CORNISH Pirates joint head coach Gavin Cattle admitted Friday night’s pre-season home defeat to Champ Rugby rivals Bedford Blues was a ‘learning curve’ for his squad.

The Penzance-based club, who had seen off Redruth 64-7 six days earlier, were beaten 38-26, a scoreline made possible by a flurry of late home tries.

Speaking afterwards, Cattle said: “We knew we would be a little bit up against it today and it was a bit of a learning curve against a physically strong, gifted and experienced Bedford side.

“Despite missing some firepower in the forwards, and being a little rusty in our decision making, I think we started quite well, and there were certain pleasing things we did and can take from what was our second pre-season hit out.

“It was a great experience for young players such as Barnaby Elderkin, who worked very hard, and our guest players Alfie North and Jordan Nicholls who was our last finisher.

“At this stage just over four weeks before our opening league fixture there are inevitably areas of our game to work on, such as the breakdown and lineout, but we were overall pleased with the way the boys never gave up and stuck at it. The right attitude is always going to be there and they deservedly scored three good tries nearing the end.”

Prior to kick-off, Pirates’ hooker Morgan Nelson led the team out having made his 50th appearance at Redruth, and both teams then lined up for a minute’s applause to respectfully remember new consortium member Christopher ‘Buddha’ Hunt who had recently passed away.

The Pirates then started the match well as fly-half Arwel Robson scampered over the line for a try that he also converted.

A break by centre Chester Ribbons also showed promise, before Bedford countered and worked play swiftly into the Penzance half from where wing Ryan Hutler sped in for an unconverted try at the clubhouse corner.

The Blues were physically big in the forwards, which enabled them to apply considerable pressure on the Pirates, and they would take a 12-7 lead before the break thanks to wing Dean Adamson’s try and the conversion slotted by fly-half Will Maisey.

Bedford dominated after half-time and scored through replacement Joey Conway and then Maisey after flanker Kayde Sylvester had gathered possession and lengthened his stride into the Newlyn half. There was also a try apiece for replacements Nick Finch and Tui Uru, while replacement Tom Price also kicked three conversions.

To their credit, and with the home crowd keeping faith and urging them on, the Pirates enthused considerable character to impress and finish strongly.

There were maiden tries in Pirates colours for replacement prop Alessandro Heaney, replacement wing Matty Ward, and finally guest back-rower Jordan Nicholls who touched down at the Penzance posts after supporting lock Matt Cannon’s burst into Bedford’s ‘22’.

CORNISH PIRATES: Iwan Price-Thomas, Ben Cambriani, Chester Ribbons, Harry Yates, Arthur Relton, Arwel Robson, Dan Hiscocks (captain); Billy Young, Morgan Nelson, Alfie Petch, Matt Cannon, Josh King, Barnaby Elderkin, Jack Forsythe, Tomiwa Agbongbon. Replacements (used): Sol Moody, Alessandro Heaney, Ollie Andrews, Louie Sinclair, Joe Elderkin, Matty Ward, Will Becconsall, Alfie North (guest player), Jordan Nicholls (guest player).

Tries: Robson, Heaney, Ward, Nicholls; Convs: Robson, Sinclair (2); Pens: N/A.

Cornish Pirates man-of-the-match: Jack Forsythe.