Sedgley Park 27 - 35 Cornish Pirates
Saturday April 4th 2009

YOG's View Of the Trip & Match

It had to be done.

The last away game of the season, the last chance to sample another team's hospitality before the close of the season, the last chance to meet up with some of the exiles before September … it had to be done.

Most people know that the Cornish are passionate about living in Cornwall, but what isn't so well known is that we are also great travellers. It used to be said that you could go to any hard rock mine in the world and find a Cornishman at the bottom of it. In Australia they even have towns dedicated to the early Cornish miner settlers. Add to that list, Captain Bligh (given a bad rep by Hollywood), Richard and John Lander (African explorers), and Samual Wallis (explorer of the Pacific). And now to that list of people with an irresistible need to travel we can add "Janner".

Perhaps not realising the enormity of the task he was taking on, the lad from Camborne started to look for a vessel capable of the journey, and advertised for a crew to sail in her. Despite a few last minute hitches, we took on the last of the crew at Lanivet, and set off with Blazey navigating (when he was awake), and Gaz the Brummy at the wheel.

Good progress was made to Bristol, where a hearty breakfast was had at the Rudgley Arms. It was whilst at the Rudgley that additions to our costumes were fabricated. We had been warned that Sedgley Park were running a charity day in support of breast cancer, and everyone was instructed to turn up wearing something pink, so never failing to surprise, Alan "Marshy" Marsh suddenly produced a pink sheet from thin air, and ably assisted by Maggie Jenkins (OK, Maggie did all the work), set about producing a series of pink bandanas, scarves and sashes, which were immediately donned, and which gained us no end of admires at each stop we made thereafter (I assume they were admiring stares of disbelief).

I have to say that Sedgely Park really outdid themselves with their pink themed charity day. Everything around the ground was pink, even the pitch lines and corner flags, and not least of all the home team kit. Mind you, once the game started we soon found out there was nothing dainty about the shocking-pink clad home fifteen, as a certain Rob Elloway will testify to.

We made Sedgley in good time, and spent the time leading up to the game catching up with other Pirates supporters who had travelled far and wide to get there. But soon it was time for the main reason we were there, the game.

The pre-match interviews in the Rugby Times had the Sedgley coach saying they had been resting their more experienced players for the final three matches. There might have been some kidology in that interview, but given the Pirates on-off form this season, it's understandable that any team desperate for a win might target us, after all, this season we have often struggled to put away supposedly lesser sides, and sometimes we came away second best. Whether it was kidology, or just talking up a good game, there is no doubt that Sedgley came out all guns blazing.

For a team with nothing to gain (except pride), Sedgley never took a step backwards for the entire eighty minutes. Not only did they start at a blistering pace, they amazingly kept it up till the final whistle. I have seen many fully professional teams this season that couldn't maintain the pace that Sedgley maintained on Saturday. Whilst Sedgley's first try benefitted a little from the lucky bounce of the ball, the main reason behind the try was their ability to start the game running, and willingness to keep running until they were over the Pirate line. If the Pirates thought they could ease into the game and gradually get up to speed, then they were going to have to rapidly re-think, because the opposition had other ideas.

Luckily the Pirates were stung into action, and began answering the Sedgley challenge with scores of their own. However the Pirates didn't have it all their own way for the remainder of the first half. Indeed the rest of the first half began to resemble a board game, where each side would take it in turns, sometimes scoring sometimes not.

Despite the match not being a "classic" or "great" game, it was (in my opinion) an interesting game, and well worth the entry fee. With all respect to Sedgley, they didn't have many stand out players (sometimes teams will have real danger men, that make you quake every time they get the ball), but what they did have was a team that played for each other with speed and passion.

Against them was a team of talented individuals, who also played with a lot of passion, but still found it hard to play as a team at times. It might sound strange to say that at this late stage we were struggling to play as a team, but without wanting to be too harsh, I believe it was mainly down to a couple players. Even then it wasn't down to lack of effort on behalf of these players, rather a weakness in their respective games. There is no doubt that Sedgley Park gave us a lesson in tactical kicking.

