Our Best Of The Season

CORKER’S VIEW

Last Saturday, I told the team that we only want to take forward steps from here—and the win over Guernsey was certainly another one. In what was arguably our best performance of the season, we restricted them to a single intercept try and kept them scoreless for the entire second half. We scored five tries of our own, four of which began from possession inside our own half, with the other score a well-taken maul try. It was clear how proud the players were, especially as they brought to life several areas we’ve been working hard on in training. It was also great to see players returning from injury making a strong impact.

The Pilgrims came within a last-minute conversion of earning an away draw at Beckenham, and had we been more clinical in the first half, could have taken even more from the match. The team is really beginning to understand what it takes to win at this level and the growth in performance has been evident. The next step is improving our execution in key moments, particularly in the opposition’s twenty-two. This week we welcome Horsham to the Marine Travel Ground. Horsham have only one more win than the Pilgrims and the reverse fixture earlier in the season — our first away game — was one where we felt we didn’t show our best. We’ll be aiming for a very different performance this time.

The 1st XV travel to Esher looking to make it four wins on the bounce. It hasn’t been a successful venue for us in recent years; we know the level of performance required to earn a result that keeps us moving forward.

MATT CORKER, HEAD COACH