Cornish Pirates 40 Rotherham Titans 15: Mistakes prove costly as Titans fall to Pirates

So for the second week running, Rotherham lost in the South West, to a side which exploited the Titans' errors.

Winger Peter Swatkins scored two outstanding tries for Rotherham on 44 and 64 minutes to cut the Pirates' lead to 17-8 and then 23-13, but Rotherham lacked force and penetration to convert these mini-recoveries into potential match-winning positions.

Too many lost lineouts and giving the ball away to an enterprising team proved to be fatal to a Rotherham side that was strengthened by the return from injury of centre Jonny Hepworth and full-back Richard Welding.

The Pirates, who led 12-3 at the interval, were quick to counter-attack, and in full-back Rob Cook they provided the game's outstanding individual player.

Not only did Cook score two tries, he also dropped a goal and kicked two conversions and two penalties to produce a match-winning performance of 23 points.

Periodically, Rotherham's pack controlled the ball and recycled possession intelligently, but found it hard to break a solid Pirates defence.

Once centre Juan Socino had converted Swatkins' second try, reducing the deficit to 23-15, Rotherham were genuinely competitive, but they let themselves down badly by conceding two more tries on 66 and 71 minutes – scores which resulted in the Titans' fourth defeat in eight games.

Rotherham, after two consecutive away defeats, now have the chance to return to form by winning at home on Saturday against Esher.

Cornish Pirates: Cook, Davies, Hopper, Winn, McAtee, Bentley, Cattle, Paver, Ward, Brits, McGolone, Nimmo, Morgan, Burgess, Cowan. Replacements: Andrew, Cowan-Dickie, Rimmer, Betty, Marriott, Jackson, Doherty.

Rotherham Titans: Welding, Swatkins, Socino, Hepworth, Hampsey, Hodson, Bedford, Steenkamp, Loney, A. O'Donnell, Harris, Dickinson, Kettle, Dougall, Burrows. Replacements: McGregor, Quigley, Aikman, Sandford, Baines, Rhodes, Hunt.

Referee: D Richards (RFU).