Cornish Pirates 15-12 Ealing: Gavin Cattle hails mentality after win over favourites

Fifth-placed Cornish Pirates are a point off the top of the Championship

Cornish Pirates coach Gavin Cattle has hailed his side's mentality as they beat pre-season favourites Ealing 15-12 in the Championship.

The sides ended the first half level at 7-7 after an early Pirates penalty try was cancelled out by Malon Al-Jiboori.

Pirates' Danny Cutmore went over just after the break whule Arwel Robson's 56th-minute penalty put them 15-7 up.

Angus Kernohan's unconverted last-minute try for Ealing set up a tense finish but the hosts held on.

It was a great turnaround for the Pirates who suffered what Cattle described as a 'poor' 38-17 loss at Hartpury last week.

"There were boys who were absent last week mentally, and they held their hands up in the week and you could see the self-motivation with that fight at the end," Cattle told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"We fought for everything, I know the result puts the icing on the cake, but that's the kind of physicality and want we want to see in a Pirates team."

The win sees the Pirates move up to fifth in the Championship table, one point behind leaders Jersey Reds, while Ealing slip to sixth place.

"That will give us confidence, but I want to make it clear that we're not going to get carried away with that," added Cattle.

"It's how we can repeat and be more consistent - our challenge is consistency.

"It's all very well turning up and giving it your best against the best team in the league, you've got to do that to the likes of Doncaster away and at home, Coventry away, all the teams, Ampthill away, all the difficult ones that pose a threat.

"We've come unstuck quite a few times in the past and it's just the nature of this league, it's a hard league.

"To get to that level of emotion every week is a tough challenge."