Cornish Pirates 43 Doncaster Knights 5: Showpiece with Munster eludes the gallant Knights

A patched-up Knights side travelled to Camborne missing key elements of their front row, and came away losing 43-5 to a Cornish side who played some great rugby and stuck to an attack-minded plan which entertained the crowd.

The defeat left Knights assistant coach Brett Davey to lament: "I put the defeat down to simply good play by the Pirates, and congratulations to them."

Few would argue that the fact the Cornish Pirates ended the first quarter of the game with only three points on the scoreboard may have flattered the South Yorkshire side somewhat.

Handling errors and a lack of patience saw Doncaster lose possession several times when under no obvious pressure.

The Pirates seemed able to turn over the ball to regain possession at will, but the only points in that opening 20-minute period came courtesy of a penalty awarded against Toma Toke for slipping his bind at the scrum.

New Zealand-born fly-half John Bentley slipped his first points between the posts from 10 metres out directly in front of the posts on six minutes.

His second attempt from a later penalty awarded against Chris Hallam cannoned off the right post and back into play to be snaffled up by club captain Anthony Carter.

As the first quarter ended, Doncaster seemed satisfied with the defensive work, as they played uphill at the Camborne Rec ground.

But as the game moved into its second phase neither side seemed able to break the deadlock until the Pirates were allowed to play on despite having a man offside at the ruck.

The Knights could be accused of referee watching as the resulting sweeping move right to left and chip over the top by Tom Luke caught them off guard.

The looping ball caught Carter unawares for a split second and was pounced on by another former Knight, Wes Davies, who planted the ball firmly. Moments later the Pirates put together another incisive move showcasing what they can do as a team, putting fly-half Bentley over for a try he converted himself.

Although not dead and buried, the Knights were struggling to create any phases of rugby in the Pirates' 22 until the high impact style of Toma Toke was finished by the poise and balance of Bevon Armitage who turned a tackle and rode over the whitewash and a pile of bodies.

The introduction of Adam Kettle at half time seemed to give the Knights – who trailed by a fortuitous 10 points – an extra attacking impetus, but within minutes of the restart Morgan crashed over for the Pirates after a sweeping move almost ended by a last-ditch tackle by Armitage. Almost immediately Kettle cantered off with the ball but once again as the Knights charged forward, Pirates turned over possession, putting the visiting side back under pressure.

The game continued with more of the same, although the Knights seemed to lose a defensive edge as Armitage was replaced by Hudson Tonga'Uiha. Within minutes of the replacement Gavin Cattle crashed over to put the Pirates into a dominant lead going into the last quarter.

That final 20 minutes saw Doncaster stem the tide of the Pirates advance but despite a more attacking outlook the earlier efforts sapped what energy the Yorkshire side had for this game. With two minutes left Jackson broke the line to score another try for the hosts which was converted by Bentley.

Another try in the final minute inflated the score to 43-5 in the Pirates favour.

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Cornish Pirates: Davies, McAtee, Ireland, Winn, Luke, Bentley, Cattle, Paver, Ward, Brits, McGolone, Myerscough, Morgan, Betty, Cowan. Replacements: Andrew, Elloway, Rimmer, Labuschagne, Evans, Doherty, Jackson.

Doncaster Knights: Carter, Flockhart, Briers, Armitage, Wright, Brooks, Hallam, Toke, Boden, Tau, Kenworthy, Townson, Cochrane, Grainger, Boyde. Replacements: McMillan, Doughty, Kettle, D. Griffiths, McColl, D'Arcy, Tonga'uiha.

Referee: Llyr Apgreaint-Roberts (RFU).