan 7).

Man of the Match: Mark Ireland – A big physical shift from the centre and some cracking hits in defence too.