Green and Whites Earn Bonus Point at Pirates

Winger Kyle Moyle ran in two tries for Cornish Pirates as they sentenced Nottingham to yet another defeat.

The Green and Whites did manage a precious losing bonus point though as they went down 17-11 at The Mennaye.

It was another disappointing game, with far too many mistakes, marred by a string of yellow cards that led to uncontested scrums in the late stages.

As that was the one area of the game Nottingham had dominated it hampered their hopes of a comeback having conceded three tries to trail 17-6 at that stage.

But they did manage to drive over the home line late in the game, Will Skuse touching down for an unconverted try to secure that bonus point.

A particular disappointment was that, having started well and taken the lead with a Matt Jarvis penalty, they set up a position from which they could well have scored, only for an interception to gift Pirates seven points.

That good start saw Nottingham put the home side under pressure, Jarvis missing one penalty chance before opening the scoring with his second.

But as they looked to make that early pressure count Moyle intercepted a loose pass and raced almost the length of the pitch for a try, which Kieran Hallett converted for a 7-3 lead.

A grubber kick from Hallett then sent Craig Holland in for a try to make it 12-3 at the break.

A strong scrum early in the second half brought a penalty for Jarvis to cut the deficit before Moyle grabbed his second of the game to make it 17-6 midway through the second half.

But the yellow cards changed the whole nature of the game.

First it was Rupert Cooper and Pirates skipper Darren Barry who were sent to the sin-bin for fighting.

Then Pirates had Jack Andrew and Aaron Carpenter binned in the dying minutes amid strong claims for a Nottingham penalty try.

Hard as Nottingham fought to make their numerical advantage count they found the home defence if anything even more belligerent.

Finally though Skuse got over the line to clinch the all important bonus point.