Cornish Pirates

Alex Cheesman - Flanker

Alex Cheesman - Flanker

Alex  arrived at the Cornish Pirates in the summer of 2012 looking forward to new challenges and the chance to prove himself.

In his first season he played in 24 games, firstly as a centre and then as a hard-working flanker.

Date of Birth:	17th October 1988
Nationality:	English
Birthplace:	London
Height:	1.88m (6'2")
Weight:	15st 2lbs (96 kg)
Position:	Flanker
Previous Clubs:	Wasps, Sale Sharks. Marlow, Henley Hawks
Honours:	England Students, GB Students Sevens England Sevens Squad
Signed	2012
Debut	Loughborough Students Friendly (H) 11/8/12

Season Stats

Season	Starts	Rep	Tries	Cons	Pens	Drop	Pts
2012/13 All	8	12	3	0	0	0	15
Friendlies 12/13	1	2	1	0	0	0	5

London-born Alex started playing rugby aged seven at Marlow RFC, the former club of Matt Dawson.

When older, Alex played for RGS High Wycombe and joined the Wasps Academy, where he was able to focus on his training under the direction of coach Jon Scourfield, a former London Broncos rugby league player.

On leaving school, Alex received an offer to go to Oxford University to study for a degree in geography before embarking on a career in professional rugby. This was a very tough decision to make and one that was heavily influenced by his parents, but there were no regrets.

Under Steve Hill (Director of Rugby) and Brian Ashton (Backs Coach), Alex was able to benefit from excellent coaching, and he played against Premiership 'A'  league teams, besides also having the opportunity to play in the 'Varsity Match'  against Cambridge (two of which were against Ben Maidment).

Alex considered his time spent at Oxford University to be extremely beneficial, and the incredibly honest, hard-working, and close-knit nature of the sports teams there encapsulated some of the reasons why he never considered another career path outside of rugby.

Being able to train, play and live alongside some incredible players was a great learning curve and a wonderful privilege. The chance to develop physically was also of great importance, as he felt not physically ready for the challenges of a professional rugby club on leaving school, which was one of the key reasons in his decision to go to university before starting full-time sport.

In his penultimate year at university, Alex trained with Sale Sharks, and was fortunate enough to be selected to play his first senior game in 2010 against Bath at the 'Rec', and in his final year he began training full-time with the England Sevens team before embarking on a trial at London Wasps. This followed him gaining his third 'blue' in the 2010 'Varsity' Match, when he scored one try and also set up another.

Alex joined Wasps after 'uni' and thoroughly enjoyed his time there, learning so much from Rob Headily, the defence and backs coach, in particular. Being able to train week-in, week-out with international-class players was a great help and learning from them was something he relished.