# 2009–10 Cornish Pirates season

The 2009–10 season is the Cornish Pirates 7th season in the second tier of the English rugby union league system, the RFU Championship and their first in the British and Irish Cup. The Pirates finished 6th in Stage One of the Championship, allowing them to qualify for the promotion stages, where they finished 3rd and did not qualify for the semi–finals. They also won the final of the British and Irish Cup beating Munster A 23–14.

## Pre–season Friendlies

| | Date | Opponents | H / A | Result | Score | Attendance | Notes |
| 1 | 15 August 2009 | Cardiff | H | W | 60–13 | 2403 | |
| 2 | 29 August 2009 | Harlequins | A | L | 17–47 | | |

## RFU Championship
### Stage one matches

Stage one is a league programme of 22 matches starting on Saturday 6 September 2009 and completed by Saturday 13 March 2010 (originally due to finish by Saturday 25 February). Each team play 11 matches at home and 11 away with the top eight teams qualifying for the promotion play–offs and bottom four play in the relegation play–off.
| | Date | Opponents | H / A | Result | Score | Attendance | Notes |
| 1 | 6 September 2009 | Nottingham Rugby | A | W | 24–13 | 1230 | |
| 2 | 13 September 2009 | Moseley | H | W | 57–24 | 2632 | |
| 3 | 18 September 2009 | Doncaster Knights | A | W | 21–10 | 1728 | |
| 4 | 27 September 2009 | Coventry | H | W | 20–14 | 2695 | |
| 5 | 3 October 2009 | Plymouth Albion | A | L | 8–16 | 4004 | |
| 6 | 11 October 2009 | Bristol | H | L | 13–35 | 4115 | |
| 7 | 17 October 2009 | London Welsh | A | L | 10–34 | 1980 | |
| 8 | 27 October 2009 | Birmingham & Solihull | H | W | 62–10 | 2530 | |
| 9 | 31 October 2009 | Rotherham Titans | A | L | 20–29 | 1287 | |
| 10 | 8 November 2009 | Bedford Blues | H | W | 25–24 | 2465 | |
| 11 | 14 November 2009 | Exeter Chiefs | A | L | 15–22 | 6158 | |
| 12 | 5 December 2009 | Moseley | A | W | 20–19 | 901 | |
| 13 | 13 December 2009 | Doncaster Knights | H | L | 10–12 | 2667 | |
| 14 | 18 December 2009 | Coventry | A | W | 27–12 | 1000 | |
| 15 | 27 December 2009 | Plymouth Albion | H | W | 46–7 | 5654 | |
| 16 | 1 January 2010 | Bristol | A | L | 15–31 | 7740 | |
| | 10 January 2009 | London Welsh | H | | P–P | | |
| 17 | 17 January 2010 | Birmingham Solihull | A | D | 31–31 | 916 | Played at Camborne due to bad weather in the Birmingham area |
| 18 | 24 January 2010 | Rotherham Titans | H | W | 29–24 | 2459 | |
| 19 | 30 January 2010 | Bedford | A | L | 16–19 | 2817 | |
| 20 | 7 February 2010 | Exeter Chiefs | H | L | 15–30 | 3661 | |
| 21 | 21 February 2010 | Nottingham Rugby | H | W | 47–19 | 2321 | |
| 22 | 13 March 2010 | London Welsh | H | L | 24–28 | 1560 | |

