Cornish Pirates look for reasons for heavy Bedford defeat

The loss at Bedford was Cornish Pirates' heaviest in the Championship since a 69-8 loss to Worcester on 18 April 2015

Cornish Pirates must find out why they were thrashed 55-13 at Bedford, according to coach Alan Paver.

The Pirates, who has won their previous two matches, conceded seven tries and did not score a point in the second half as they were humbled by the Blues.

"We have got to look at this right in the mirror, there is no escaping that scoreline, there's no escaping that performance," Paver told BBC Cornwall.

"We've got to look at this and we've got to ask 'why did this happen?'"

After the loss - Pirates' heaviest in almost eight years - the club remain seventh in the Championship having won six of their 13 league games.

But with the visit of second-placed Jersey Reds to come next, Paver said the players and coaches must find out why they were beaten so comprehensively.

"Was our preparation correct? Was our selection correct? Were our tactics correct? Was it one of those days? Let's hope it was one of those days," he said.

"But we've got to quickly turn this around because we've got a massive game at home next week.

"Whatever we may think about this performance, we've got to identify what we can take out of it and move on extremely quickly, because we can't have this happen again."