Pirates Make Changes for Return Leg Against Hartpury

The Cornish Pirates have made changes for their Pool 3 return fixture to Hartpury RFC on Saturday in Round 4 of the Championship Cup (ko 2.30pm).

Fresh from international duty with Fiji and Georgia respectively, hooker Sam Matavesi and lock Nodar Cheishvili are selected. For Nodar it will be a first appearance for the Pirates in a competitive match. Dan Koster and Javier Rojas Alvarez will form the centre partnership, Will Cargill returns at fly-half and there are also starting roles for scrum-half Alex Schwarz, back-rowers James McRae and John Stevens, and prop Tyler Gendall. Prop forward Jack Andrew will captain the side.

The Pirates won 53-17 at home to Hartpury RFC last Sunday, however the coaches and players will take nothing for granted, aware of a threat that their hosts will pose.

Ahead of Saturday’s return fixture, Cornish Pirates co-coach Gavin Cattle has commented:

Despite last week’s scoreline we were unhappy with how we performed in the first half as created opportunities weren’t taken that should have given us a bigger lead. However, the reaction at half-time was pleasing and aware themselves that skill levels had let them down the players responded to put in a pretty decent second half performance.

As for this weekend, we were bruised when we suffered a hefty loss at London Irish so expect Hartpury to have similarly looked this week at putting their wrongs right. We will have to be on our mettle and aim to put in a good performance to give us a good shout away to Bedford the following week in a hope to progress in the competition.

Gavin added:

Selection-wise it’s great to have Sam (Matavesi) back. Last weekend’s performance when playing for Fiji in their historic win against France confirmed what a player he is and hopefully he’ll bring that confidence back to the team. Also for Nodar (Cheishvili), his return from international duty with Georgia also gives him an opportunity to impress.