Last Saturday The Lions made the longish trip to Penzance to play fifth place Pirates Amateurs, a number of players were unavailable to travel so Liskeard had to make several, including one positional moving Ben Palmer from prop to hooker, changes to the squad.
Liskeard started poorly and fell behind early on when the hosts scored an unconverted try after five minutes, and a few minutes later The Lions fell further behind when Pirates sored a second try with the conversion attempt hitting an upright and bouncing clear. At the restart the home side knocked on and from the ensuing scrum Liskeard released their backs in a move that saw young wing Matt James race in from twenty-two metres to go over for a try; Nick Parker’s conversion attempt also hit an upright and bounced clear.
On fifteen minutes The Lions went further behind when the home side scored a converted try through their forwards then on twenty four minutes Liskeard could have narrowed the deficit but Parker’s long range penalty, from the home ten metre line, was pushed wide. On twenty eight minutes Liskeard conceded a penalty that was sent to touch, however the home side was adjudged to have knocked on at the line-out and at the ensuing scrum The Lions secured the ball and cleared to touch. On thirty-two minutes Liskeard were under the cosh again with the home full back coming through on a good angle to go over, under the posts, for a converted try and on the stroke of half-time Liskeard conceded another try, this time off the back of a scrum, to take the half time score to 31-5.
Pirates attacked straight from the kick off for the second half releasing their backs in a sweeping move to score a try in the corner; the conversion attempt was missed. Pirates attacked straight from the restart and crossed the Liskeard whitewash but were pulled back for a forward pass. In the fifty-second minute Liskeard were awarded a penalty, a Pirates player being sent to the bin, and the scrum option was taken; during the attacking move by The Lions the ball was turned over and cleared to touch. Two minutes later the referee sent another Pirates player to the bin and awarded a penalty to Liskeard, again the scrum option was taken and from this The Lions released the backs with centre Oliver Aggiss running in for a try that Parker converted to make the score 36-12. At the restart the referee adjudged that the ball had been knocked forward, it was generally thought that was the wring call, and from the ensuing scrum Pirates scored another converted try. On seventy-two minutes The Lions were reduced to fourteen, following a yellow card for a tip tackle. On seventy-six minutes, during a Pirates attack, the referee missed crossing and they scored another converted try to make it 50-12. The Pirates, using their man advantage well, scored two quick tries in stoppage time, one of which was converted for a final score of 62-12; a terrible day at the office for Liskeard. This coming weekend The Lions travel to Exeter to face Exeter Athletic in a rearranged league fixture with a 1430 kick off; the original match was postponed on January 18th.