Cornish Pirates

BRISTOL flanker Chris Morgan has agreed a one-month loan deal with the Cornish Pirates.

The 24-year-old, who is a product of the Premiership club's Under-21 set-up, featured in over 20 games for Bristol during their promotion campaign last season and has been brought in to boost the Pirates back-row resources, which are without the injured Iva Motusaga and Lodewyk Hattingh.

Equally at home at either six or seven, Morgan played a handful of games for Bristol during their Premiership campaigns in 2001-02 and 2002-03, before firmly establishing himself in Richard Hill's back-row over the next two seasons.

Pirates coach Jim McKay said: "We've brought Chris in because we've lost both Iva and Lodewyk in the last couple of weeks. He is a pretty experienced player and thanks to our good relations with Bristol , both parties get a 'win-win situation' out of this deal.

"Chris has not had a great deal of first-team action this season, so I'm sure he's looking forward to coming down here for a month and getting some games under his belt."

Morgan is likely to feature in the Pirates squad for this weekend's tough trip to Bedford Blues, as are fellow new recruits Simon Hockings and Neil Chivers, both of whom were involved in the match-day 22 for Saturday's 43-16 win at Exeter Chiefs.

CHRIS MORGAN FACTFILE

POSITION: Flanker

DOB: 11/06/81

HEIGHT: 1.88m

WEIGHT: 104kg

APPEARANCES: Bristol 39 (22) 2 tries