CORNISH Pirates coach Chris Stirling admitted he was left "gutted" after seeing his side slip to a 19-12 defeat against Bristol in last night's Championship play-off opener at the Memorial Stadium.

Home fly-half Adrian Jarvis did much of the damage booting four penalties, as well as converting the extras to Ian Grieve's first-half touchdown.

In reply, Pirates full-back Rob Cook always kept his side in touch with four successful penalties of his own. However, a malfunctioning line-out from the visitors was to cost them dear.

With Stirling having made four changes – one positional – to the side that lost at London Welsh the week previous, the Cornish club started this latest encounter in fine fashion.

Just two minutes had been played when Cook – the club's leading points-scorer this term – slotted over the first of his penalties after Bristol had been penalised for pulling down a maul. It was to prove a shortlived lead as Bristol restored parity within four minutes, former Harlequins back Jarvis punishing the visitors for straying offside in front of their own posts.

On 12 minutes, Bristol – who had topped the Championship standings following the first phase of the inaugural season – took the lead when a series of close-in drives set-up flanker Grieve to burrow his way over the whitewash for Jarvis to convert.

The Pirates, however, refused to buckle and with some outstanding defence – one particular hit from Aisea Havili on Dan Norton stands out – they continued to repel the threat of the home back division. Turning defence into attack, the Pirates reduced the arrears with a second Cook penalty, before Kiwi No.8 Blair Cowan was held up just inches from the line as the half drew towards a close.

After the break, a third Cook penalty reduced the deficit to a point, only for Jarvis to go down the other end to slot a similar effort of his own. Dave Ward, who enjoyed a fine game for the Pirates, was at the heart of most of the home destruction. Sadly, referee Rowan Kitt was not always reading from the same script as the former Northampton and Sale forward, penalising him on a number of occasions, one of which Jarvis again punished to make it 16-9.

To their credit the Pirates refused to lie down and when Cook added a fourth penalty of the night, it set up a thrilling finale to the contest. But just as the Cornishmen looked to press home their advantage, yet another costly line-out cost them vital field position and Bristol trundled down the other end, the results of which saw Jarvis add a last gasp penalty to seal the win.

Afterwards, a disappointed Stirling said: "I'm gutted. It's really disappointing, but at the same time I'm really proud of the guys and what they put into the game. Their attitude, the way they fought and the way they defended were outstanding.

"I'm just really disappointed because it was there for us tonight. If we ever wanted to beat Bristol – we will in the future – today was the day we could have done it. We had them under real pressure, but just couldn't finish the job off. We have a few work-ons from tonight, especially the line-outs, but we'll go away and now prepare ourselves for another massive test against Plymouth next week.

"We are well aware that they will want to come down here and look to put things right. We're 2-1 against them right now. These play-off games are going to be wars every week and next week will be no different."

THE Cornish All Blacks' League One match against London Scottish is a home match (Polson Bridge today, 2.30pm) and not away as stated in yesterday's Western Morning News.