A National One record crowd of a little under 12,900 were present to witness the Pirates lead out onto the pitch by captain Tim Cowley, and his bodyguards; the Scurvy Rascals. So focussed was the Kiwi and his troops that this duty almost passed him by, so eager were he and they to get on with job in hand. Understandable in the circumstances but remedied in the nick of time and so making the lads' day beyond any doubt; judging by the grins on their faces.

A penalty to Saints almost directly from the Pirates own kick off come to nothing as Everitts kick missed touch, allowing Steenson to clear his lines and get the visitors on the offensive from the get go.

An air of confidence soon grew as Northampton's first lineout then went arwy, and the Pirates were awarded a scrum on halfway. Promisingly the Cornish side were able to build on these early successes and put more pressure on their more illustrious hosts, most notably a suicidal pass from Reihana which almost gifted Cowley a try in the corner.

Two penalty chances from Steenson did though go begging, and this briefly looked costly as Saints only real foray into Pirates territory in the first quarter saw Everitt open the scoring with a kick of his own on 15 minutes.

The reposte to this setback was perfect though and gave the travelling band of around a thousand (in all) fans some real cause for celabration and an excuse to exercise their vocal chords. From the restart, the Saints attempted to break out of their half in the face of a flood of white shirted opponents. They were able to make some ground before Reihana amazingly gifted another overly ambitious pass into the welcoming grasp of Vunga Lilo.

The Tongans 50m run to the line was a formality as with such a head start and turn of pace, no one was going to catch him. Steenson's kick from in front of the posts now gave the scoreline a truer reflection of proceedings to date; early doors or no - 7-3.

There was a real spring in the Pirates step now and a clear desire to press home such an impressive start. The Saints in contrast were clearly rattled and seemed unable to prevent Fairhurst from being able to distribute such quick ball to his willing compadres.

Then came Mr Wilson's ankle injury as the second quarter beckoned, and the bewilderingly long delay of almost ten minutes that ensued. Coaches and players hung around wondering what on earth was happening as no-one seemed quite prepared to commit to a resumption. The scene resembled a work place fire drill, the only surprise being that no-one had a pack of cards handy to break the ice.

It was only when the imposing figure of Dorian West rumbled down the tunnel to enquire as to whether anyone would like to oversee a long since forgotten rugby match, that at last a replacement ref was found. The new incumbant being Greg Garner, now relinquished of his touch judge duties. An end it seemed to a Farcical situation more in keeping with a Brian Rix production...well almost. More on that later.

Such situations are never welcome in a sporting sense as momentum can be lost, and any advantage held by one or other team can evapourate. The flip side is that it can work both ways and give valuable time for a struggling side to regroup. There was real concern then in the Pirates camp that such an evantuality could emerge and undermine all the good work hitherto put in.

As it materialised these fears were justified as it was the Saints who came out of the blocks fastest and were able at last to feed the ball out to their deadly backline with some purpose. With Northampton now looked menacing for the first time in the match, the likes of Ashton & Diggin* were at last able to flex their guile and speed.

The first Saints try then by Spencer wide out on the right had an inevitable feel to it, following a slick sequence of play that even a resolute Pirates defence could do little to repel. Everitt's kick for the extras fell short of it's target though, but at least his side had now restored their earlier lead by a solitary point.

This breakthrough inspired the Saints to become more ambitious, and the Pirates were now being tested from all angles defensively. To their credit the barricades were manned with a level of vigour that the Saints have unlikely to have faced too often since their arrival in ND1. Cowley lead by example and was ably supported from all quarters, notably Senekal whose ball carrying out of defence rarely failed to cross the gain line and provide valuable breathing space.

But more points were to follow as Everitt found his feet once more with a penalty, before scuffing them once again when attempting to convert Diggins' try as half time approached.

Finally Mr Garner called a halt and at last breath could be drawn on what had developed into a full on contest. At 16-7 in the home side's favour though, two questions stood out regarding the final outcome. Would Saints now run away with things, or could the Westcountryman recover lost ground and take the game back to the Jimmies?

During the interval Seal replaced Heard no doubt with a view to improve the scrum which had lost some of it's edge as the first period progressed ever alarmingly towards Sunday.

The Saints started the brighter of the two teams, but the Pirates defence was holding firm and looked ever likely of surviving this early onslaught. Another missed penalty kick from Everitt on fifty then appeared to have let the Pirates off the hook and breathed life back into their own ambitions.

