Cornish Pirates 20-29 Nottingham (RFU Championship Cup Pool Three) 01.12.19

Nottingham secured a huge win at Cornish Pirates on Sunday to get their RFU Championship Cup journey back on track.

A much changed Green and Whites team won 29-20 in Penzance to go second in the Pool 3 table and more importantly onto 11 points in the group stages which means they currently rank sixth best of the top scoring teams with eight places up for grabs in reaching the Quarter Finals.

Nottingham now go into their match against London Scottish who lead the group ahead of a final match against Yorkshire Carnegie (who they beat earlier this season 83-0) knowing a win in either should cement a place in the last eight of the competition taking them into the knockout rounds.

On a great day by the coast Nottingham took the lead when Ben Brownlie went over after just four minutes before O’Leary converted the extras.

The Pirates pushed and after a penalty was kicked by Cargill, King went over on 14 and with the conversion good the home side lead 10-7 lead.

Things got worse for Nottingham moments later when Davey scored for the home side with another good kick from Cargill taking the Pirates to a ten point lead after just 20 minutes played.

But Nottingham dug in and Jack Spittle went over with O’Leary cool as ever converting to ensure the game was brought back to within three points as the home side led 17-14 at the break.

The first points on the board in the second half went to the home side as Cargill kicked his second penalty of the match just three minutes in but Nottingham immediately responded when Harry Strong went over to take the score to 20-19.

O’Leary missed the conversion and the Green and Whites made five changes before David Williams went over on 67 minutes to give the away team the lead and with O’Leary kicking the extras the game would go into the final ten minutes with Nottingham leading by six.

As the Pirates pushed a penalty to Nottingham in the final minute eased the pressure and when O’Leary kicked over the full time whistle blew for a remarkable win by Nottingham that gives them a great chance now of pushing on in the cup.

Starting Team: Tom Benjamin, Jack Spittle, Harry Strong, Will Simonds, David Williams, Shane O’Leary, Murray McConnell, Jamie Jack, Ben Brownlie, Ben Betts, Llewelyn Jones, Oliver Chessum, Seb Cecil, George Cox, Tui Uru.

Replacements: Luke Cole, Aniseko Sio, Oisin Heffernan, Callum Allen, Scott Hall, Alex Dolly, Matt Riddington, Caetano Branco.

*Main image @NottinghamRugby the team celebrate a fantastic win in Cornwall.