So it was a trip to Camborne last Sunday for the fierce local derby between Cornish Pirates and Exeter Chiefs. I would say out of the Westcountry derby matches the encounters between these two clubs are always my favourite given that both of these clubs like to play expansive rugby and you can almost guarantee plenty of points and so it proved on Sunday with 55 points on show.
The train journey to Camborne was somewhat disrupted by engineering work at St Austell; but on arrival there was plenty of time for a leisurely walk to the ground, an approximate ten or fifteen minute walk. It is worth noting that the Sunday kick off times makes a pre-match trip to Camborne town centre pretty worthless given that there are very few shops open and certainly none of those providing genuine Cornish Pasties as I have found to my cost in the past.
The walk from the train station involves a trip down Tregenna Lane although for me it is more of a trip down memory lane given that this was the road I used to walk to and from school when I was a boy. Useless fact for the day is that my old primary school (which is directly adjacent to Pirates home ground) cross country course used to incorporate the terraces of Camborne “Rec.”
“The Rec” is into its third season of hosting the Cornish Pirates as talks about a new stadium in Truro continue. It is no stranger to hosting big rugby events having been a regular host over the years for Cornish County Championship matches, although a trip to the public toilets serves as a stark reminder that it could never serve as a permanent home for a club with the genuine future Premiership ambitions that Pirates claim to have.
The pre match music beamed to the various vantage points around the stadium appears to be building the supporters up to a school disco rather than national league rugby and I am yet to be convinced as to the merits of the modernised version of the Cornish classic song “Trelawney.”
There is however an altogether more promising offering with a version of “The Pirates are Home” which is yet to be adopted by the home supporters but you do feel that if that song was sung with the same amount of passion that was displayed when Doug Sanft put over his conversion to take the score to 23-22, it would create an intimidating atmosphere for visiting teams and supporters.
I always enjoy my trips down to Camborne to watch Pirates and I was certainly not disappointed on Sunday afternoon and now I’m looking towards next weekend’s trip to London Welsh. London Welsh and Bedford have both made hugely impressive starts to the season and having been born in Wales I do feel an ever so slight connection to The Dragons even having never visited Old Deer Park in the past; of course that will all change on Saturday.
