CORNISH Pirates joint head coach Gavin Cattle feels ‘one swallow doesn’t make a summer’ despite an outstanding 46-14 victory over previous Championship leaders Coventry at the Mennaye Field on Saturday afternoon.

The Pirates, who had beaten Chinnor and Caldy in their previous two outings, ran in seven-tries in front of a 1,555 crowd to shock the Midlanders who arrived in the Duchy unbeaten.

Commenting at the end of the match, Cattle said: “I think a performance has been building, but in all honesty although we were four tries up in the first half, I didn’t think we played particularly well. Having said that, our maul and lineout functioned today and, although we’ve still got a bit of a battle in the scrum, our energy was good, we were physical, and the intent was there as well.

“As I have said before, we have been working hard behind the scenes, but one swallow doesn’t make a summer, although a performance like today does boost our confidence. Also, we remember that we were one score from beating Ealing and just one score from beating Bedford, so we haven’t been a million miles away.”

Cattle reserved special praise for three of his starting 15, including newcomers Lewis Pearson and Martin Moloney, as well as the whole squad.

Cattle added: “I thought our two recent loan boys from Exeter Chiefs (Lewis Pearson and Martin Moloney) played very well, as did all the lads across the board, with our skipper Hugh Bokenham, ‘Mr Consistency’, setting the right example.

“Seeing and hearing the crowd being a bit more vocal was great, as was the weather. The pitch was also looking good, which enabled us to play bit, as we now look forward to getting ready to welcome Doncaster Knights to the Mennaye next Sunday.”

Kick-off for that fixture is at 2.30pm.