Cornish Pirates 32 Coventry 14 - Yog's View
By YOG
December 23 2008
Whilst the score might have looked like dominance over Coventry, not once did Coventry give up, and they always looked dangerous. As someone who saw both matches I would say that the Coventry team that played on Sunday played with no less ambition or skill than the one that lined up against us last September, the difference was the Pirates had definitely moved on.
December 23 2008
Whilst the score might have looked like dominance over Coventry, not once did Coventry give up, and they always looked dangerous. As someone who saw both matches I would say that the Coventry team that played on Sunday played with no less ambition or skill than the one that lined up against us last September, the difference was the Pirates had definitely moved on.
Cornish Pirates 32 Coventry 14
21st December 2008
YOG's View Of the Match
It is acknowledged that the current Pirates squad had a slow start to this season, and took a few games to gel as a team and become the cohesive force we have seen in recent matches. Because of this, Sunday's game was going to prove an interesting marker to how the Pirates have developed from the start of the season, being the first of the return matches.
Certainly it wasn't expected that the Pirates would play anywhere as poorly as they did in the season's opening encounter against Coventry (possibly the worst performance I have seen from any Pirate side in many a season), but at the same time Coventry weren't going to be any push-overs, having not let their off field troubles effect their on field performance, and having put some respectable sides to the sword and run others very close.
Whilst respecting Coventry's team, and the Pirates supporters having many friendly links with the Coventry supporters, there was no doubt that Sunday's game was going to be played with a lot of passion from both sides, with no small hint of it being a bit of a grudge match, with a win being extremely important to both sides.
Going into the game, both teams were very close on points, with a loss for either dropping them into psychological mire of being in the bottom half of the league table, although it was probably the Pirates who had the edge in the motivational stakes, needing to put the dismal earlier encounter behind them once and for all.
Right from the start the Pirates had an opportunity to put points on the board with an attempted penalty kick. Alas, it was not to be Tom Luke's day when it came to kicking for points. However it would be difficult to level too much criticism at Tom for this, because despite showing a willingness to play every single position from full back to prop, Tom isn't really even our third string kicker. With Rhyth Jones still out of the squad, I would normally have expected Simon Whatling or Jimmy Moore to handle the kicking duties, and although both played, it was left to Tom to take on the dubious kicking honour for the first half. Jimmy Moore did take on the kicking duties late in the second half, but even he seemed to be suffering a little kicking rustiness.
Continued on Press Gang Website >>>
Bookmark or share this story with:
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
StumbleuponCornish Pirates 32 Coventry 14 - Yog's View
Posted by: Unofficial Pirates (IP Logged)
Date: 23/12/2008 11:56
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
Re: Cornish Pirates 32 Coventry 14 - Yog's View
Posted by: londonbound (IP Logged)
Date: 23/12/2008 13:54
Yog thanks for the report, nice to see the Press Gang ahead of the club, and the report honest and a good read. Living in Wiltshire, it's easier to go to away games than home, but rely on information to keep us topped up.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:12:23:14:04:16 by whatters.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:12:23:14:04:16 by whatters.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
