Cornish Pirates

CORNISH Pirates coach Jim McKay says he is delighted to see the return to action of South African powerhouse Matt Evans.

Evans, who has been sidelined since sustaining a horrific injury at Nottingham last September, is included in a 10-man Pirates squad for this weekend's Henley International Sevens at Dry Leas.

The former Worcester man has battled back well from the injury and his return to fitness is a major boost for McKay ahead of the new season, which kicks-off next month with the Pirates trip to Doncaster on September 3.

"It's great to have Matt back in action," said McKay. "He has worked very hard to get himself back and fully fit and this weekend will be a chance for him to get back playing and doing what he loves."

Evans will be joined in the Pirates squad by new signings Duncan Roke and Shaun James, as well as Matt Jess, Kevin James and Joe Bearman, Oscar Osir, Benjamin Ayimba, Wes Davies and Rhodri McAtee, of which the latter five featured for the Cornish club in the Tusker Safari Sevens in Kenya last month.

McKay knows this weekend will be a good opportunity for his squad to gain some much needed match practice. He added: "The main aim for this weekend is for the guys to get some gain time and work on their fitness. The Henley Sevens is a good competition with some good teams, obviously we want to do as well as we can, but the main aim is to get the guys fully in tune for the new season.

"We did well over in Kenya and hopefully we can do well at Henley . It will be tough, especially as some of the sides competing are specialist Sevens sides. That said, we've got some really good players in our squad, particularly Rhodri, whose a quality Sevens player, so we'll give it our best shot."