Cornish Pirates 55 Otley 13
Saturday Jauary 3rd 2009

YOG's View Of the Match

I must admit that I wasn't over confident going into Saturday's match. I was confident of a win, but what was really needed was a good solid five point win in order to buoy the team and fans alike after a disappointing trip to Exeter the previous week. And a five point win wasn't just important for moral. With so many of the teams in Nat-1 so close together, dropping a single point becomes extremely dangerous. Balanced against this win necessity is the reality that the Pirates have been hit heavily with injuries in recent weeks, with no less than nine players sidelined who could reasonably expect to walk straight into the Pirates starting fifteen if they were fit.

As the doorman on hospitality put it, those in hospitality were getting their money's worth, with so many of the Pirates stars available to meet and greet. And not to forget the fight Otley put up in their very narrow loss to the Pirates last September. Whilst it could be argued that much of the Pirates squad were still attempting to gel as a unit back then, it can't be denied that Otley played with a lot of passion, were smart enough to disrupt the game whenever they could, and came within inches of winning the game themselves.

And then the game started, and soon my concerns seemed to gain substance. Firstly the Pirates passing for the first quarter of the game was truly shocking. The entire team seemed incapable of either passing the ball or catching it without knocking on. Although when Otley went 0-7 up, it only seemed like a small blip, because despite the poor passing, the Pirates seemed to be having the better possession and run of the game. However, the real worry started when two Pirates were carded for fighting, Dan Seal on a red and Nicky Griffiths on a yellow.

For the next ten minutes we would be playing 13 men against 15, and for the rest of the game it would be at best 14 against 15. Surely Otley would be able to take advantage of this, firstly by pulling further ahead, and then stifling any Pirate fight back ? Unfortunately for Otley the sendings off seemed to reinvigorate the Pirates, and bring them together in a way they hadn't been up until then. To be sure it was a very tense ten minutes until we were "back up to strength", but once that period was over the Pirates were able to step up a gear and kept their foot on the gas for the rest of the game.

Like in the earlier encounter this season, Otley were a feisty bunch, both on the pitch and on the bench. Whilst there was no doubt that their general lack of tackling ability proved to be their Achilles heal, their tactical kicking was superb, finding long distance kicks to touch or kicking behind the Pirates when they couldn't find a way through the Pirates defence. As you would expect from a team from up North, they had heart and pride by the bucket load, and it wasn't until the last quarter, when the score was massively against them, that their heads seem to drop, and the bench at last went quiet.

Continued on Press Gang Website >>>

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