Pirates disappointed by losing start - Walsh

Cornish Pirates have earned losing bonus points in their opening two Champ fixtures

Cornish Pirates coach Joe Walsh says everyone is unhappy with the start they have made to the season.

Pirates have narrowly lost their opening two Champ matches at home to Hartpury and away at Ampthill last week.

It has left Pirates 11th in the expanded 14-team league after the opening two rounds of fixtures.

"I think we're disappointed that we're not as far along as I guess either we hope we are or we felt we were coming into the season," Walsh told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"We had quite a long pre-season that was pushed on us by the structure of the league, but we felt we were quite far along in terms of where we were as a group."

This season sees a revamped second tier renamed as 'The Champ' with an additional two teams, including Worcester Warriors, and the top six sides at the end of the season will compete in play-offs.

And despite the stuttering results, Walsh says there are causes for optimism ahead of Saturday's visit of Doncester.

"If you break it down, we had a poor first half against Hartpury and then a really strong second half where we felt we were on top and probably were one opportunity short, or one penalty short, of winning that, which we probably would have deserved on balance," he said.

"We had a really good start up at Ampthill, parts of our game took really positive steps forward and just some really class individuals from them on the day just got them over the line.

"We really laid siege to their line in the last five or six minutes and we just couldn't convert.

"I think we've lost the first few games by six points collectively and we need to get those league points - we need a win desperately - but we're hoping that things continue taking positive steps forward.

"It's a long season ahead, there's another 24 games to go."