Cornish Pirates vs Ealing Trailfinders

Match Report

It was a tough day at the office for Ben Ward’s men as Ealing Trailfinders fell to defeat on their first away fixture of the season in a 15-12 loss at The Mennaye Field.

The home side came out of the block the fastest as early pressure led to Bobby De Wee being penalised and sent to the sin bin. Making the most out of their numerical advantage a knock through from the boot looking to put Tommy Wyatt through at the corner led to a line out when Hampson it put into touch, for the subsequent line out the ball was worked well from Pirates driving towards the line with Sara Cox awarding a penalty try for the home side due to Ealing Trailfinders coming in at the side.

Moments later a sustained period of pressure from the Pirates really put the Trailfinders under the cosh with the majority of the opening 20 minutes being played within Ealing’s half.

In a frustrating half for the Trailfinders, a number of lost line outs cost the travelling side in the attempt to swing momentum away from the home side. However as much pressure was applied Pirates were made to rue not getting another score on the board when the ball was worked along the back line well from a 22 metre line out and fed to Malon Al-Jiboori who crashes through the Pirates defence to dot down and level things going into half-time.

It was perhaps Ealing who would be the happier heading down the tunnel, seeing very little of the ball throughout the first 40 minutes.

Half-Time Cornish Pirates 7 Ealing Trailfinders 7

The men from The Mennaye started the second half exactly where they left off, going through the phases from the line out, Danny Cutmore picking and going to power forwards and dot down for the home side’s second of the game.

Moments later The Pirates put the travelling side under more pressure when Jan Henning Campher was penalised by Sara Cox for crawling with the ball after being tackled, Pirates decided to go for the posts and were successful with the boot through Arwel Robson.

Ben Ward’s men could never really find their feet in the game and any time that there seemed to be a glimpse of attacking prowess, The Pirates hit back with great defensive work to push the travelling side back.

Trailfinders were finally rewarded for their efforts in the second half when Craig Willis attempted a grubber through to the corner, a piece of skill that was appreciated by winger Angus Kernohan who scooped the ball up, darting inside to dot down with less than 10 minutes on the clock to close the gap to just three points.

We were then treated to 5 minutes of a barrage from Ealing Trailfinders who tried in a number of way to find a gap through the Pirates defence. It looked to be unlocked when the Jordan Burns worked the ball out to Craig Willis, who launched the ball over to Reuben Bird-Tulloch who looked set to dot down before losing his footing just short of the try line, with Sara Cox bringing the game back for a previous advantage.

Ealing Trailfinders couldn’t make it pay though and when another attempted kick through from Willis was gobbled up, all that was left was for The Pirates to launch the ball out of play to take home the win.

Full Time Cornish Pirates 15 – Ealing Trailfinders 12