Whenever Sedgley kicked on, it was as far as it could be, but never further than their chasers could reach in time, putting pressure on whoever we had catching, whereas we continually kicked on at a distance way past where our chasers could reach in time, which gave Sedgley time to counter and constantly put us under pressure, meaning the team were having to work a lot harder than they needed to.

Our other glaring weakness was defence on the wing, where a certain player got ran past at least twice, with at least one occasion resulting in a try. I don't want to name names, but I will just say that both Rhodri and Adryan had their usual good games, as did Brian Tuohy when he ventured out onto the wing in the second half.

The second half started much better for the Pirates, with them able to better exert themselves against the home team. The Pirates better second half performance certainly wasn't anything to do with a wilting Sedgley, as they were still refusing to slow down their manic pace, rather it seemed that the Pirates had finally taken stock of themselves, and were at last beginning to play smart, and not just react to the opposition. Now they were beginning to play with the mental effort to match the physical effort that they had shown previously, and in response the score reflected this, with more and more points being added to the visitor total. Job done ? Not quite. As said, Sedgley never took a backward step, and never slackened in their pace or belief, and deservedly scored two more tries in that time.

As a team, the Pirates could have done better, but individually there were a lot of very good Pirate performances on Saturday, especially the forwards who all had good games, and if they didn't dominate in the scrum, they were the group of players most likely to cause problems for the home team. Rob Elloway had a good game until one of his old friends, (who now plays for Sedgley) decided to over enthusiastically say hello to Rob, who responded by presenting his own calling card, before the pair were asked to leave the pitch together.

If it were up to me I would name two men of the match for the Pirates. The first would be Rhodri McAtee, who was his normal busy self all match, and who single headedly prevented a Sedgley try. The try looked so certain that everyone believed it was a formality to finish, and I know at least one person who missed the conclusion, because a certain Welsh Wizard never gave up, and after an amazing sprint managed to disrupt the Sedgley player in the act of dotting down.

My other man of the match would be Heino Senekal . Although he ended last season in very impressive form, and started this season in the same fashion, as the season has gone on it has looked as though Heino's body hasn't been able to quite live up to the passion he so obviously feels. I can only imagine what punishment his body has absorbed in service of the Pirates over the years, but in the last couple of months it looked as though all that bruising punishment was beginning to catch up with him ….. but not on Saturday.

On Saturday Heino played probably his best game all season, he hit hard, he got hit hard, he ran, he off-loaded, he scored. I know a few people who hope the old war horse has another season left in him.

The post match atmosphere was quite pleasant, as both sets of supporters had got something out of the match. The Pirates had five points after the three previous losses, the Sedgley supporters had seen their team play with passion and end with a flourish.

It was whilst I was walking around the ground after the match that it struck me how unfair the restructuring of the league was going to be, and how much of a loss certain teams were going to be to next year's Championship. Sedgley Park is a great ground, a really nice clubhouse, a team that plays with passion and really friendly supporters that have a great deal of pride in their team. And they aren't the only team that has similar qualities that will be casualties of next season's RFU experiment. Newbury, Moseley, and possibly Esher or Rotherham are all great friendly clubs that will be sorely missed if they get dropped. I just hope that with these proud clubs being asked to make such great sacrifices next year, the RFU realise what a massive obligation they have to make the new Championship succeed. Time will tell.

The following day's journey back to Cornwall could probably best be described as "leisurely". Whilst it had only taken us seven hours or so to reach Manchester the day before, (including a couple longish stops), the return journey was more like ten hours.

Plymouth next.

Often with local derby's the games seldom live up to expectation, as both teams are often too afraid of losing to play exciting rugby. However, Plymouth will be very aware of how close they are to the relegation zone, so I expect them to come out all guns blazing. If the Pirates can take their lead from the home crowd, next week should be an absolute belter of a match, and certainly not one to be missed.

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