CORNISH PIRATES 3 vs. 15 NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

Saturday, 12^th January, 2008 - 2PM

Having stopped for fuel I noticed the screen had frozen and became suspicious of it, but still followed it even though the woman who normally gives the instructions had stopped talking to me. I continually tried to reset it and eventually reset it to its default setting, which sadly for us is to navigate Belgium.

On arrival in Narnia, which turned out to be a freak snowstorm with abandoned vehicles, gritters and all near Cirencester, we gave up and resorted to more rudimentary technology, a map in the back of a pocket diary and headed for the M5.

Having stopped again the Sat Nav decided, for no apparent reason, that it would once again co-operate and guide us to the ground. Having had snow, we then had rain, sun, rainbows, 4 Seasons in One Day as Crowded house might say.

We still arrived in good time and in the ground we met my friend Graham Barrow who is travelling everywhere by train this year. He told his story, I told mine. It was like Michael Palin meets Jeremy Clarkson. In the beer tent there was a Cornish Pirates fan who had a 1943 gas attack rattle, the sort which football fans used to take to games, but if they did so now would result in about three months for possessing an offensive weapon.

Then it started to rain and the wind to blow and this weather persisted for pretty much the rest of the day.

A bit nervous ready, to do my first report I took my seat in the temporary stand, which thankfully was covered but it was still difficult to keep my notepad dry. I noticed a corner of the pitch looked similar to one I had seen in another part of Cornwall only a few weeks ago which was a bit worrying. I had expected a baptism of fire but got one by water and lots of it. My seat was just inside the 22 at the upwind end of the ground which meant that most of the action was at the opposite end to me. 

The players came out and the two Pirates mascots had woolly hats on. They clearly didn't want to savour the moment in this weather and ran off as fast as they came on. Leaving only Captain Benbow, a strange looking mascot out there. He did not look like Capt. Jack Sparrow and the fact my hands were turning blue was another reminder it was Pirates of Cornwall not Pirates of the Caribbean we were playing. 

The game kicked off with Saints having the very strong wind at their backs Carlos had moved to fly half and Myler was playing full back.

As expected it was clear that this was going to be something of a war of attrition with the backs present pretty much for defensive purposes only.  

In the early exchanges Saints had the upper hand in the scrum and territorially. The first penalty Saints were awarded was kicked to the corner but the throw was lost.  In the 9th minute Saints were awarded another penalty for a Pirate coming in from the side. Stephen Myler went for goal this time from almost in front of the posts from about 40m. The kick was straight and the wind did the rest.

From the restart Pirates gathered and commenced one of the many rolling mauls we would see, until finally knocking on. From the resulting scrum Saints kicked their way back into the Pirates half and won the ball about 30 metres out. Mark Hopley ran from the back of the maul, spotting a gap and going for it. He made good ground but was tackled, it looked like about 10 metres short of the line. Then, tackled and tackler slid and slid and slid until both finally arrived at the try line. The referee arrived sometime later and the try was awarded. The conversion was missed so after 13 minutes it was 8 nil to Saints.

There then followed another period of forward play with Saints enjoying good field position. After 24 minutes the 2nd try arrived another break from a maul saw the ball find Ashton whose ball juggling and pace seemed to confuse the defenders he then threw a lovely inside pass to James Downey who touched down beside the posts. The conversion was made and the lead extended to 15 nil.

Euan Murray, who was enjoying a very successful day in the scrum, was by now replaced by Barry Stewart who appeared to be equally successful. Pirates were now employing a pick and drive strategy, which did not prove very effective as ground appeared to be lost every time they did it. Saints won the ball but Carlos kicked the ball dead from his own half. Pirates used this advantage well and were awarded a penalty for a Saints player tackling an opponent without the ball. It was to the right of the posts, 38 metres out, into the teeth of a gale. Steenson struck it superbly and reduced the arrears to 15-3.

Saints spent much of the remainder of the half on the attack but were penalised on a couple of occasions for holding on. On 38 minutes however, Cowley the Pirates captain, number 8 and in my view their best player went off injured and nearly all their go forward went with him. The half-time whistle was blown and many of us feared that with the wind, now to be at the Pirates backs, the lead might not be sufficient.

The teams came back out. Saints in a new set of pristine shirts, Pirates in ones of a different design to those they had worn in the first half and already muddy. We need not have worried about the score because as Jose Mourinho would say, Saints parked the bus in front of the goal line.

The initial tactic from Pirates was to kick for territory. After 7 minutes Steenson attempted a penalty from his own half which failed to reach. It must have been clear that a kicker of Steensons ability would punish any indiscretions from almost anywhere, so great credit must be given to Saints discipline as no further kickable penalties were given away until such time as 3 points were no longer enough. When the penalties failed to materialise Pirates tested the backs under the high ball and although this gained some success, Chris Ashton dropping a couple of times. due mainly to the conditions, Pirates could create nothing from the resulting scrums. There was a degree of frustration creeping into the Pirates game and their support, as twice in quick succession, in attempts to kick for touch from their own half, the ball was kicked dead, just as Carlos had done in the first half. One of these led to a Saints kick at goal but from 23m to the right of the post the kick from Myler was taken wide by the wind.

This was pretty much the last time the Saints ventured into the Pirates half. The final 20 minutes can best be described as backs to the wall stuff. Pirates were picking and driving or mauling and were often pushed back or turned over. The ball would then be kicked by the Saints to about the halfway line and the whole thing would start all over again. With ten minutes to go Saints sent on Robinson and Easter for Howard and Hopley and spent the next 5 minutes defending their own line brilliantly, there was a bit of handbags for which the usual suspect, Mr. Tupai, was spoken to. Eventually Saints were awarded a penalty for Pirates handling on the ground. Sadly the resultant lineout was lost and it was back to goal line defence, a series of penalties were awarded to Pirates and Barry Stewart was yellow carded.

Pirates needing two tries and time running out continued to batter away but even with depleted numbers there was no way through.

We looked at the scoreboard, which didn't actually show the scores but had a clock which had apparently stopped some of the time when the referee had called time off and not others. Perhaps technologically related to my sat nav. The clock eventually got to 43 minutes when Saints again broke out and the ball was kicked to touch. The final whistle went to end a scoreless 2nd half and saints were through to the next round.

The rain had not abated and so we got soaked walking back to the car and adjourning to a hostelry to dry out before returning home on Sunday.

 Photos Courtesy Simon Robinson (very damp)

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