Recent rumblings about a perceived lack of passion or committment to the cause were blown out of the water comprehensively, as a unified effort both on and off the pitch refused to roll over and accept defeat. The spontinaity of the ovation forwarded to head coach Jim McKay afterwards requires few words, suffice to suggest that it is now okay to be optimistic, and with the knowledge that the Pirates have the spirit and the desire for better things to come.

A little under two hours earlier though it was Knights who'd began in the ascendancy, as they set up camp in the Pirates half for the first five minutes or so. As if prophetic of the heroics to come, the visitors' human barricade, lead notably at this stage by Cook, held firm; and the early storm produced no more than a Woodrow penalty in the 7th minute.

The restart at last gave the Cornishman some respite and the field position to attack themselves. New boy, Vunga Lilo almost found himself through five minutes later for the dream start in Pirates colours, but the pass to him was adjudged forwards and his moment of glory went with it.

Clearly encouraged, the Pirates continued to pose more and more problems and their first serious foray into the Doncaster 22 on 14 mins, produced the only try of the game. Some good possession on the left saw Fairhurst burst through close to the touchline and go over the whitewash with one or two defenders in tow. Comparisons with Cueto's non try in Paris were inevitable, but Nick Williams' arm was swiftly raised after being given the nod by his touch judge.

Steenson's difficult kick dissected the uprights with ease but unfortunately the corner flag was never to recover and spent the rest of the game in a horizontal pose; bent double and beyond repair.

Unbeknown to the crowd though Cracknell was struggling, and had been since as early as the fifth minute with a recurrence of his hip/groin injury. Motusaga's introduction was delayed briefly though as he'd left his playing jersey in the changing rooms. While Daviduk went to fetch the item, a member of the reporting team offered his replica as a stop gap but the size difference was an issue and this offer was politely declined.

Suitably attired Iva eventually went on on twenty seven minutes, just in time to see Woodrow slot his second penalty of the afternoon, and so reduce the gap to a single point.

With the game now headed towards half time there was very little to separate the two teams as both strove to go in on top. By now, Doncasters earlier territory and possession superiority had been tempered as the Cornish defence took control and created more of platform from which to work from.

Pressure began to mount on the home side therefore and they were probably relieved to see a Steenson penalty narrowly miss it's target with eight minutes till the break. The Irish fly half quickly atoned for this as a couple of minutes later and give his side a four point cushion; and despite a cheeky last play restart by the Yorkshireman almost caught them out.

Come the second period and it was almost a carbon copy of the first as Doncaster came out like men possessed. Once again the industry from their forwards and the glimpses of flair in their backs, most visibly from ex Pirate Wes Davies; was met with a brick wall. After eight minutes of huff and puff and nothing to show for it, Woodrow was once again invited to step up and at least salvage another three points. He did and it was back to a point in it, 10-9 in the Pirates favour.

Seemingly now able to absorb everything, the Pirates reached the hour mark with their lead still in tact. Off the pitch the air of belief was growing even if regular checks of the watch were still in order.

Even so there were still some heart stopping moments as Woodrow saw a chance to take the lead go agonisingly close but the wrong side of the left upright. Moore was no doubt relieved having been penalised for tackling off the ball.

Tuohy came on for Koko who'd only moments before exchanged some off ball views with an opponent, and may well have been saved from himself in the process. Things were coming to the boil nicely and it was coming down to who was going to blink first.

Motusaga, who'd been busy since his introduction, was the next to incur the wrath of Sir only three minutes later, and was sent to the sidelines for ten minutes. Woodrow was not so remiss this time, and slotted his fourth penalty to give his side the lead with only fifteen minutes left on the clock.

Changes to personnel began in earnest to prepare for the final onslaught. McAtee came on for Lilo who was nursing a knock to his left ankle but should be pleased with his efforts, particularly in defence but with two strong runs to give insight into what the future may hold.

