Cattle 'proud' of draw but Pirates await first win

Cornish Pirates are still awaiting their first win of the season

Cornish Pirates joint-head coach Gavin Cattle said he was proud of his side after their 15-15 draw with Doncaster.

The Knights ensured a share of the spoils as Russell Bennett converted a 77th-minute penalty to prevent Pirates claiming their first Champ win of the season.

An unconverted Iwan Price-Thomas try gave the hosts an early lead before former Pirates winger Matt McNab made it 7-5 to Doncaster soon after.

Arthur Relton had a try disallowed for a forward pass before Pirates did score again as Dan Hiscocks made it 12-7 midway through the first period, and Arwel Robson's penalty made it 15-7 just before the break.

But Doncaster struck back after the interval as Morgan Jones went over in the corner to make it 15-12, as the weather deteriorated, before Bennett's late penalty.

The result means the Pirates are second-from-bottom of the table, after losing their opening two matches of the season.

"We just struggled to get any entries into their 22," Cattle told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"It's quite hard to get in there. There were a couple of pressure moments where we had them on their line, but I think both teams would be looking at that - they had a couple of opportunities and we stood strong.

"It was a really good arm wrestle - our scrum was under a bit of pressure there towards the end, you could see the experience they brought on.

"But I'm proud of the lads. I'm proud of the physical efforts, I thought we played some really good stuff first half.

"Then we just got stuck a little bit in that middle third around potentially overplaying in those conditions, but we're always learning."