The home side had been in no uncertain terms dismantled in every department by the Pirates, who had restricted Bedford to just three pots at goal and without a serious threat to their own line. Succinctly summing up just how in control they were.

The opening exchanges however had done little to suggest such an outcome as Twelvetrees opened the scoring with a penalty on five minutes to reward an enterprising start by Bedford. 0-3.

Lead from the back by Winnan the visitors had other ideas and from their first serious possession soon after the restart set about redressing the balance. The first waves proved merely a pre-cursor as the young half back combination of Griffiths and Jones picked up from they'd left off recently and began to dictate what was going to happen and when.

Rumbling up the slope and with a stiffening breeze from behind their right shoulders the Pirates made good their search for a swift response. The wait was a short one as Jones nonchantly slotted the three points offered barely five minutes later to level things. 3-3.

Bouyed by this, the Pirates went in search of something more as most of the play focussed in Bedford's half; the visitors looking most likely to breach the whitewash. McAtee came closest following a chip through by Winn that bounced awkwardly in front of Burke; the Welsh Whippet's outstretched arms falling centimetres short in the best attack to date.

No matter; as Jones' two penalties either side of Burke's leaving the field at Mr Kitt's invitation for ten minutes deservedly increasing the Pirates lead to 9-3 with a barely a quarter played. Offside being the Bedford skippers' misdemeanour.

The one man advatage wasn't long held though as Canadian prop Franklin joined him on the sideline on the half hour mark following a little altercation. A sign of the intensity in the Pirates game and in the noticable abrasiveness of the prop himself.

Twelvetrees' chance to pull his side back into contention went wide though from just inside the Pirates half.

Bedford sought desparately to regain some kind of foothold as they soon found themselves back up to a full quota of 15 with Burkes reintroduction as half time approached.

These efforts very nearly came unstuck however as it was the Pirates who still looked the most inscisive going fowards. A fourth Jones penalty missed the left upright by a fraction but it didn't seem to matter even when Twelvetrees made amends for his earlier miss from an identical spot on halftime. 6-9.

With the slope now behind them and the forecast rain beginning to fall, the resumption of play witnessed the Pirates imposing an iron grip that they simply didn't relinquish.

The pack had gained control of their own particular battle even to the point of turning over one home scrum soon after the break. This gave the ever dangerous looking Griffiths plenty to exploit and ultimately lead to the games first try courtesy of said scrum half on the hour. A trademark dummy pass and change of direction saw the youngster break through the only serious challenge in his path to set up the simplest of conversions for Jones. 6-16.

Options for Bedford were now limited as they now had to chase a game that had long been slipping from their grasp. Everything they tried hit a dead end and as a consquence more gaps began to appear in a defence that had been on overtime for ages.

Pirate efforts to kill the game off reaped a couple of penalties, the second of which five minutes from the end by (who else!?) Jones successfully dissected the uprights from some 40m.

To their credit the Blues went in search of at least some consolation, as they made a rare appearance in Pirate territory only for That interception and try to signal a massed exodus from the stands, and Cornish celebrations to begin in earnest.

Jones completed his afternoon shift with another straighforward conversion and it was now just a case of waiting for Mr Kitt to signal the charge for the bar, and some welcome shelter from the elements.

This duly came to the delight of the soggy hoardes from the Duchy who'd given as much effort off the pitch as had their team on it. All that was left was for Messrs Hewitt and Sterling to shake hands with vigour and their charges to complete the tunnel formalities before heading over to thank the fans.

An excellent performance then, and no insignificant result which may not have lifted them any higher but certainly dragged their opponents back into the pack; thus opening up the race for that all important (we can still only assume) fourth spot.

Bedford now face a daunting three weeks that could easily see them adding to their Losses column more than once which could derail their challenge seriously. As for the Pirates, on this showing then anything is now possible and in contrast to a lot that has passsed before; others had better sit up and take notice!

Cornish Pirates: 26
15 A. Winnan (capt) 14 B. Tuohy 11 R. McAtee
13 P. Devlin 12 S. Winn
10 R. Jones 9 N. Griffiths
8 B. Bedes 7 I. Motusaga 6 C. Morgan
5 B. Gulliver 4 H. Senekal
3 S. Franklin 2 D. Dawidiuk 1 A. Paver

Replacements: 16 P. Cook (Paver 68) 17 D. Seal (Franklin 63)  8 M. Burak (Gulliver 36 blood)  19 S. Betty (Motusaga 40)
un-used - 20 E. Fairhurst 21 T. Luke 22 M. Ireland

Tries: Griffiths, Winn
Cons: Jones 2
Pens: Jones 4

Bedford 6
15 Brendan Burke © 14 Will Harries 11 Ryan Owen
13 Liam Roberts 12 Billy Twelvetrees
10 Ian Vass 9 Nick Walshe
8 Gregor Gillanders 7 Brett Daynes 6 Paul Tupai
5 Mouritz Botha 4 James Cannon
3 Phil Boulton 2 Greg Sammons 1 Sam Walsh

Replacements: 16 Dan Richmond (Sammons 55) 17 James Graham (Boulton 55) 18 Marco Cecere (Walsh 63) 19 Mike Howard (Tupai 50) 20 Rory McKay (Daynes 57) 21 Will Chudley (Walshe 70) 22 Ollie Dodge (Twelvetrees 73)

Pens: Twelvetrees 2

Referee: Rowan Kitt
Touch Judges: D. Grasshoff; R Porter-Sedgwick

Attendance: 2514

Bedford Pix

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