Cornish Pirates 28 Rotherham 32

Sunday October 12th 2008

By YOG (Mark Curtis)

As has become the current trend of late, the Pirates raised their game again when faced with tough opposition, but also consistent with current home form they were unable to close out the match following a spirited fight back.

Both teams went into Sunday's encounter with something to prove, with both probably believing their current lower than normal league standing not being a true reflection of where they should be, and with Rotherham having the extra incentive of recently being docked four points by the RFU for fielding an illegible player in previous games.

The weather and the pitch for Sunday's encounter could not have been more different than when the teams last met in Rotherham at the tail end of last season. At that encounter the wind and rain can only be described as "grim", and within minutes the pitch resembled a battlefield from WWI, which was quite apt considering the trench warfare that ensued. At that encounter Rotherham battled their way to a hard fought victory, and after a below par season the relief, pleasure and pride was very evident on Rotherham players and supporters alike.

This Sunday the weather was bright and warm and the pitch was firm under foot, making ideal conditions for fast exciting rugby. And neither team disappointed, (bear with me here).

It's often said that a scoreline doesn't tell the entire story, and that was certainly true come the halftime break on this occasion. Despite shipping a very early try, the Pirates had the better run of play for most of the first half.

As a unit the Pirates made good yardage with most of their phases of play, working more as a cohesive force and linking together well. I would go as far as to say that around half of Rotherham's points in the first half were a result of Pirates mistakes rather than steady and concerted Rotherham pressure. For large parts of the first half the Pirates looked like a team that had gelled and constantly looked dangerous when they had the ball.

Because of the good first half performance (despite the score), it was expected that the Pirates could go some way to reversing the first half deficit, especially now that they were playing downhill. And this proved to be the case, despite the Pirates not playing so well as a structured team in the second half, and to be fair Rotherham did step up the pressure as the match went on

Continued >>>>>

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