### Stage one league table

2009–10 RFU Championship table :
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | B | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Bristol | 22 | 19 | 0 | 3 | 630 | 337 | +293 | 16 | 92 | Promotion playoffs |
| 2 | Exeter Chiefs | 22 | 19 | 0 | 3 | 699 | 360 | +339 | 12 | 88 | Promotion playoffs |
| 3 | London Welsh | 22 | 14 | 1 | 7 | 483 | 376 | +107 | 9 | 62 | Promotion playoffs |
| 4 | Bedford Blues | 22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 581 | 436 | +145 | 9 | 59 | Promotion playoffs |
| 5 | Nottingham | 22 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 539 | 520 | +19 | 11 | 59 | Promotion playoffs |
| 6 | Cornish Pirates | 22 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 555 | 463 | +92 | 9 | 55 | Promotion playoffs |
| 7 | Doncaster Knights | 22 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 394 | 386 | +8 | 8 | 48 | Promotion playoffs |
| 8 | Plymouth Albion | 22 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 389 | 462 | −73 | 6 | 48 | Promotion playoffs |
| 9 | Moseley | 22 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 444 | 543 | −99 | 6 | 46 | Relegation playoffs |
| 10 | Rotherham Titans | 22 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 451 | 520 | −69 | 15 | 43 | Relegation playoffs |
| 11 | Coventry | 22 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 346 | 565 | −219 | 5 | 12 | Relegation playoffs |
| 12 | Birmingham & Solihull | 22 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 293 | 836 | −543 | 4 | −9 | Relegation playoffs |
* Number of matches won
* Difference between points for and against
* Total number of points for
* Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
* Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled Notes:
* ↑ 5 points deducted
* 1 2 15 points deducted

### Stage two matches

| | Date | Opponents | H / A | Result | Score | Attendance |
| 1 | 19 March 2010 | Bristol | A | L | 12–19 | 5892 |
| 2 | 28 March 2010 | Plymouth Albion | H | W | 17–0 | 2849 |
| 3 | 4 April 2010 | Bedford Blues | H | W | 22–18 | 3359 |
| 4 | 10 April 2010 | Bedford Blues | A | L | 18–42 | 2599 |
| 5 | 16 April 2010 | Plymouth Albion | A | L | 14–19 | 4141 |
| 6 | 1 May 2010 | Bristol | H | L | 15–60 | 3190 |

### Stage two league table

| Pos | Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | Bonus Pts | PTS |
| 1 | Bristol | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 189 | 86 | 4 | 24 |
| 2 | Bedford Blues | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 154 | 125 | 4 | 20 |
| 3 | Cornish Pirates | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 98 | 158 | 2 | 10 |
| 4 | Plymouth Albion | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 57 | 129 | 1 | 5 |

## British and Irish Cup

| | Date | Opponents | H / A | Result | Score | Attendance | Notes |
| 1 | 22 November 2009 | Gael Force | H | W | 29–8 | 2370 | |
| 2 | 27 November 2009 | Leinster A | A | L | 10–12 | 520 | Played at Donnybrook, Dublin |
| 3 | 13 February 2010 | Plymouth Albion | A | W | 13–9 | 2413 | |
| 4 | 28 February 2010 | Exeter Chiefs | H | W | 37–14 | 2564 | |
| 5 | 7 March 2010 | Newport | H | W | 26–20 | 3650 | |
| Team | P | W | D | L | TF | PF | PA | BP | LB | +/- | Pts |
| Cornish Pirates | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 115 | 63 | 2 | 1 | +52 | 19 |
| Leinster A | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 89 | 65 | 1 | 1 | +24 | 18 |
| Newport | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 81 | 54 | 1 | 1 | +27 | 16 |
| Exeter Chiefs | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 79 | 85 | 1 | 1 | -6 | 10 |
| Plymouth Albion | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 55 | 58 | 0 | 2 | -3 | 8 |
| Gael Force | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 35 | 129 | 1 | 1 | -94 | 2 |

### Semi–final

* 25 April 2010 1500
| Cornish Pirates | 43 – 5 | Doncaster Knights |
| | report | |
* Recreation Ground, Camborne Attendance: 2327 Referee: L Roberts (RFU)

### Final

* 2010 1800
| Cornish Pirates | 23 – 14 | Munster A |
| | report | |
* Recreation Ground, Camborne Attendance: 4240 Referee: L Hodges