This Saturday will see the Cornish Pirates visit Kingsey Road, Thame, Oxfordshire, to face Chinnor away in what will be a 10^th versus 5^th clash in Round 16 of the Championship (ko 3pm).

Last Saturday ‘The Villagers’, to give Chinnor their nickname, drew 17-all away to Hartpury, so the Pirates will be under no illusion that nothing less than a tough contest awaits this weekend. Indeed, when the two teams met for the first time at senior level back at the Mennaye Field in November, the Pirates only emerged narrow 15-13 winners from what was a hard-fought encounter.

A change in starting personnel for the Cornish Pirates, from the one that ran out at home against Cambridge last Sunday, is that of Fintan Coleman who is selected at open-side wing forward. His inclusion sees skipper Alex Everett move to number 8, with Tomi Agbongbon this week dropping to the bench.

Speaking ahead of the match, Cornish Pirates’ joint head coach Gavin Cattle has said:

“Looking back to when we first played Chinnor at home in November, we were perhaps a bit lucky to come out on the right side of the result, so we know what to expect. They have a solid set piece, will be physical, and have a well-structured attack.

“As we saw in our win against Cambridge the present firmer pitches are enabling more running rugby to be played, though you can’t but escape it will likely be the physical aspect that will play a big part, and with an emphasis on that the hope is we can then create some space.”

The Cornish Pirates full selection is as follows:

Cornish Pirates:   15 Athur Relton 14 Robin Wedlake 13 Charlie McCaig 12 Chester Ribbons `11 Matt McNab 10 Bruce Houston 9 Dan Hiscocks; 1 Billy Young 2 Harry Hocking 3 Jay Tyack 4 Josh King 5 Charlie Rice 6 Matt Cannon 7 Fintan Coleman 8 Alex Everett (captain).

Replacements:   16 Dylan Irvine 17 James French 18 Ben Woodmansey 19 Alfie Bell 20 Tomiwa Agbongbon 21 Will Becconsall 22 Iwan Jenkins 23 Harry Yates.