Pirates beat Nottingham in the Championship

The Cornish Pirates recovered from trailing 19-9 down in the second half to achieve a closely fought but deserved victory.

The ‘Archers’, who finished tenth in the league last season, had a resounding 31-10 points win away to London Scottish the previous Saturday, so were expected to be somewhat buoyant coming into this game on the back of such an impressive result.

As for the Cornish Pirates, following their 21-14 opening league match win at home to Richmond, they made just the one change in their
starting XV, with Cory Teague named to partner Will Britton in the second row in place of James Fender who was selected on a bench.

Also, among the replacements, hooker Max Norey and prop Matt Johnson were ready and keen to make their first appearance for the
Cornish Pirates in Championship match. 

Getting off to a sound start, when fly-half Arwel Robson spotted an opportunity to strike a long-range drop goal - his first such successful
effort wearing Cornish Pirates colours – it gave the visitors an early lead.

Nottingham hit back in the eighth minute when home skipper Josh Poullet made it over the line for a try. Fly-half Sam Hollingsworth was
luckless with his conversion attempt.

From the restart the Pirates looked to apply pressure back on their opponents. They initially conceded a penalty at maul time and then, after
wing Robin Wedlake looked to counter, were penalised again, enabling Nottingham to clear the threat.

As expected the home team looked a useful outfit and after Hollingsworth made a break from deep inside his own half he ended up
running nearly the whole length of the pitch for a try to which he this time added the extras.