THIS was a thriller to round off the season with the Reds prevailing by a single point following a late comeback by the visitors.
Jersey director of rugby Harvey Biljon was delighted but exhausted after seeing his side finish on a high and claim sixth place in the final rankings.
“Sometimes at the end of the season you have players going through the motions, but the boys gave everything today and I was very proud,” Biljon said.
“It was a great game to finish on and the crowd were that extra one per cent for us today, although the last couple of minutes weren't good for the heart.”
After a Brendan Cope penalty midway through the first half to open the scoring, Tom Williams claimed the first try courtesy of a soaring catch near halfway and racing 50m to the line.
Pirates struck back through Pat Schickerling's close-range effort and then each side scored a further try apiece in the closing stages: Eoghan Clarke from a maul for the Reds and then AJ Cant for the Pirates to make it 17-10 at the break.
After repelling some early Pirate attacks soon after the break, the Reds forwards began to turn the screw and marched up the field through a series of penalties and lineout drives that eventually saw Pirates' skipper Tom Duncan sin-binned for collapsing a maul near the try-line. Soon afterwards the Reds struck as Scott van Breda raced through a midfield gap to the line.
Dan Frost pulled one back for Pirates from a maul, but another Cope penalty and a second mauled try for the Jersey pack, touched down by Jack Macfarlane, stretched the lead to 32-17 and appeared to finish the contest.
There was some late drama as Shae Tucker and Rhodri Davies scored tries to earn their team two points and the chance of an amazing win, but Reds held out during the last play to nail down their win.
Pirates' co-coach Alan Paver said: “It was a decent contest and we showed good team spirit. Overall I thought Jersey deserved their win, they had us chasing the game and got into good field positions – they had the wind and slope against them, so they did well.
“Our season was ‘ok to good' although it could have been something really special.”
Jersey …………..32pts
Tries: T Williams 22, Clarke 34, Van Breda 55, Macfarlane 73
Conversions: Cope 22, 34, 55
JERSEY: Van Breda 9; Owen 7, Roberts 7 (Pretorius 75, 6), Barnes 7, T Williams 8; Cope 8, Green 7 (Elliott 42, 7); Richardson 7 (Dawe 72, 6), Clarke 7 (Macfarlane 55, 7), Parker 8 (Higgins 72, 6), Farrance 7 (Scott 60, 6), O'Connor 7 (M Williams 72, 6), Cook 8, Wynne (c) 7 (Bainbridge 62, 6), Argyle 8
Cornish Pirates ..31pts
Penalties: Cope 21, 61
Tries: Schickerling 26, Cant 38, Frost 58, Tucker 77, Davies 79
Conversions: Robson 58, Cargill 77, 79
CORNISH PIRATES: Cant 7 (Tucker 68, 6), Holden 6, Parata 7, Butler 7, Wyatt 6, Robson 7 (Cargill 74, 6), Bruzulier 6 (Davies 51, 7); Walker 6 (Andrew 63, 6), Frost 6 (Channon 74, 6), Schickerling 7 (Rodman 63, 6), Caulfield 6, Cutmore 7 (Lemalu 50, 6), Bolwell 7, Kiri Kiri 6, Duncan (c) 6 (Stevens 63, 7)
REFEREE: Dean Richards
ATTENDANCE: 1,336
Star man: Scott van Breda – Jersey
