Cornish Pirates boss Chris Stirling blames his side for defeat

Drew Locke scored Pirates' only try in the first half

Cornish Pirates boss Chris Stirling says his side were to blame for their 36-21 loss at Doncaster.

The Pirates lost it in the first half, going into the break 30-7 down with only Phil Burgess' try to show for their efforts.

Drew Locke crossed the line in the second half, while the Pirates also scored a penalty try.

"We were probably the architects of our own downfall in certain areas," Stirling told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"We were blown off the park in the first half really. Just the errors, discipline and the opposition played really well - we didn't play well but they did," added Stirling.

But Stirling said that not all areas of his side's game were below-par.

"If I was going to break the performance down into unit performance I thought up front we were very good," he said.

"Out the back I'll have to have another look because I think some of our game management decision-making was pretty off the mark.

"We had a chat after the game in the circle and we said that we've got to turn this around now because the time has come where we can't have any more performances like that.

"People are touting the Pirates as being one of the contenders to win the Championship.

"Whether that's true or not, on today's performance it wasn't, but we've got targets on our backs, we've got to know that when we play people they're going to bring their 'A' game and if we're not up to the mark week-in, week-out we're going to get turned over."