IT wasn't quite Everest or Kilimanjaro, but the mountain the Cornish Pirates scaled on Saturday was just as impressive as they dug deep into their reserves to pull off a famous 20-19 victory at Moseley.

After a torrid first half at Billesley Common – one in which the Duchy visitors trailed 19-0 at the break – the Pirates conjured up a spirited second-half showing to record their seventh Championship win of the campaign.

Rob Cook's conversion to an injury time try from South African back Nick Jackson capped a remarkable fight back for Chris Stirling's side who, it has to be said, refused to throw in the towel.

"I'm absolutely delighted," declared Stirling at the final whistle. "Victories like this are twofold. One: they can set you up to move forward with real confidence. Two: they bring out the character that is within. For me, that stuff is priceless because that is what we have been hunting for all season."

However, if Stirling's mood was one of contentment come the close, the face of thunder he portrayed as he headed for the changing rooms at half-time told a much different story.

With his side 19 points down, the Kiwi coach admitted he was ready to tear into his troops following their below-par first-half display. Sadly, Stirling had to wait before offering his stinging rebuke.

Already club captain Gavin Cattle had begun dissecting the first 40 minutes, delivering a cutting assessment to his fellow team-mates on where exactly the Pirates needed to improve.

"I couldn't talk to start with," explained Stirling. "Gavin took the lead – as he often does – and his tone was far from passive. The words he used were far from printable, but they were all accurate. What he said revolved around whether the goals we set before the game were just words on a piece of paper – or whether they were words that were really important and ones we bought in to. I think we saw the answer in the second half."

Having come into the game on the back of a narrow 12-10 defeat to Leinster in the British & Irish Cup the week previous, the Pirates could hardly have wished for a worse start to this latest encounter in the Midlands.

Just 30 seconds had been played when fly-half Jonny Bentley's attempted clearance was charged down by Moseley's Chevvy Pennycook, the No.8 latching onto the loose ball before touching down for the opening try which Tristan Roberts duly converted.

It was hardly the start the Pirates had envisaged, but things were to get decidely worse as the half progressed. Fly-half Roberts extended Moseley's lead on seven minutes with a penalty from 25 metres out – and he repeated the feat twice more to put the home side 16-0 up in as many minutes.

At that stage, Moseley were threatening to run away with things. Roberts was enjoying an armchair ride in the number ten jersey, while a distinct lack of discipline was compounding the problems for the visitors.

By the half-hour mark, Roberts' trusty right boot had added a fourth penalty to edge Moseley further clear as conditions overhead worsened by the minute.

Thankfully for the Pirates, they survived the remainder of the half and headed for their half-time bunker still relatively in touch.

"We weren't playing well and our discipline really let us down," said Stirling. "That said, we did create a couple of really good opportunities which we didn't take through a couple of handling errors. At 19-0 down, yes it was a mountain to climb, but the guys believed they could do it – and they did."

As part of the fight back plan, Stirling replaced prop Carl Rimmer with Scott Franklin and the move worked a treat as the Canadian international not only helped shore up the struggling Pirates scrum, but also provided another hard-hitting ball carrier.

Franklin wasted little in getting involved in the action where – with three minutes of the second half played – the Pirates initiated their response with their opening try. Having punched their way into the Moseley 22 through some dogged work up front, the ball was worked out to the backs where Bentley combined to send Rhodri McAtee scampering in by the sticks for Cook to convert.

Buoyed by the score and some inspired running from the outstanding Blair Cowan and Dave Ward, the Pirates continued to chip away at the deficit as Cook landed penalties on 47 and 58 minutes to leave just six points in it.

Time, however, was ticking by and with Moseley – who briefly lost scrum-half Gareth Taylor to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Mark Ireland – content to see out the game with an 'up the jumper' approach to proceedings, it seemed the Pirates' charge was to be thwarted.

That was until injury time when, following some determined work at a ruck, they turned over the home side and worked the ball neatly across their back line to Jackson, who slide his way over the whitewash to make it 19-18. With it all to do, it was left to Cook to step forward and thunder over an excellent conversion from the right touchline.

In front for the first time all game, the Pirates could not have timed it any better as just two minutes later, referee Luke Pearce called a halt to proceedings.

"That is the stuff that bonds a team and drags it through to the next phase," added Stirling. "To come back from 19 points down was a terrific effort from all the boys.

"Now, we have to build on this. We have Doncaster at home next week and that will be tough. At the moment we are six and one at Camborne, we want to make that seven and one. It's our fortress and we want to make it a venue that teams who come there won't want to enjoy too much.

"We have identified the four weeks prior to New Year as being crucial to us – and if we can come out the other side with the right amount of points, it will give us a chance not to take our foot off the accelerator, but it will give us a chance to try and play a different style of rugby without that pressure of trying to make the top eight."