Cornish Pirates

NEW Cornish Pirates forwards coach Mark Hewitt admits he cannot wait to get stuck into the action after he finalised his move from Guinness Premiership side Gloucester.

Hewitt, a 46-year-old former Royal Marine from Kent, played in the back-row for Plymouth Albion, Devon and the Combined Services before later taking up a post with the South West England Rugby Academy (SWERA) based at Ivybridge Community College. From there he progressed up the M5 to Kingsholm, where he was Gloucester’s RFU Academy Manager and helped oversee the development of a number of the Cherry & Whites most up-and-coming players. However, the chance of a return back to the Westcountry with the Pirates was an opportunity Hewitt was not going to let slip away

. He said: "Obviously I'm very happy to be joining up with the Pirates. I'm from down this part of the world and I just felt this was too good an opportunity to turn down.

"Both the club and myself are very ambitious and having spoken to Jim, I feel we share a similar philosophy on how the game should be played.

"Having been at Gloucester I've seen how a Premiership club operates and have a good understanding of what is required to work at that level," added Hewitt, who fills the role vacated by John McKee.

"Working closely with people like Dean Ryan and Bryan Redpath you learn a great deal, so hopefully I can bring some of those experiences to the Pirates, as well as add a few of my own ideas to things."