Pirates beat Ampthill to seal sixth successive win

Gavin Cattle's side are on a rich vein of form

Cornish Pirates coach Gavin Cattle hailed his side's attitude after they won their sixth successive Championship game.

The Penzance-based side scored five tries as they beat Ampthill 38-33 at the Mennaye.

The victory sees the Pirates move up to third place in the table with a winning run that goes back to the start of last month.

"It's about building belief," Cattle told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"You get used to getting through those games and they know what it takes.

"As you get more familiar with each other, and you grow stronger bonds, you're willing to get off the floor a bit quicker and you can see in the last three or four games that's been at the fore."

Despite Josh King's early try, Pirates trailed 23-7 with five minutes of the first half to go as tries for Kaden Pearce-Paul and Byron Sharwood, along with three Josh Barton penalties, put the visitors in control.

But Jack Forsythe and Billy Young went over to make it 23-21 at the break before Matt McNab put the hosts in front after the interval.

Rhys Marshall's try levelled it at 28-28 soon after, but King's second try, and a Bruce-Hosyton penalty with eight minutes left, opened up a 10-point lead.

But Ampthill ensured they left Cornwall with two losing bonus points as Lekima Ravuvu forced his way over with a minute left.

"It was a good contest," Cattle said.

"That first half. we had a couple of tries held over after a real strong maul and Will Trewin was through on an inside ball that didn't go to hand.

"Our discipline was poor in that first 20 or 30 minutes [with] eight or nine penalties in the first half.

"The penalty count was an issue, but we addressed that at half-time.

"I've got to give our maul credit because I think that gave us a foothold in the game."