Just sometimes, it can be seen that justice was not done. Without doubt this was certainly the case at the Butts Park Arena, a very relieved & rather sheepish Pirates returning to the far South West with four points their efforts barely deserved.

After two very disappointing performances, this truly was a different Coventry. Right from the word go, with the forwards taking the battle very positively to their visitors, the signs were encouraging, particularly as young scrum half Tom Slater behind them had an absolutely storming full debut. The Welshman, sniping & probing was a constant thorn in the Pirates side & with a real base to work from; the backs too were much more authoritative than in the opening two matches.

Once again however, the dreaded yellow cards returned to haunt the Blue & Whites & this time in a really big way to cost them the match. First hooker Chris Whitehead was carded on 16 minutes for an off the ball incident, the Pirates taking advantage to run in their opening try & then near to full time with Cov winning 16-10 & so close to a first league win of the season, two of the replacements, firstly Danny Hodge & then Mike Walls, within the space of four minutes, both received yellows. With the Pirates at this point in the home ‘’22’’, 13 men found the ultimate & final piece of defending just that bridge too far.

All that & two important penalty misses midway through the second half were collectively to cost Coventry the game, but nevertheless the home crowd were left wondering why referee Wilson had been so lenient on the Cornishmen. True flanker Motusaga had spent 10 minutes either side of half time in the sin bin, but the Pirates constant offside tactics, particularly after the break, were only to cost them penalties & the Coventry support could be forgiven for believing all that was far too lenient.

Cornish Pirates, who had run Northampton Saints so close six days earlier, soon found themselves 3 points behind, Cov skipper Ben Russell slotting the penalty after 7 minutes having missed a wide angled attempt two minutes earlier. It took the Cornishmen 13 minutes to reach the home half before fly half Gareth Steenson missed a penalty attempt, quite extraordinarily his first place kicking failure of the season. The stand in Pirates captain was more successful six minutes later however, converting centre Nick Buckley’s try as the Pirates eased in front 7-3 with Cov’s hooker Whitehead serving his 10 minutes on the side lines.

Coventry though were not to be denied & three minutes later went back in front with a classic try. Fly half Myles Dorrian made a superb break 40 metres out before feeding centre threequarter Donovan Sanders, the South African storming in at the posts for Russell to convert. Russell & Steenson exchanged penalties, leaving the Butts Park men 13-10 ahead at the break.

On 59 minutes, with Coventry continuing to overall have the better of affairs, Russell with his third penalty extended the margin to six points, before being left to rue his two missed penalty kicks. Pirates attempts to pull out a victory seemed to be floundering until those two critical late yellow cards, number eight forward Chris Cracknell  being able to thrust over from a five metre scrum for the decisive try, Steenson’s conversion clinching victory.

One losing bonus point was scant reward for a super human Coventry effort & there can be little doubt over the full match, they were desperately unlucky to come away with so little.

Coventry; Ben Toft, George Dixion, Ben Russell (Capt), Donovan Sanders, Kurt Johnson, Myles Dorrian, Tom Slater, Carl Rimmer, Chris Whitehead, Rudi Brits, Gregor Gillanders, Ollie Hodge, Henno Venter, Darren Clayton, Laurie McGlone.

Replacements; Stuart Friswell, Dai Maddocks, Danny Hodge, Jamie Miller, Mike Walls, Ronnie McLean

Not used; Lee Parry

Coventry. Try; Donovan Sanders. Conversion; Ben Russell. Penalty goals; Russell 3

Cornish Pirates. Tries; Nick Buckley, Chris Cracknell. Conversions; Gareth Steenson 2. Penalty goal; Steenson.

Referee; Mark Wilson RFU