THE Pirates played with considerable spirit against a good Coventry side, but had to settle for a bonus-point in the East Midlands.

Having lost their last four outings, joint head coaches Gavin Cattle and Alan Paver selected a new centre partnership as Zack Wimbush and Harry Yates got the nod. Matty Ward was also given a starting place on the wing, while in the forwards, Alessandro Heaney started at loose-head prop, Sol Moody at hooker, and Tomi Agbongbon at No.8. replacement prop Billy Young proudly made his 50th appearance for the club in the second half.

On a damp afternoon and in front of a big home crowd at the Butts Park Arena, Coventry opened their account inside two minutes as captain Jordan Poole popped a pass to flanker Allan Ferrie to run in to score a try at the posts which was duly converted by fly-half Josh Thomas.

The Pirates looked to bring the power of Wimbush and Yates into play and dents were made into the home team’s defence, but it was ‘Cov’ who threatened next through wing Ewan Baker and second-row forward Senitiki Nayalo, and they then soon extended their lead thanks to Thomas’ penalty.

The Pirates were 10 points down in less than 10 minutes, and conceded again when former Connacht wing and Ireland 7s player Peter Sullivan crossed for an unconverted score.

One bit of promise for the Cornish side was their scrum, and after wing Matty Ward made good yardage, it was alert skipper Dan Hiscocks who took advantage of space to score his 10th try of the season.

From the restart, wing Arthur Relton, back-rower Tomi Agbongbon, and lock Charlie Rice were to the fore, and there was a superbly judged 50/22 kicked by fly-half Arwel Robson. To their credit the Pirates suddenly looked a different side, and after further fine play from Rice and hooker Sol Moody it was flanker Josh King’s converted try that reduced the deficit to just three points.

Two setbacks followed for the visitors as flanker Rory Suttor was yellow-carded, enabling the Midlanders to take advantage through their Spanish-born prop Aristot Benz-Salomon who forced his way over near the posts. Then, after Suttor’s return, the Pirates were soon one short in personnel again after Rice was directed to the sin-bin.

Coventry centre Dafydd-Rhys Tiueti, son of former Tongan international Dave Tiueti, carried with determination before Nayalo, their outstanding Fijian, scored a converted bonus-point-providing fourth try to the right of the posts, which made it 27-12 at the break.

With the floodlights on in the early minutes of the second period, play was a bit scrappy at times. Pirates’ prop Alfie Petch was enjoying the physicality though and, after Rice returned to the fray, it was Ward who intercepted and scored a converted try in the left corner.

The advantage was quickly cancelled out, however, as Ferrie proceeded to score his second try of the afternoon.

Tension would mount as the clock ticked on, and especially so after Rice was identified as the scorer of the Pirates important fourth try, which guaranteed them at least one bonus-point. Replacement Louie Sinclair’s conversion made it 34-26, and there was hope of further reward if the Pirates could score again.

The effort was there, but such thoughts were dashed at the very end after Coventry replacement Api Bavadra gathered the ball and started an attack which led to Baker scoring a converted try.

COVENTRY: 15 Tom Bacon, 14 Ewan Baker, 13 Morgan Adderly-Jones, 12 Dafydd-Rhys Tiueti, 11 Peter Sullivan; 10 Josh Thomas, 9 Sam Maunder; 1 Aristot Benz-Salomon, 2 Jordon Poole (captain), 3 Matt Johnson; 4 Dan Green, 5 Senitiki Nayalo; 6 Allan Ferrie, 7 Tom Ball, 8 Morgan Strong. Replacements (all used): 16 Murray Davidson, 17 Keston Lines, 18 Mikey Summerfield, 19 Jack Shine, 20 Api Bavadra, 21 Tom Miles, 22 Tommy Mathews, 23 David Opoki-Fordjour.

CORNISH PIRATES: 15 Iwan Price-Thomas, 14 Arthur Relton, 13 Zack Wimbush, 12 Harry Yates, 11 Matty Ward; 10 Arwel Robson, 9 Dan Hiscocks (capt); 1 Alessandro Heaney, 2 Sol Moody, 3 Alfie Petch; 4 Charlie Rice, 5 Alfie Bell; 6 Rory Suttor, 7 Josh King, 8 Tomi Agbongbon. Replacements used: 17 Billy Young, 18 Ollie Andrews, 19 Milo Hallam, 20 Luke Ratcliff, 22 Louie Sinclair, 23 Joe Elderkin. Not used: 16 Matt Pritchard, 21 Will Rigelsford.

Tries: Hiscocks, King, Ward, Rice; Convs: Robson (2), Sinclair; Pens: N/A.