THE Cornish Pirates’ unbeaten home record went up in smoke on Saturday as Richmond left Penzance with an impressive victory.

The Pirates had grabbed their first win of the season at Rotherham a week earlier and saw two changes to the starting XV as centre Josh Radcliffe and No.8 Tomi Agbongbon came in for the injured Chestor Ribbons and benched Hugh Bokenham respectively.

Australian back Dan O’Brien was named amongst the replacements following his recent move to the club, as was fit-again prop Billy Young.

After an impeccably-observed minute’s silence ahead of Remembrance Day, the Cornishmen started well and some excellent handling ended with wing Arthur Relton crossing to the left of the posts. Fly-half Arwel Robson added the extras.

The visitors soon responded with a try from winger Archie Brosch with full-back Callum Grieve converting, but the Pirates did regain their lead and then open a bit of a gap with two excellent further scores. The first was an unconverted try by wing Henry Palmer, which followed a superb cross-field by full-back Will Becconsall.

Richmond responded with some pressure, but it was 19-7 when Milo Hallam took a pass from prop Alessandro Heaney and charged over.

However, the Londoners were level by half-time as James Langdon went over, soon followed by impressive winger Josh Addams who gathered a chip over the top.

The next score was crucial and again it went Richmond’s way within a minute of the restart, No.8 Xavier Hutchings touching down for a converted try in the left corner.

The Pirates responded somewhat, led by some determined runs from skipper Alex Everett, but Richmond went two converted tries in front when a driving maul was finished off by replacement hooker Will Goffey.

The majority of the 1,800-plus crowd in attendance then tried to rally the hosts, but to no avail as Richmond belied their position of 13th going into the day to head back to London with all five points.

Pirates’ head coach Gavin Cattle admitted they could have no complaints with the outcome.

He said: “I thought the intensity from both teams was pretty high in what was a physical game, and although our execution was low you have to give credit to Richmond for muscling up. Their score at the start of the second half energised them and they operated in that final third better than we did.

“Kick-offs caused us a few issues, and although we had opportunities, there were a couple of lost line-outs and failed driving mauls that didn’t help our cause. Then in the final third when we did have possession, we failed to execute in attack.

“It was a case in the second half of Richmond frustrating us, and we then ended up chasing the game, but without really penetrating their defence. Ultimately, they deserved credit and it is something we’ll learn lessons from.”

CORNISH PIRATES: Will Becconsall; Arthur Relton, Josh Radcliffe, Harry Ascherl, Henry Palmer; Arwel Robson, Dan Hiscocks; Alessandro Heaney, Morgan Nelson, Alfie Petch; Milo Hallam, Josh King; Alex Everett (capt), Jack Forsythe, Tomi Agbongbon. Replacements: Matt Pritchard, Billy Young, Jamie Clark, Matt Cannon, Hugh Bokenham, Joe Elderkin, Dan O’Brien.

Tries: Relton, Palmer, Hallam; Convs: Robson (2); Pens: N/A.

Pirates’ man-of-the-match: Jack Forsythe.