That the Cornish Yellowbelly had already kicked through, as another promising attack built down their left flank and into the Notts 22, appeared to matter not. Carnage. But it was the young full back who emerged first; casually brushing himself down as the two outlaws lay in a painful heap.

Play was understandably halted as the midlanders No 8 was attended to the most urgently, whilst Mrs Devlin prepared the sodium for the errant fly half. Happily she didn't need to waste any of her precious commodity on the rogue as, having had a chat with his assistant Mr Jackson; Mr Hall had little option but to point to the naughty chair.

Eggleshaw's fate had to wait a little longer as he eventually and groggily resumed an upright position. Mr Hall; perhaps sensing the back rows' eventual appointment with the meat wagon at half time, opted only to wag his finger.

The gauntlet was clearly being brandished under the hosts' noses. So would they accept?

Already 3-0 to the good at the time, courtesy of Cooks second penalty attempt of the game following some good follow up from his first only moments before; the answer looked to be a resounding yes. And with interest, as both packs puffed out there chests and shared the testosterone as if it had gone out of fashion.

Dave Ward in the meantime helped himself to a couple of tries in the space of four minutes. The second of which was a peach following some Phil Bennett-like sidesteps and footwork from eventual man of the match, Blair Cowan, whose mazey run from his own 10m line took play up towards the Notts 22. Some neat handling from Bentley and Cook in particular finally found the hooker who'd worked up a good head of steam over on the right. 17-0

Notts' penalty count continued to spiral though as they struggled to find any any solutions to this all round onslaught. Prop Du Plessis then allowed the red mist to descend right in front of Sir as his boot firmly connected with Rimmer's head. His version of footwork though ended his afternoon's contribution and may well yet have further repurcussions in front of the suits.

That this wasn't the first such incident isn't in doubt. One such saw Gulliver appear to leave a calling card on Youngs who was less than enamoured, but no less guilty of any skulduggery himself. In fairness, and in the context of modern interpretations of 'use of the feet', he may well should have at least gone off for ten. But this particular example was no worse than the author expected in his own playing days, when visiting various Nottinghamshire mining town clubs such as Worksop, Retford, Mansfield and Ollerton. It came with the territory...usually anywhere within walking distance of a ruck! It always ended with a beer in the clubhouse after.

Centurion Sam Betty would no doubt concur having had to be replaced by Myerscough during this feisty spell with what appeared to be a rib injury.

Things were bubbling nicely then!?

As Nottingham stewed, the Pirates meanwhile simmered nicely towards the targeted bonus point win. More good hands from playmaker Bentley set Davies up for a sweet try in the Club House Corner. Before Cowan secured the extra off the back of a scrum that was only going one way. 29-0.

Deep into injury time though and it was the Kiwi who ill-advisedly upended an opponent with a dangerous tackle that, if his control at the point of impact with the ground hadn't been as measured, could easily have seen him in deeper trouble than the binning he received.

Back on level numerical terms then, and it was Notts who at last joined in with the jollities that were on offer with a good try of their own through Streather. Tonks; who'd earlier skewed his side's only other scoring chance wide of the right upright in the 8th minute; stroked this one across the face of both sticks. Which gave Terence just the opportunity he'd been looking for to bring the half to an end, and perhaps allow the use of some 'interesting' joss sticks in the changing rooms to calm things down a bit. 29-5

At resumption of play it appeared that initially the Pirates had, as the visitors came out with a sense of purpose that had been absent barring Crunchies dot down. The Cornishmen quickly reached for the smelling salts though and held the Notts opening attack up over the line. Much to the consternation of the boisterous and drum happy travelling support in the Club House Corner. I don't blame them, as we've all been there before. Haven't we?

