Despite achieving bonus point wins in all four games played thus far in Pool C of the Championship Cup, the Cornish Pirates feel they need to go up another notch when in Round 5 they welcome Caldy to the Mennaye Field on Saturday (ko 2.30pm).

This weekend’s teams have met just twice, with both games played this season at Caldy’s Paton Field ground. The Pirates won 26-7 in the Cup last November, before in December snow they lost 15-14 in the league.

There are four changes in the Pirates starting XV for this week. In the backs centre Shae Tucker and wing AJ Cant are named, whilst in the pack both prop Hayden King and flanker Jarrard Hayler will be making their first competitive match starts of the season.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s encounter, Cornish Pirates’ joint head coach Gavin Cattle has commented:

“As we have witnessed Caldy are dangerous opponents, with their win against us in December seemingly being a catalyst for them to press on.

“They too haven’t got a big squad but had a settled team that gained them promotion into the Championship. Since then, with useful and experienced performers, they have proved to be a very good addition at the level.

“We will likely see some familiar faces from the side that played us in the league and being on a bit of a crest they will no doubt be wanting to keep that momentum going. However, from our perspective, we aim to concentrate on us and improve on a below par performance against Richmond.

“We saw the potential in a side where there were different combinations and I’d still back them to put in an improved performance, which is needed. Striving for a home semi-final spot is our focus.

“Josh Williams was a shining light against Richmond, hooker Morgan Nelson also went well, and it was good to see Ali Stacey make his debut, so there were certainly some positives – but we know we need to go up another notch this weekend.”