For their Round 4 fixture in Regional 2 Tribute Ale South West, the Pirates of Penzance & Newlyn welcomed Nailsea & Backwell to the Mennaye Field on Saturday, for what was a 1st versus 5th contest in the league.

The unbeaten Pirates, with second-row forward Nick Nowell proudly making his 100th appearance, expected a tough contest against their opponents from Nailsea in North Somerset, who are nicknamed “The Ravens”, and it certainly proved to be the case.

Following on from the Cornish Pirates win versus Chinnor, there was a good crowd still present, happily basking in the autumn sunshine, but it was the visitors who opened the scoring on the quarter-hour mark.

Scrum-half Kieran Tasker nipped in for a try at the clubhouse corner, and full-back Alex Jones was successful with his conversion attempt.

The Pirates' first points of the afternoon materialised thanks to a successful and ultimately important penalty kick slotted by fly-half Rhys Brownfield.

Then, on the half-hour mark, they took the lead following a strong drive to the line which ended with hooker Wes Eddy being identified as the scorer of a well-converted try at the old Western National corner.

In general play, the visitors were living up to pre-match expectations, and it was a well-executed chip and chase by full-back Jones that saw him score and convert his own try at the Penzance posts.

It also gave his side a 14-10 halftime lead.

Into the second half, it was a try from Pirates’ replacement lock Ben Martin which restored the lead for the home team, before entering the last quarter a converted try scored by centre Callum Walsh extended the gap.

Play was gripping, but with man of the match John Stevens carrying strongly and making big tackles, against a side that demanded respect, the Pirates held out to the end despite a late converted try for the visitors that left the scoreboard reading 22-21.

Speaking after the game, Penzance & Newlyn’s head coach Murray Westren said:

“This was another very good contest, in which we defended for long periods and did our job well.

Once again, we scored a couple of important maul tries and the forwards are really stepping up for us at the minute, with the backs lacking a bit of cohesion.

“Newcomers to the league, Nailsea impressed, as they had plenty about them, and after back-to-back home games we now have to go away next week to Okehampton and show the same consistent level of performance against a really good and established side.

The work for this will need to start on Tuesday!”

Penzance & Newlyn: 15 Dan-Rhys Evans 14 Calum Gardner 13 Callum Walsh 12 Sam Carroll 11 Harvey Stone 10 Rhys Brownfield 9 Sam Carter; 1 Kye Beasley 2 Wes Eddy 3 James Lambourn 4 Eli Williams 5 Nick Nowell 6 Stan Somers (captain) 7 Tom Hutton 8 John Stevens,

Replacements: 16 Joe Best 17 Connor Bick 18 Ben Martin.

Nailsea & Backwell: 15 Alex Jones (co-captain) 14 Tristan Jackson 13 Jamie Wood 12 Harry O’Regan 11 Joey Collins 10 Sam Chidzey 9 Kieran Tasker; 1 Mark Hooper 2 Harry Radford 3 Ciaran Askew 4 AJ McCarthy 5 Leo Delazarri (co-captain) 6 Ben Thorne 7 Evan Williams 8 Charlie Cox.

Replacements: 16 Dec Hay 17 Dickie Palmer 18 Adam Grafton.

Scorers: Penzance & Newlyn – tries: Eddy, Martin, Walsh; cons: Brownfield (2); pen: Brownfield.

Nailsea & Backwell – tries: Tasker, Jones, Wood; cons: Jones (3).