THE Cornish Pirates returned to winning ways in emphatic fashion in the Champ on Sunday, much to the delight of joint head coach Gavin Cattle, as they swept aside London Scottish with a dominant display at Camborne’s Recreation Ground

A week on from a bruising 44–12 defeat away to Doncaster Knights, the Pirates responded in style, producing one of their most complete performances of the season to get their season back on track.

Forced to stage their second successive home match at The Rec because of storm damage at the Mennaye Field, the Pirates again made the most of familiar surroundings, repaying their hosts with an entertaining, high-tempo display.

“It wasn’t a lot of defence for us for a change,” said Cattle. We had a lot of possession, which is quite nice to see. This team’s learning how to play this pitch, I felt we did it better than we did when we played against Ampthill last time.

“We looked to run it out a little more, get a bit more elevation up the hill, and we kept momentum. and I think we managed possession well because, as you know, in the first half we had a lot of territory, it’s hard to get out of that 22 then.”

The Pirates made several changes for the clash, handing starts to a number of younger players. Among them was Angus Mawson, who made his first start at full-back, alongside fly-half Louie Sinclair, wing Ben Cambriani and flanker Luke Ratcliff.

The tone was set early. After strong scrum work in the clubhouse corner, the Pirates moved the ball sharply across the pitch and Mawson hit the line at pace to score on debut, Sinclair adding the conversion. The home side continued to dominate, and lock Josh King powered over for a second converted try after relentless pressure.

With their driving game firing once again, hooker Sol Moody resumed his try-scoring habit. Having crossed four times against Ampthill a fortnight earlier, Moody added another three to his tally, including the bonus-point try, as the Pirates raced into a 31–0 half-time lead.

Scottish showed occasional flashes, with former Wales international Will Talbot-Davies and skipper Matt Wilkinson offering brief resistance, but breaking down the Pirates’ structure proved a near-impossible task.

The second half was more fractured. Scottish lost fly-half Fraser Honey to injury, while the Pirates were reduced to 14 men when Ratcliff was sin-binned. Former Glasgow centre Robbie McCallum took advantage to score the visitors’ first try, converted by Harry Sheppard.

However, the Pirates quickly reasserted control. Replacement Rory Suttor crossed following sustained pressure, before skipper Alex Everett powered through to set up the final converted try. Scottish had the last word through Tom Marshall, but it did little to dampen the Pirates’ satisfaction.

Cattle added: “Our scrum was strong, our maul very effective and we’re improving at line-out time. Louie Sinclair showed what a good young prospect he is, Angus Mawson looked comfortable at the back, and Sol Moody was once again in fine try-scoring form.”