By
Dick Struaghan
As Dicky Evans stood before the Camborne
crowd, microphone in hand, after the final game of the season against London Welsh
he described the Pirates season as having been a "Curate`s egg". He
was not kidding. The eight months of rugby preceding his speech had been nothing
else
After thirty one league and cup games a return of fifth
place in the table, a whopping forty nine points behind the champions, and with
only two thirds of the matches won hardly represents the form of an aspirational
Premiership side.
It all started so brightly for the Pirates
who, buoyed by a memorable pre-season performance against Leicester Tigers headed
up to Polson Bridge for the curtain-raiser on September 1st. In truth the match
posed more questions for then Head Coach Jim McKay than it answered but a win
was a win and there were much bigger fish to fry as Northampton Saints came to
town just one week later. In front of a crowd of almost 6,500 the Pirates season
was defined in the ten minutes after the interval as Saints upped their game and
the home side let slip a 19-10 lead, going down in the end 26-35 despite late
heroics from Tim Cowley.
This inability to push home and
advantage against the better teams in the league was to haunt the Pirates throughout
the campaign whilst the teams they were expected to beat caused problems every
time concentration levels dropped. The last gasp win at Coventry was an abject
performance and the shipping of twenty points at home to Pertemps Bees coupled
with four tries conceded at Newbury was a concern. When the team did front up
against Exeter Chiefs at Camborne in early October they won a pulsating contest
30-23 courtesy of Jimmy Moore`s try on the last play of the match but the cracks
were merely being papered over as a greatly revamped squad struggled to gel, a
trio of loan signings from Newcastle failed to spark, and Simon Whatling and then
Joe Beardshaw were lost to season-long injuries.
October
may have begun on a high but attacking flair became a casualty of the Pirates
desire to win as the season unfolded. The worrying lack of tries and with it bonus
points meant that the team was rapidly losing ground on their close rivals in
the league. The chronic under-employment of Rhodri McAtee and Jimmy Moore began
to vex the supporters and just six months after leading his team to Twickenham
glory, Jim McKay found his choice of tactics under serious scrutiny. Rumours surfaced
of disquiet in the Pirates camp and after squeezing past Bedford the surprise
package of the season, Nottingham, came to Camborne a week later and won 22-21
with the last kick of the match. McKay`s post match comments summed up his problems.
He said,
"There`s a lot of things going on. There`s
massive pressures and we will just have to see what happens." Flanker Chris
Cracknell was a little more forthright in his opinion, "We need to play a
bit smarter in this league to seal victories like that. We can`t rely on our defence
alone."
Despite winning three out of their next
four the 9-6 defeat at Brickfields against Plymouth Albion on a day when defences
reigned supreme showed just how predictable and flat the Pirates had become. By
the time Moseley came to town for the now infamously dull encounter back in December,
the Pirates had slipped to 4th in the table with Nottingham breathing hard down
their necks. Their five bonus points a pitiful return when lined up against the
eleven of Northampton and the men from Meadow Lane.
The
strain on McKay was now clear to see and his guarded response to questions from
journalists following the narrow victory at Old Deer Park was out of character.
"I`m just really pleased we won" he said after the Pirates surrendered
an early 14 point lead and scraped home 20-17, but the power from the Exiles pack
had clearly rung alarm bells. Flanker Stan McKeen pulled no punches when he said,
"There were some very good things done today but also some very bad things."
Six tries against an out-gunned Cornish All Blacks side was a timely morale booster
ahead of the trip to Franklin`s Gardens but on the big stage in front of a record
league crowd bad habits returned to haunt the Pirates. Early points scoring opportunities
were spurned by Steenson and despite Vunga Lilo`s memorable interception try,
the Cornishmen were chasing the game after the first quarter going down 26-10.
The
New Year began in dramatic fashion. There was bad blood at Sharman`s Cross Road
as the Bees appealed against their narrow defeat citing illegal practices in front
row replacements and the EDF National Trophy was surrendered at the first attempt
on a day of mud and rain at Camborne. Eventual winners Northampton completed a
hat-trick of victories over the Pirates on a day when Jim McKay`s men never looked
capable of scoring a try and as he trudged around the locker room afterwards,
head down and silent, he bore the demeanour of a beaten man. By the time the Pirates
took to the field for their next game against Newbury the Australian had been
consigned to Pirates history. Mark Hewitt stepped up from his number two role
to lead the team and Evans himself stood down as President prompting a flurry
of concern that the end was nigh for the Cornishmen. It was not and to prove it
Hewitt let his men off the leash when they next played Exeter. They may have lost
on the day but the travelling fans enjoyed the fiesta of running rugby they witnessed.
Seventy
points followed against Esher on a day when the Pirates scored for fun followed
by arguably the team performance of the season at Bedford when Steve Winn`s late
try and Ollie Thomas` difficult touchline conversion gave Hewitt his first win
on the road. With Hewitt now cemented in the Head Coach role and the uncertainty
over the proposed new Stadium receding it was time to concentrate on claiming
third place in the league. Nottingham promptly secured a double over the Pirates
on the beach at Meadow Lane as Mr Doyle, the referee, tested the patience of the
Pirates to the limit.
The epic victory against Doncaster
in late March proved rather unexpectedly to be the final high note in an inconsistent
season as the Pirates failed to win in their final four outings. End of season
personnel changes have seen some favourites leave but Mark
Hewitt`s
backroom team have been bolstered with the arrival of highly rated backs coach
Brett Davey. He already has his own strong view of what he wants next season and
told me "I want enjoyment, enthusiasm, and pride in wearing the Pirates
badge. If you don`t play with desire and ferocity you are letting down the supporters.
I want to see the same as they do. I can live with players making mistakes but
I can`t live with players who don`t give their best."
The
summer break for the Pirates squad will be a short one. The pressure to succeed
next season greater than ever before.
*First published in the Cornishman/West
Briton/Cornish Guardian newspapers. Reproduced by kind permission.
