Pirates ‘Chomping at The Bit’ For Mennaye Action

After weeks of incessant rain in West Cornwall, the Cornish Pirates and their supporters will be looking forward to Sunday, and a first home game in 2018.

Since the Pirates last played a match at the Mennaye Field, which was back on New Year’s Eve, two fixtures had to be postponed. One was just a couple weeks ago against Yorkshire Carnegie, who will be this weekend’s welcome opponents.

Sunday’s rearranged game is a 9th versus 3rd clash in the Greene King IPA Championship, and the kick-off is at 2.30pm.

Changes in the Cornish Pirates starting line-up from the one that faced Nottingham Rugby last week sees Alex O’Meara and Harry Strong named as the wing pairing, Chris Morgan selected alongside Brett Beukeboom in the second-row, and John Stevens at open-side flanker. Included among the replacements are player/coach Alan Paver and Toby May.

Speaking ahead of Sunday, Cornish Pirates’ player/coach Alan Paver has commented:

We have had a lot, a lot of water on the pitch this winter and the ground staff have done a fine job, to even at times get it close to being playable. For obvious reasons It’s been a difficult period for the club and for the team, but with wind and sunshine this week it is at last looking in good nick for action and we are just chomping at the bit to get out there.

As for the challenge posed by Yorkshire Carnegie, who have done well in the league, they beat us narrowly 28-26 in October. They first and foremost pride themselves on their set play, so we know we’re going to have a bit of a wrestle there, and they also have good players to play an expansive game. With their balance they can cause sides a lot of trouble.