CORNISH Pirates joint head coach Gavin Cattle admitted his side are ‘pretty good at rising to the challenge’ after securing a third straight Champ Rugby victory with a 36-28 success at high-flying Nottingham on Friday night.

The visitors got off to a fine start and soon led 12-0 via tries from full-back Iwan Price-Thomas and winger Matty Ward with Arwel Robson converting one.

Back came the hosts who went into the game in third, but Arthur Relton scored soon after to make it 17-7.

The hosts took advantage of both Robson and Billy Young’s trip to the sin-bin to lead at the break, but the Cornishmen responded with three tries to seal the contest as Relton and Ward grabbed a second apiece before Harry Yates scored late on.

Reflecting on the evening in the East Midlands, Cattle said: “It was a fascinating game and one which we executed really well at the start before we got the blip with the yellow cards which put us under pressure.

“Overall, however, looking back on the second half we managed the moments and there were a lot of good things, including our physicality, our fight at the end, and the scoring of some good tries as well.

“Considering that this we week we had a lot of adversity and had to have a four-four split on the bench it all shows that we are pretty good at rising to the challenge, as the boys have turned up and put a good performance in, again with no shortage of heart and desire.

“Two yellow cards were not ideal, but we kept our nerve and, as Dan (Hiscocks) said at the end of the game, it was his favourite win for the club in terms of how we managed and got through it and kept fighting.”