THE Cornish Pirates made it five league wins on the spin as they saw off promoted Richmond 28-19 at the Mennaye Field.

On a day where watching RFU CEO Bill Sweeney was amongst the 1,722-strong crowd, the hosts ran in four tries, all converted by fly-half Louie Sinclair to stay fourth in the table.

From the side that had seen off bottom side Cambridge 52-0 a fortnight earlier, the Pirates side saw some changes to the starting XV.

There were returns for prop Alfie Petch and flanker Jack Forsythe, while Exeter Chiefs loanee Max Norey, who had previously made 19 appearances for the club, rejoined the Cornishmen on loan and started at hooker.

The visitors’ starting XV former Mennaye favourites in hooker Harry Hocking and scrum-half Alex Schwarz, but they were soon on the defensive as centre Harry Yates make a trademark burst before offloading the ball to scrum-half Dan Hiscocks, who scored at the posts. Sinclair then stepped forward to land the conversion.

Making it a super start, the Pirates were soon on the scoresheet again on seven minutes when Forsythe added the game’s second try following a catch and drive on the left. Sinclair struck his attempt perfectly from out wide.

To their credit Richmond responded to show that they too were up for the contest, with skipper Schwarz getting his backline moving, and centre Ronnie Du Randt abrasive with ball in hand. Earning a penalty award, the inevitable catch and drive opportunity arose after the ball had been kicked to the Newlyn gate corner, and it was hooker Hocking who had dotted down on 14 minutes. Centre Callum Grieve added the extras.

The visitors might well have been finding their feet, but it was the Pirates who got on the scoresheet next with a second converted try for Hiscocks soon after.

But back came the Londoners on 28 minutes as a spirited passage of play ended with wing Greg Kitson gathering a lengthy pass and making to the line as the teams went into the break at 21-12.

During the interval an important message recorded by the Cornish Pirates in relation to ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence’ was shown, the message by players stating ‘We don’t ignore it. We don’t excuse it. We call it out’ is a strong one that on the club’s social media has brought an incredibly supportive response.

When the rugby action returned, the Pirates suffered a setback as flanker Forsythe had to leave the field injured.

Richmond then proceeded to play with a still heightened level of confidence, with backs and forwards playing well.

Suddenly catching the eye among their able pack was No.8 Sam Pim, and it was his run and offload to supporting flanker Luke Frost that ended with the latter scoring a converted try at the posts.

With the score now reading 21-19, the outcome was anything but certain and it all somewhat different to the start of the match. There was also another setback for the Pirates when they lost lock Alfie Bell to the sin-bin.

Richmond applied considerable pressure on the Pirates, who defended well, although the penalty-count against them mounted.

Fortunately, from a Pirates perspective, Grieve was luckless with kick at goal attempts which narrowly missed, and following good work on the ground by always busy flanker Josh King, it was a final try of the match, gleefully scored wide out left by Yates, that helped deliver the 28-19 victory.

Faultless off the tee, Sinclair had also kicked his fourth from four conversion attempts to also deny Richmond a losing bonus point, which many will have felt they deserved.

CORNISH PIRATES: Iwan Price-Thomas, Matty Ward, Harry Yates, Joe Elderkin, Ben Cambriani (Chester Ribbons, 56); Louie Sinclair, Dan Hiscocks (capt); Billy Young (Alessandro Heaney, 50), Max Norey (Matt Pritchard, 50), Alfie Petch (Ollie Andrews, 65); Charlie Rice, Alfie Bell; Josh King, Jack Forsythe (Milo Hallam, 43), Tomi Agbongbon (Rory Suttor, 70). Replacements not used: Will Rigelsford, Angus Mawson.

Pirates’ man-of-the-match: Alfie Petch.