Cornish Pirates take heart from Bedford loss in B&I Cup

Tom Riley scored a hat-trick for Cornish Pirates

Cornish Pirates boss Ian Davies wants his side to take their second-half form from the 41-40 British & Irish Cup loss at Bedford into the league.

Pirates trailed 24-16 at half-time, but despite the fightback, they failed to reached the B&I Cup knockout stages.

"I thought the boys performed really well in the second half, first half apart from the first five minutes was very poor from us," Davies said.

"The test in the next four games is can we do it in the high-pressured games?".

Two second-half tries from Tom Riley, who had got the Pirates' first-half score, and one from Max Bodilly, ensured they almost came away with their first win at Bedford since March 2011.

The Pirates face local rivals Plymouth Albion before taking on Jersey and high-flying London Scottish and Worcester in their next four league games.

Davies' side are 10 points clear of bottom-of-the-table Albion and face them just after Christmas.

"We need to continue improving, but at the same time we need those results and that's the test for our group," Davies told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"They're a cracking group, they work well for each other.

"There's a lot of experience out there but they also know they can't do it without the youngsters fronting up and you saw guys like Dean Brooker, who's come off the bench, and Laurence May; these guys are gaining experience and hopefully we'll see the benefit of it this season and going on into next year."