Rhoddri though looked fresh and was immediately into the fray with a darting run to briefly cause panic in the Knights ranks. The Pirates were now on the front foot and when Doncaster infringed for a seond time for not retreating the full 10 metres and impeding the ball carrier; Steenson's 68th minute kick directly in front of the posts was a formality. 13-12.

And so here we were once more heading into the final ten minutes with a slender lead at Castle Park and everything to play for. De ja vu?

Almost. In the meantime referee, Nick Williams had pulled up with an injury to his left leg to be replaced by one of his touch judges.... meaning he could rest up a bit by hopping up and down the touchline with a flag instead.

Kemp, who'd earlier replaced Elloway at hooker then stepped up to provide the defining moment as he delivered a huge hit on Planchant (or was it Wilson?) who had arrived at the scene of his own accident at pace off the back of a ruck. His reward was to hit the deck as a blue, red and white blur and without any real understanding as to why.

Seconds later and Kemp repeated the medicine on the unfortunate scrum half, Jones who must have wondered what hit him. To see a fired up Cummings who'd come on for Beardshaw, looming above him also would have done little to ease his temporary discomfort; particularly as it was now the Pirates with the ball and going forwards strongly.

The tryline beckoned but some stern counter rucking turned the ball over only 5m out and Doncaster were able to clear their lines, retain possession and subsequently dig in up the opposite end of the pitch.

It was frantic stuff now as the Knights probed menacingly but without a clear pathway to exploit.

Thomas who'd been otherwise rock solid throughout, gave cause for concern with barely five minutes left when he opted to run out of defence instead of kick, only to be bundled into touch still in his half. The resulting lineout was won by the home jumper and set up what proved to be Doncaster's last roll of the dice.

For what seemed an eternity they threw everything they had and from a variety of angles to try and breach the line. Play went first left, then right, then left again and somehow a pile of bodies fell awkwardly over only for the ball to be judged to be held up.

The two sets of forwards were joined by Paver who came on for my revised man of the match, Cook, and they packed down to decide who was going to win not just the 5m attacking scrum, but the match itself.

A roar from the crowd announced the outcome as the Pirates summoned one last effort and turned over their counterparts with devastatingly ruthless efficiency.

Doncaster's demise was completed as the Cornishman marched up the pitch and won a penalty of their own to seal it at 16-12 and leave no way back for their opponents.

Four more points was a just reward in the end for a fine and committed performance that is a real signal that slowly but surely this team is beginning to fire as a unit. Should this materialise further in the coming weeks then the Pirates can expect some exciting times ahead.

Cornish Pirates 16
15 Ollie Thomas 14 Jimmy Moore 13 Vunga Lilo 12 Nick Buckley
11 Ali Koko 10 Gareth Steenson 9 Ed Fairhurst
8 Matt Evans 7 Chris Cracknell 6 Tim Cowley (capt)
5 Joe Beardshaw 4 Heino Senekal
3 Dan Seal 2 Rob Elloway 1 Peter Cook

Replacements:
16 Alan Paver (for Cook 78) 17 Nathan Kemp (for Elloway 49) 18 Iva Motusaga (for Cracknell 27)
19 Bruce Cumming (for Beardshaw 49) 20 Brian Tuohy (for Koko 60) 21 Rhodri McAtee (for Lilo 65)
22 Richard Bolt (un-used)

Tries: Fairhurst
Cons: Steenson
Pens: Steenson 3

Doncaster 12
15 A Carter 14 W Davies 13 J Bishop 12 T Luke 11 D Van Vuuren
10 M Woodrow 9 B Jones
1 S Bunting 2 S Boden 3 N Tau
4 S Tomes 5 G Kenworthy
6 C Planchant 7 S Grainger 8 G Wilson (Capt)

Replacements:
16 J Rawson (for Tau 70) 18 T Davies (for Bunting 63)
19 B Griffiths (for Tomes 70)
17 R List  20 B Hunt  21 D Storey  22 S Soden (un-used)

Pens: Woodrow 4

Attendance 1298