Cornish Pirates impress in 10-try Cambridge victory

Cornish Pirates have won eight of their 15 league games this season

Cornish Pirates joint-head coach Gavin Cattle described some of his side's play as "exceptional" as they beat Cambridge 65-34 in the Championship.

The Penzance-based club ran in 10 tries as they moved up to fifth place in the Championship with seven games to play.

The result came a week after Pirates were beaten 45-24 at Bedford.

"The ground's firmed up a bit and we were hopeful to get a few points on the board," Cattle told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"I didn't think about what the scoreline was going to be, I just what I wanted a reaction from last week.

"We got that in some areas, some stuff was exceptional, and there's other stuff that we'll be looking at this week.

"I think we relaxed a little bit in defence, just the nature of the game, it was a quite open game, but I'm pleased with the result."

Having conceded a try inside seven minutes Pirates responded well as Harry Hocking crossed twice in six minutes to put his side 12-7 ahead after 15 minutes.

Jay Tyack and Robin Wedlake went over either side of a second Cambridge try to earn a try-scoring bonus point after half-an-hour and further scores from Matt Cannon and Dan Hiscocks made it 36-21 at the break.

Wedlake put Pirates further in front soon after the interval before Matt McNab ended a superb break by Iwan Jenkins to make it 50-21.

James French and Bruce Houston pushed Pirates beyond 60 before Cambridge earned a try-scoring bonus point of their own with two scores in the final few minutes.

"It was a strange one," added Cattle. "Thirty minutes in there was only a try in it, but it felt like we were very dominant.

"But through our own mistakes we gave them a few opportunities and Cambridge took it.

"But it's five points in a Championship game. Cambridge beat us on the road when we were up there, so it's good to get that under our belts."