Moyle quick off the mark as Pirates find their feet

CHAMPIONSHIP side Pirates produced seven tries as they dominated the first of two outings against National One Plymouth in front of an excellent pre-season crowd of 1,360.

- MIKE SINCLAIR

With 12 newcomers appearing at various times, joint head coach Gavin Cattle said: “A few people put their hands up against a physical side.”

It took Kyle Moyle, returning to Pirates after being released by Gloucester, just three minutes to make his mark as he accelerated from inside his own half to ignite a move that ended with grounded lock Cory Teague releasing his pass for prop Jack Andrew to score the opener.

Eight minutes later a catch and drive took hooker Morgan Nelson over with Tom Pittman converting.

Well-organised fly-half Pittman, recruited from Jersey, made a promising Pirates debut.

Plymouth had their moments in the first half, the most threatening coming when scrumhalf Jack Oulton’s final high pass proved too hot for the overlapping Kyle Speare to handle, but the Cornish defence stayed solid.

The under-pressure Albion pack conceded two penalty tries with where he left off, beating four defenders on a 40-metre burst to the line for the try of the match.

Centre Matt McNab, formerly with Hartpury who has been capped by Zimbabwe, marked his Pirates debut as a second-half replacement with two tries in the space of nine minutes.

Both were converted the first resulting in a yellow card for former Pirates hooker Tom Cowan-Dickie – back for a second spell with Plymouth following his summer departure from Leicester Tigers – after he dragged down a driving maul.

Dual-registered Exeter winger Arthur Relton, Pirates leading try-scorer last season, resumed by Iwan Jenkins making his first Mennaye appearance as one of 12 players on dual-contract from Exeter, including outstanding back rower Ben Grubb.