Coventry Impress Against the Pirates

By Phil Westren

Coventry 73 Cornish Pirates 40

Having got off to an impressive start when winning their 2026/27 Elior Champ Rugby opener 45-19 at home to Doncaster Knights, in Round 2 of the competition the Cornish Pirates failed to live up to likely expectation as they suffered this disappointing defeat away to Coventry.

A fully contested affair was expected on the 4G synthetic pitch at the ‘Nick Newbold Stadium’, as ‘Cov’ were naturally keen to bounce back from their 38-35 loss away to Rotherham Titans in their league opener.

There were certain expected changes in the Cornish Pirates starting XV from the previous week. Both centre Chester Ribbons and lock Steele Barker picked up injuries against the Knights, so Joe Elderkin was named to slot into the centre alongside Harry Ascherl, and Tomi Agbongbon was selected at No. 8, with Hugh Bokenham this week moving up into the second row. Unfortunately, further disruption occurred when Elderkin was injured in the warm-up, so Josh Radcliffe moved into the centre and Finn Love took his place on the wing. Sam Cahill took the vacated spot on the bench.

📷Young wing Finn Love looks to make a break for the Pirates. Credit: Brian Tempest

On a perfect September afternoon, the Pirates got off to an equally perfect start, scrum half Dan Hiscocks taking advantage of space to for the second week running open the scoring with a try converted by his halfback parter Arwel Robson.

It was not long, however, before the Blue & Whites levelled matters, with a try scored by wing Jack Reeves. And who added the extras? Well, it was one of two former Pirates in the home side, namely fly-half Bruce Houston. The other former Pirate was Zimbabwe international wing Matt McNab, who was making his debut for Coventry.

In less than 20 minutes that followed, the home outfit added four more tries to their account, thanks to skipper and hooker Jordon Poole, McNab, powerful centre Api Bavadra, and Welsh flanker Morgan Strong. Houston converted the first three, and the Pirates then hit back with tries from lock Milo Hallam and prop Alessandro Heaney. The latter’s effort was converted by Robson, who also added two points right on halftime to the Pirates fourth try of the match, which was scored by Ascherl. In between, Coventry lost former Exeter Chiefs scrum half Sam Maunder to the sin bin.

📷Centre Harry Ascherl is the determined ball carrier. Credit: Brian Tempest

So, at the end of an incredible first forty, a 33-26 halftime scoreline suddenly looked a little healthier for the Pirates, but what of the second half? Umm, they would soon lose Robson and Matt Cannon, who was making his 50th appearance for the club, and Coventry proceeded to add six more tries in the period, as Reeves and Poole each got on the scoresheet again besides tries from full-back Tom Bacon, and replacements Dan Green, Josh Barton, and David Opoku-Fordjour. In the loss at Rotherham a week before, Houston, who has recently played for Zimbabwe, had scored a try and kicked five conversions, whilst in this encounter he again impressed with a tally of 18 points scored through nine successful conversions. As for the Pirates, replacements Matt Pritchard and Jamie Clark each made it over the line for converted tries.

📷He is not easy to see but with ball in hand Pirates' replacement hooker Matt Pritchard is about to score. Credit: Brian Tempest

Speaking after the game, Cornish Pirates’ joint head coach Gavin Cattle said:

“Obviously a scoreline as it ended is never nice to see and the pivotal point was clearly our two yellow cards. We were left trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat in a sense of just trying to play from everywhere, and falling foul to a couple of loose passes then just widened the gap.

“To be fair, disruption pre-match didn’t help us. Joe Elderkin pulled out just before kick-off, after we had Chester Ribbons pull out late in the week as well. Such late changes are less than ideal and looking at the backline we perhaps missed a little cohesion from 13 outwards. However, learning on the job the boys did the best they could but that’s part of the process.

“We are early in the season, and it was only Round 2, and you are never as bad as you think you are. Remember too that there were some positives, especially in the first half when we really battled and got back into the game. Having said that though, there were some big learning moments in there, from the kick game to the collision, so we’ll be going back to the drawing board this week.”

Coventry: 15 Tom Bacon 14 Matt McNab 13 Api Bavadra 12 Tommy Mathews 11 Jack Reeves 10 Bruce Houston 9 Sam Maunder; 1 Aristot Benz-Salomon 2 Jordon Poole (captain) 3 Jonny Benz-Salomon 4 Senitiki Nayalo 5 Rhys Fulford 6 Tom Ball 7 Morgan Strong 8 Rhys Tait.

Replacements: 16 Ethan Hunt 17 Keston Lines 18 Coby Stanton-Ford 19 Dan Green 20 Marcus Rhodes 21 Josh Barton 22 Dafydd-Rhys Tiueti 23 David Opoku-Fordjour.

Yellow cards: Strong, Maunder.

Cornish Pirates: 15 Henry Palmer 14 Arthur Relton 13 Josh Radcliffe 12 Harry Ascherl 11 Finn Love 10 Arwel Robson 9 Dan Hiscocks; 1 Alessandro Heaney 2 Morgan Nelson 3 Alfie Petch 4 Milo Hallam 5 Hugh Bokenham 6 Alex Everett (captain) 7 Alex Forsythe 8 Tomi Agbongbon.

Replacements: 16 Matt Pritchard 17 Jamie Clark 18 Osman Dimen 19 Matt Cannon 20 Josh King 21 Luke Ratcliff 22 Will Becconsall 23 Sam Cahill (not used)

Yellow cards: Robson, Cannon.

Scorers:

Coventry – tries: Reeves (2), Poole (2), McNab, Bavadra, Strong, Bacon, Barton, Green, Opoku-Fordjour; cons: Houston (9).

Cornish Pirates – tries: Hiscocks, Hallam, Heaney, Ascherl, Pritchard, Clark; cons: Robson (5).

Referee: Andy Wigley

Attendance: 2,621

📷Pirates' prop Alfie Petch is in the thick of the action. Credit: Brian Tempest