CORNISH Pirates joint head coach Gavin Cattle admitted it felt like the rugby gods were smiling on his side after they edged out Nottingham 35-34 in a nail-biting contest at the Mennaye Field, writes Phil Westren.

In a match packed with drama and momentum swings, the Pirates held their nerve in the dying moments to secure a crucial victory – a result that ensured a fourth-place finish in the Championship and capped off a spirited campaign in fitting fashion.

“If we’re honest, we probably didn’t deserve that one, I think the rugby gods were on our side today,” said Cattle, whose side trailed 27-14 following a free-scoring first period.

“First half, second half, it was like night and day, we had a bit more energy about us after the break. We looked a bit too pretty first half by playing a bit of structured stuff, rather than going back to the fundamentals of winning collisions and winning the one-on-ones. We said half-time, rather than look for a perfect picture, let’s take people on one-on-one and things will happen.”

Having arrived in the Duchy brimming with confidence following victory over Hartpury the previous week, it didn’t take the visitors long to settle into their attacking stride, the Archers storming into an early lead thanks to tries from Harry Graham and David Williams.

Up against it, the Pirates needed to summon a response of sorts which, to their credit they did, hooker Matt Pritchard stretching out to score the try, which was converted by Bruce Houston.

Home cheers, though, proved short-lived as almost immediately the visitors were back into their attacking groove, full-back Ryan Olowofela showing a clean pair of heels as glided in for a third score, before then setting up a second for Williams with just over a quarter of the game played.

The fact that all four tries went unconverted would prove telling, particularly as the Pirates hit back with a converted score from Chester Ribbons, before Olowofela turned provider again, this time for lock Jay Ecclesfield to stride over.

It would get no easier for the Pirates after the break, Nottingham extending their lead further when Graham and Will Yarnell combined to send No.8 James Cherry over for a sixth score.

Adrift by 20 points, the Pirates turned to their bench in a bid to reignite some life into their game plan. It was a tactic which would have rich rewards, Milo Hallam powering over from close range.

Man of the match, Harry Yates, then got in on the act claiming the home side’s all-important bonus point score and all of a sudden the momentum was suddenly with the Pirates, who had further reason to cheer when Hocking crashed over minutes later for a decisive score, converted by Houston who was impressive on his final outing for the club.

Even then, the drama was far from done, the visitors seeing two late penalty attempts both fail to hit the mark.

CORNISH PIRATES: Will Trewin; Harry Yates, Chester Ribbons, Joe Elderkin (Robin Wedlake, 47), Matt McNab; Bruce Houston, Dan Hiscocks; Billy Young (Jenson Boughton, 68), Matt Pritchard (Harry Hocking, 45), Tyler Gendall (Darragh McSweeney, 55); Charlie Rice, Josh King; Fintan Coleman (Milo Hallam, 45), Jack Forsythe (Tomi Agbongbon, 37), Alex Everett (capt).