Cornish Pirates 'improved' despite 34-25 Jersey Reds defeat

Alex Schwarz's second-half try gave the Pirates a little bit of hope

Cornish Pirates joint head coach Gavin Cattle says he has seen an improvement in his side despite losing 34-25 at home to Jersey Reds.

Having been thrashed 55-13 at Bedford in their previous game the club had been looking for a response.

Garyn Smith's try and two penalties saw them go in 17-13 behind at half-time.

But two quick Jersey tries with Will Britton sin-binned killed the game off before Alex Schwarz and Tommy Wyatt replied in the second half.

"We absorbed a lot of pressure in that first half, Jersey are quite a powerful outfit," Cattle told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"The pleasing aspects for us, as we are a developing team, is that we had a foothold in the scrum, if you draw a comparison to the start of the season that's one area of our game that's improved.

"To go in just four points behind I felt we were in the game, but we gave them one easy in from the kick off, that gave them field position and when you're down to 14 men you need clean exits.

"They rode that wave with the sin bin and two tries, but our lads down to 14 men scored two tries as well.

"It was a fight, but to beat a team of Jersey's quality this season we have to get better at those elements.

"The endeavour was there and there are areas of our game that have improved."