Walsh hails Pirates' defence before first away trip
Matt Pritchard scored four second-half tries for Cornish Pirates in their 45-19 win over Doncaster last week
- Published
Cornish Pirates coach Joe Walsh says the Champ side have taken confidence from the strong defence they showed in their opening league game.
Pirates beat Doncaster 45-19 at the Mennaye Field on Sunday, conceding three tries but stopping their opponents from scoring for most of the second half.
Only Worcester Warriors, who beat Bedford 40-5, have conceded fewer points than the Cornish side.
"We've been putting a lot of energy into our defence," lead forwards and defence coach Walsh told BBC Radio Cornwall.
"We didn't feel we took a lot of points against Saracens [in pre-season] and then against a really dangerous attack-based team like Doncaster to only concede 19 and to keep them under four tries, we took a lot of confidence from that.
"We obviously want to get the ball and attack and go forward, but also we want to be a strong, resilient defence this year.
"I know Worcester only conceded a five, but for us to have been one of the lowest-conceding teams as well was a really pleasing start for us.
"It doesn't necessarily mean we're going to be that all year, but we've taken some confidence from the fact that we can go and collide with people and we are a robust defence and we want to bring that on the road with us this week."
Cornish Pirates impress in opening day Doncaster win
- Published3 days ago
Pirates face a tough few weeks as they visit Coventry on Saturday (15:00 BST), who finished third last season, then host last season's table-toppers Ealing before travelling to beaten play-off finalists Bedford.
While Walsh is hopeful that Sunday's victory has laid the foundations for Pirates to start the season well, he is aware it is no guarantee.
"We probably would have said last year that we saw there was opportunity in our first couple of games and we couldn't get a win until the fourth round," he said.
"Then we got a tough start this year and we got a pretty strong win in our first game.
"All those teams in the first five rounds are really strong teams, so if we can take some confidence that we've played those guys early on and we've matched up to them, hopefully we've matched up to all of them by the end of the block.
"Then when you have games against non-full-time or non-professional outfits, then you know that you can go and hopefully impose yourself in those games later on."
