Having secured their first Champ Rugby win of the season away to London Scottish last weekend, in Round 5 this Saturday the Cornish Pirates will be welcoming unbeaten Caldy to the Mennaye Field for a 2.30pm kick-off.

The visitors from the Wirral are the surprise package in the league, so a fascinating ninth versus second contest is anticipated for supporters to enjoy.

Changes in the Cornish Pirates starting line-up this weekend sees wing Matty Ward, and prop Alessandro Heaney named to make their first league starts, whilst Sol Moody is selected at hooker and Milo Hallam at blind-side wing forward.

On the bench, Matt Pritchard will be keen to make his first starting appearance this season at hooker, and if backrower Barnaby Elderkin enters the fray, then it will mark his first league appearance for the club.

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

“For us, we pride ourselves playing at home, so we need to get that back on track as it is very important to us.

“We have been focusing on a few areas of our game, but more so the energy, the physicality and again getting used to those trips on the road. But I do think, as previously said, that we have been training well as a group and despite our two narrow losses and a draw, we just kept chipping away to improve. Against London Scottish it seemed like progress has been made and the result was a deserved reward for everybody.

“Looking at the performances of this week’s opponents from Caldy, character is one thing they have got in spades. I also think that this year they have got a couple of halfbacks who have sharpened their attack up, plus there is pace on the wings, coupled with experience and a decent pack, to have earned their impressive 20 league points to date.

“The pressure is off them this week as a parttime team and they are indeed the surprise package thus far. When you have that mentality as a team, they will be tricky customers, and it should make great viewing.”

The Cornish Pirates full selection for Saturday is as follows:

Cornish Pirates:   15 Iwan Price-Thomas 14 Matty Ward 13 Chester Ribbons 12 Joe Elderkin 11 Ben Cambriani 10 Arwel Robson 9 Dan Hiscocks (captain); 1 Alessandro Heaney 2 Sol Moody 3 Alfie Petch 4 Alfie Bell 5 Josh King 6 Milo Hallam 7 Jack Forsythe 8 Tomi Agbongbon.

Replacements:   16 Matt Pritchard 17 Billy Young 18 James French 19 Luke Ratcliff 20 Barnaby Elderkin 21 Will Rigelsford 22 Louie Sinclair 23 Harry Yates.

Referee:   Henry Pearson

Assistants:   Ben Simpson & Kevin Williams

Official 4:   Emily Hope

Match Day Sponsor:   ARW Scaffold Contracting Ltd

Match Day Collection:  Royal British Legion

(Besides the rugby and the usual post-match singing entertainment there will be plenty ‘extras’ for supporters to enjoy, including a pre-match Passing Challenge for youngsters, the Thatchers sponsored ‘Apple Rolling’ competition at halftime, and free sweets being given to anyone wearing Halloween fancy-dress attire!)