Cornish Pirates lose season opener at home to Hartpury

Gavin Cattle has been joint-head coach at Cornish Pirates since 2016

Cornish Pirates joint-head coach Gavin Cattle says his side deserved to lose their opening Champ game of the season.

The Pirates lost 22-21 to Hartpury at a wind-affected Mennaye as the visitors led 22-0 at the break before Pirates staged a second half comeback.

An Alex Morgan try and two for Will Crane - along with seven points from the boot of former Pirate Harry Bazalgette - saw Hartpury get what proved to be an unassailable lead.

Arthur Relton scored two tries after the break - either side of a Sol Moody score - but the hosts came up just short.

"Our lineout didn't function today, our attack in the first half was quite loose, we turned a lot of ball over and that cost us field position," Cattle told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"But like I said to the lads at the start of the week, a playoff system is about where we finish and after pre-season games you never know until you get to the real thing.

"We were off the pace in the first half, standing too wide in the wind, a lot of error, but again they showed some spirit to come back into that game.

"There were opportunities where I feel we could have pinched it - you could argue whether we would we have deserved it or not, but Hartpury deserved their win from that first first half performance."