Cornish Pirates beat Chinnor to stay perfect at home

Cornish Pirates kept up their perfect home record as they beat Chinnor 48-24 in the Champ.

Pirates ran in seven tries as they recorded a third win from five games overall to move up to sixth place in the table.

Four tries came in the final 17 minutes of the second half as the hosts pulled away from their opponents after a “flat” 38-14 loss at Bedford last week.

“I’m really pleased,” joint-head coach Gavin Cattle told BBC Radio Cornwall.

“That second half showed some maturity in terms of game control, obviously boxed quite high up the pitch, stayed in the battle despite a tricky wind and we played at the right time, we pulled the trigger at the right time.

“I think the disappointing thing from last week was not getting our backs on the ball, we missed a couple of opportunities in the first half, one in particular.

“So we’re learning, we’re progressing, trying to build that cohesion I keep talking about, because we have had a few changes.”

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Prop Alessandro Heaney scored a try in each half for Cornish Pirates [Harry Trump/Cornish Pirates]

Having gone 7-0 down early on, Pirates came back as Alessandro Heaney’s try, plus two in two minutes from Henry Palmer, put the hosts 19-7 up six minutes from half-time.

Alun Walker’s try cut the gap to 19-14 at the break and the Chinnor forward gave his side the lead early in the second half.

But the hosts came back again as Heaney scored his second try in the 63rd minute before Hugh Bokenham, Will Becconsall and debutant Charlie Poynton crossed in a seven-minute spell to secure the victory.

“It’s been a real tough block [of fixtures] and I think what we’re trying to get to grips with is that consistency of performance,” added Cattle.

“But we’ve talked about this block of five games, about setting the tone and I think we have set the tone that we can be competitive with the top teams, we can play a decent brand of rugby.

“I think the work on for us is the proving ground away, proving ourselves in the away games.

“That will now come with time and obviously we’ve got the likes of Chester Ribbons, Joe Elderkin, Angus Mawson to come back in the back-line, Steele Barker in four to six weeks, so [for the] boys who are getting exposure now it’s just building strength in depth as well.”