Possession though, or rather the lack of it in Pirates terms was to be a deciding factor. Attacking options became limited as the Saints stifled any Cornish progress and accordingly created a more dis-jointed affair. Even so there moments of hope and it was only a last gasp tackle from Shields putting Lilo into touch that prevented the winger from another clear run to the line. Ashton only then able to catch up with his opposite number would have been wiser to keep his less than complimetary comments to himself!

Time of course was ticking by and it was time for more of the dice to be rolled in an effort to turn things around for the visitors. Motusaga came on for the ever dependable Cracknell while from the opposite bench Johnny Howard came on for Ian Vass.

Steenson meanwhile was handed the opportunity to reduce the gap as Mark Ireland received treatment to a knock sustained in a fierce clash midfield. Gareth duly slotted the 3 points but this lifeline was cancelled out two minutes later as Everitt did similar to restore the nine point lead.

The writing was now well and truly on the wall but there was still some excellent defence from the Pirates that prevented a certain try in the corner. The next Northampton thrust was equaly repelled and turned over for the chance to clear the lines once more.

Efforts to at least get into losing bonus point territory began to bear fruits as the Pirates gained ground more consistently. Their probes though ultimately came to nothing as the Saints had the necessary answers when needed.

Moving into the last ten minutes and the Farce returned as Mr Garner referred back to the Rix-type Script by failing to respond to some un-necessarily cynical play from the hosts as the Pirates sought a consolation score.

Saintly attempts to finish the game off had hit the usual Pirate Brick Wall and culminated with the Pirates destroying a Saints scrum and earning a turnover via a penalty. Play moved swiftly up field with Paver chipping in with his customary jinky run to put the Pirates in a strong position. Ultimately it came to nothing and play headed back into the Pirates half once more.

As the attack moved over to the left, Fairhurst's leap to catch a loose ball saw his return to terra firma certainly appear to be hindered. With the ball now loose once more Moore's attempt to get within the vicinity of said item also had an air of iffiness. His persistance though under the circumstances did enough to force Howard to put his outside peg into touch......

The touch judges flag remained dormant though as play was waved on allowing Howard to continue on his merry way to hammer the final nail into the Pirates' coffin. The conversion created an un-assailable 16 point lead but also a fiery finish as the injustice in Pirate eyes reared up.

Still striving for more points the Cornishman launched into one final effort for respectability. Progress had been pinned back when the fuse was finally lit. Exactly what it was over will remain on the pitch although Spencers attempts to spark another sub-bout as the Officials tried to decide on what had happened were met with the disdain it deserved.

Bearing in mind the ferocity this contra-temps had produced it was a surprise that no-one was asked to wander over to the Churches Stand for the duration. But Sir knew best.

Moments later and Ashton was doing just that for ...... taking Steenson out minus the ball for the second time??!!

Ho-hum. That's the way the cookie crumbles some will say, but it gave a slightly tainted view of the scoreline even if the result was, come the final whistle; a fair reflection overall.

Sets up an interesting Cup Tie though and judging by post match discussions in amongst 40-somethings reliving their youth to Ska Trek in the Rodber, who'd argue against that?

Cornish Pirates 10
15 A. Winnan 14 V. Lilo 13 M. Ireland 12 S. Winn 11 B. Tuohy
10 G. Steenson 9 E. Fairhurst
8 Matt Evans 7 C. Cracknell 6 T. Cowley (capt)
5 B. Cumming 4 H. Senekal 3 S. Heard 2 N. Kemp 1 A. Paver

Replacements:
16 D. Seal, 17 R. Elloway, 18 S. Hobson, 19 I. Motusaga
20 P. Devlin 21 J. Moore, 22 O. Thomas

Try: Lilo
Con: Steenson
Pen: Steenson

Northampton 26
15 Carlos Spencer 14 Chris Ashton 13 Bruce Reihana 12 Jon Clarke 11 Paul Diggin
10 Barry Everitt 9 Ian Vass
8 Mark Hopley 7 Darren Fox 6 Paul Tupai
5 Alex Rae 4 Matt Lord 3 Barry Stewart 2 Paul Shields 1 Tom Smith

Replacements:
16 Dylan Hartley 17 Soane Tonga'uiha 18 Christian Short 19 Mark Easter
20 Johnny Howard 21 Stephen Myler 22 Neil Starling

Tries: Spencer, Diggin, Howard
Cons: Everitt
Pens: Everitt 3

Attendance 12868

*Originally published as Myler whom the author knew was on the bench, and not as published in the programme at 10. Somehow, brain fade, a particularly dark and bumpy journey back on the A43-6121-15 on Saturday evening and a not too liberal amount of falling down water contributed to this oversight. In order to satisfy the blood lust of some I have summarily orderd myself to fall on my own sword until I realise the error of my ways...