Joint head coach Alan Paver admitted that his Cornish Pirates side ‘threw caution to the wind’ in the final quarter of their remarkable 31-21 win over Coventry.
Trailing 21-11 after a tumultuous opening 40 minutes, in which AJ Cant and the luckless Callum Paterson were forced off injured, the Pirates scored 20 unanswered points in the final 21 minutes to secure a magnificent bonus-point win.
Coventry flew from the traps and tries from Jordan Poole and Josh Barton put the Midlands outfit in command. Tom Channon reduced the arrears before three Tony Fenner ensured the Pirates had plenty to do after the turnaround.
And with the hour mark approaching, it looked like the Mennaye Field outfit had left themselves with too much of a mountain to climb. But an Arwel Robson penalty started the fightback on 59 minutes a converted Matt Bolwell try drew the scores level four minutes later.
The game was then on a knife edge until the final five minutes when Tom Duncan put the Pirates ahead. And the maximum haul of points was secured with the clock reading 80 minutes thanks to Olly Adkins’ first points for the club.
“After looking a bit shaky in the first half we did terrifically well to come out on the right side of the score,” Paver said at full-time. “They were very physical, and we looked a little bit unsettled for long periods, but in the second half we put the handbrake on, turned it around and emerged worthy winners.
“We threw caution to the wind to go for those tries at the end because if we want to accumulate those five points, and it is something we had discussed, the mentality was that we had done so much to get to this point so let’s finish it off – and accumulative pressure did just that.”
[Featured image: Brian Tempest]