Then to see their 5m scrum turned and the ball cleared did suggest the game was probably up. More so as further threatening probes were dealt with and the minutes ticked by until Cook's second successful penalty on 55 minutes. A surprise in itself that there hadn't been any points added since the break till then.32-5

Tensions noticebaly eased as the result seemed to be beyond doubt now and, as a consequence perhaps, both sides went about their business with some freedom. Boding well we all hoped for some more tries.

Sensing at least a 4 try bonus point for the second time in a week as the losing side; Nottingham duly obliged through a good blind side spot of a gap by scrum half White, who went over in front of his appreciative fans. Tonks at last found his range with perhaps his most difficult kick yet. 32-12.

Cooks third penalty goal five minutes later signalled another two try burst from the Pirates, determined not to miss out on the fun.

With the midlanders now adopting Barbarian like tactics from deep, it was perhaps inevitable that there would be some collatteral damage along the way. And so it was that in the 68th minute they managed to get themselves turned over in their own 22. Devlin, on as a replacement for Winn subsequently benefitted, with his second try of his shortened season to date; over in the left hand corner.

Bentley missed the touchline conversion as his attempt bounced the wrong side of the crossbar. A pity given the intelligent tactical kicking that had preceeded. 40-12

From the restart it was Nottingham's turn of a try as Youngs crashed over the line on the back of some abrasive but effective forwards play. Tonks was by now swicking his hoof blindfold to add the extras. 40-19. But could they get that vital fourth try and emerge at least level on points in the standings?

Sadly for them they couldn't as the hosts enjoyed the final spoils after the other centurion on the day, skipper Cattle; made way for young Doherty.

Pirates hooker Ward was the first to come close to nabbing the 6th try for his side, as he suddenly found himself sprinting from his own half in front of the East Stand. Very much like a certain chap from Exeter had done only two weeks previously. With the whitewash only metres away and his progress being seriously challenged, he ran out of puff and the attack was snuffed out unceremoniously.

Up stepped Cowanman though to round off a good day at mill, as the Pirates set up one final maul no doubt to run down the clock and deny their guests the chance of one final hurrah as well. Urged on by Mr Hall to get a move on as he wanted that post match pasty while it was still hot, the seething mass of red, black n white obeyed impeccably for the final notable action.

Cook blasted his shot through the H and a deserved double had been notched up and hopeful signal the play off intentions from west of the Tamar. On this showing a good account is possible though it will require some more momentum from the next three consecutive home matches to confim this. We must wait and see.

Cornish Pirates 47
15 R. Cook 14 R. McAtee 11 W. Davies
13 M. Ireland 12 S. Winn 10 J. Bentley 9 G. Cattle (capt)
8 B. Cowan 7 S. Betty 6 C. Morgan
5 B. Gulliver 4 L. Collins 3 R. Brits 2 D. Ward 1 C. Rimmer.

Replacements:
16 P. Andrew 17 R. Prosser 18 S. Franklin 19 M. Myerscough 20 R. Labuschagne 21 J. Doherty 22 P. Devlin.

Tries: Ward 2, Cowan 2, Davies, Devlin
Cons: Cook 4
Pens: Cook 3

Nottingham 19
15 A. Savage 14 J. Cobden 11 D. Blake
13 T. Streather 12 G. Tonks 10 D. Marshall 9 D. White
8 P. Eggleshaw 7 L. Sherriff 6 C. Hammond (capt)
5 N. Rouse 4 S. Raven 3 P. Du Plessis 2 T. Youngs 1 M. Parr.

Replacements:
16 J. Barnard 17 N. Fowkes 18 J. Baird 19 I. Nimmo 20 N. Fowkes 21 B. Buxton 22 G. Sammons

Tries: Streather, White, Youngs
Cons: Tonks 2

Referee: Terry Hall (RFU)
Assistants: Richard Kelly & Lloyd Jackson

Attendance 2321

Man of the Match: Blair Cowan

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

Related Articles:

• That There's Some Corner of a Field...
• Notts Pix 6-9-09
• Stirlings Merry Men come Riding through the Glenn