Cornish Pirates: Late Jacob Morris try seals 30-25 Hartpury victory

Try-scoring prop forward Jacob Morris is dual-registered with Premiership side Exeter Chiefs

Cornish Pirates needed a last-minute Jacob Morris try to secure a 30-25 win at Hartpury in the Championship.

The Pirates had led 22-8 at half time but three yellow cards in the second period allowed the hosts to get back into the game.

The bonus-point win sees Pirates move up to third place in the Championship with four games left to play.

"When we actually strung some phases together we looked dangerous," Pirates joint-head coach Gavin Cattle said.

"But our breakdown then let us down," he added to BBC Radio Cornwall.

"So we've just got a couple of fix-ups there that we need to eradicate really."

George Barton's early try put Hartpury ahead, but a Bruce Houston penalty and a debut try for hooker Harry Hocking saw Pirates go 8-5 up midway through the first period.

John Stevens got a second try for Pirates before Matt McNab ran in from 50 metres after intercepting a pass for the Cornish side's third try as they went into the break ahead.

But Pirates struggled with Hartpury's maul after the break as Will Britton and Hugh Bokenham were yellow carded in quick succession as the latter conceded a 47th-minute penalty try.

Matt Johnson was sin-binned 10 minutes later as Pirates were briefly down to 12 men, but held out and looked as though they would win until Hartpury hit back with six minutes left as Ethan Hunt's try drew the scores level before former Pirate Harry Bazalgette kicked a 78th-minute penalty.

But after Houston missed what could have been a game-winning penalty for Pirates Kyle Moyle broke through and was held up close to the Hartpury line, only for Morris to power over from short range to win it.