CORNISH Pirates forwards coach Ian Davies was unhappy to have lost last Friday's British & Irish Cup encounter in Dublin.

"I'm really disappointed," he said. "We should have walked away with the game. We could have been 20 points clear of them, but they closed out the game very early on, kicked a lot of possession and we didn't play field position. But there was only one side playing the rugby, and that was us."

He added: "A couple of tries went begging in the first half and that could have given us the cushion we needed. To lose by two points is very frustrating.

"We just need consistent quality of possession for the backs. They showed that they can go through sides, but we need to make that count. They missed a couple of penalties which I'm sure they won't be happy about, but we have got to make sure that we don't give people those opportunities. We have got to be more clinical."

Lineout

Asked if he was disappointed with the performance of the Pirates' lineout, Davies said: "Yes, very much so. Obviously it helps when you have got jumpers who are six foot 10, like them, but if you miss one of the details of the throw, the jump or the lift it will cost you a lineout. That then allows them to build pressure just when we are starting to build it."

Davies explained that the refereeing of the match, particularly in relation to the uncontested scrums in the second half, was something the coaching staff would examine.

He said: "In the first half, especially, I knew there was a communication problem between the team of three. The instructions at half-time were that their microphones weren't working, because we were questioning some of the offside decisions in midfield.

"With the uncontested scrums, we are going to look at the rules of the competition because we believe it shouldn't have happened, especially as they brought on a prop just afterwards. But we need to check that out first."

Learning

Asked if it had been a good learning experience for the young Pirates, Davies said: "It was, but we can only learn for so long. We have got to win some of these tight games and we have been in them all along. It's disappointing for the fantastic support which has travelled all the way from Cornwall, but hopefully, we will learn from it."

With the British & Irish Cup on a winter break, the Pirates now face a demanding December as they aim to cement their play-off place.

And Pirates prop Paul Andrew summed up the mood in the Pirates' camp as they prepare for the test. He said: "Everyone has been really up for the cup, but it gives us a chance to get some momentum going into our next four league games, which are massive for the club.

"We've targeted it as a squad and coming off the back of the Leinster game need to take the heat and power through. This league is a beauty and there are no games where you can sit back and we won't, because we want to finish in the top eight."