Pirates ride their luck

HALLOWEEN may have been last week, but you can bet Bedford's Myles Dorrian will be reliving his Cornish nightmare for a little while yet.

With just two minutes of an absorbing showpiece remaining, the Blues fly-half was thrust into the middle of the Recreation Ground stage and given his golden opportunity to deliver a stand-out performance.

Sadly for Dorrian, when the spotlight shone on the 26-year-old back, he endured an untimely bout of stage fright, fluffed his lines completely, and gifted the headlines to his opposite number, Rob Cook, who claimed the man-of-the-match award as the Cornish Pirates returned to winning ways in the Championship with a narrow 25-24 victory.

Yesterday's win, a sixth of the season for Chris Stirling's side, helped lift the Pirates to fourth in the table, level on points with the visiting Blues, who themselves are desperate for a pick-me-up after now suffering three successive league defeats.

For the Pirates, though, a return to winning ways was just what they needed following a disappointing October. The Duchy's finest won just once in five fixtures, the last of which was a 29-20 reverse away to Rotherham.

In the aftermath of that setback at Clifton Lane, Stirling called upon his side to show a more aggressive approach to their play. Yesterday, the New Zealander got just what he asked for as his players tore into their Bedford counterparts with a gusto which has been sadly lacking in recent weeks.

But having solved one problem, it now seems Stirling has others to address, especially when it comes to first-up tackling. Countless times the Pirates were guilty of this particular crime and that will need to be addressed this coming week, especially as unbeaten league leaders Exeter Chiefs are next on the agenda.

However, when push came to shove in the dying embers of this latest tussle, the Pirates' rearguard action crucially held firm. Digging deep into their reserves, they bravely withstood wave-upon-wave of attacks from the visitors. Their reward, I suppose, was Dorrian's costly miss at the end.

"The heart was definitely going with that last kick," conceded Stirling at the final whistle. "I was right behind it, he hit it nice and straight, but he just placed it outside the post and that's where is stayed. It was good for us, but unfortunate for him."

However, had Dorrian sunk the Pirates with his last-gasp effort, it would have been somewhat unlucky on the Cornish club, who had worked their way back from 17-7 down at the break.

Not surprisingly, Stirling was "delighted" with the effort of his troops. He added: "It was a good, gutsy effort, I can't say anymore about the effort the guys put in.

"The intensity and the aggression was what we wanted, the accuracy was not. It's like you fix one thing, but another thing malfunctions. It is a matter of putting the pieces of the puzzle together bit by bit and trying to get that perfect performance. At the moment we are a long way off getting that consistency, but in terms of the aggression and the attitude, it was what we asked for."

Up against a howling wind in the first half, the Pirates – who made five changes to the starting line-up on duty at Rotherham – were soon into their stride and they fired their first warning shot as early as the seventh minute, when a darting break from Nick Jackson helped to release winger Rhodri McAtee at speed.

Sadly, the Welshman's intended pass back inside eluded the follow-up runners and it allowed Bedford to clear their lines.

The deadlock, though, was finally broken five minutes later when a poor clearance from home skipper Gavin Cattle got caught up in the blustery conditions, a handful of Pirates strayed offside, and up stepped Dorrian to fire over a lengthy kick to give his side a 3-0 lead.

Within minutes the Pirates had a response as a sustained spell of pressure finally paid dividends when centre Mark Ireland was on hand to feed the ball to Blair Cowan, who thundered his way over for a try, which Cook duly converted.

Bedford, however, were continuing to cause problems. Dorrian saw a second penalty chance cannon back off the post, while a fantastic line-out steal from Pirate Ben Gulliver – just five metres from his own line – robbed the Blues of a glorious attacking opportunity on the half-hour.

But with the half all but up, the Blues stole a march on their rivals with a quickfire try double. First over was centre Liam Roberts, who made the most of some wishy-washy defence from Ireland, then winger Ian Davey added a second as he too exposed a gaping hole following quality burst from Duncan Taylor. Dorrian converted both to put his side 17-7 up.

A response was needed on the resumption and the home side duly delivered it as first Cook plundered a penalty, before then adding the extras to a try from Cattle – the Welshman burrowing over after Dave Ward had profited from a loose Bedford line-out to drive within inches of the line.

By the hour, the Pirates were then in front when quick-thinking from McAtee at a line-out saw him feed Gulliver who, with ten metres to go, wasn't going to allow Bedford's Luke Fielden to stop him from claiming a first-ever score for the Pirates.

Bedford refused to lie down and they regained the lead on 64 minutes with a converted try from prop Sam Walsh, who barged his wave over following a series of attacking phases.

It was end-to-end stuff and when Cook's right boot put the Pirates back in from almost straight from the restart, it was again 'Game On'.

Cook saw a further penalty strike the upright with just ten minutes remaining – and then with just two minutes left it was the turn of Dorrian to step forward and save the day for his side.

With the home faithful fearing the worse, groans of displeasure were turned to cheers of joy. It was a costly miss.