Pertemps Bees v Cornish Pirates

Match Preview

Pertemps Bees v Cornish Pirates - Saturday 30/12/06 Kick Off 1400

Pirates head coach Jim McKay still believes his side can win the National Division One title, even though they trail leaders Leeds Tykes by nine points.

Last weekend's 26-13 setback against fellow title challengers Plymouth Albion was Pirates' first home defeat of the season and a real blow to their aspirations.

It dropped them to fifth place in the table, while Albion moved into third and with the prospect of a crunch clash at Leeds on Sunday week to come.

The situation is now out of Pirates' hands, as they have already faced Leeds home and away, but McKay remained defiant on the eve of their trip to seventh-place Pertemps Bees tomorrow.

"The situation at the top can change very, very quickly," he said. "We have to roll our sleeves up, learn from last week's defeat, draw a line under it and move on.

We were very disappointed with the Plymouth result, but it gave us an opportunity to have a look at ourselves.

"From a coaching perspective, we learnt a lot of things for the future which will help us move forward. There were some areas where we have been doing well where Plymouth matched us and challenged us to get better, and for that we are grateful."

Coach Jim McKay

Financially-troubled Bees had to make director of rugby Phil Maynard redundant at the start of the month as a cost-cutting measure, and recently averted a players' strike.

Now under the leadership of head coach Steve Williams, they have had some unpredictable results at Sharmans Cross Road of late, with a 34-27 victory over Bedford followed by a shock 27-7 stuffing by Sedgley Park, though the fact Bees' players refused to train in the run-up to that game because their wages were late in arriving, might provide some explanation for the result.

Then last Saturday, they saw off Midlands rivals Coventry 22-16, but they were lucky to get through the game without the need for uncontested scrums as they only had two fit props in their 22-man squad - Emyr Lewis and Matt Long.

It followed Gloucester's decision to withdraw Terry Sigley from his loan deal and re-allocate him to Bath, after Bees had already lost Canadian international prop Casey Dunning to a broken ankle that will rule him out for the rest of the season, and Tongan international Hotili Asi, who was forced to return home after his visa ran out.

They tried to sign a prop on loan for the Coventry game, but they were unable to make a registration in time because the RFU offices at Twickenham had closed early for Christmas.

A bit of a shambles, but McKay is keen not to get distracted by Bees' problems and to concentrate instead on what his side is doing.

"It is not Buckingham Palace up there, but they have got a lot of very good players," he said. "We have had two very, very big games, mentally and physically, and playing Bees is a different type of challenge, but it is all about us responding to last week's defeat."

McKay has made four changes to his starting line-up - and all of them are in
the pack. Loose-head prop Alan Paver is sidelined with a shoulder injury, and is replaced by Grant Anderson, while Nick Makin is given a rare start in place of hooker Vili Ma'asi.

There are also two changes to the back row, with Chris Cracknell and Matt Evans dropping to the replacements' bench to make room for Iva Motusaga and Tim Cowley.

Full-back Adryan Winnan makes a welcome return to the bench after missing the Leeds and Albion games with a hamstring injury.

Pirates
D Roke, R McAtee, H Barratt, D Bell, J Hylton, A Di Bernardo, G Cattle (capt), G Anderson, N Makin, S Heard, H Senekal, J Beardshaw, S McKeen, I Motusaga, T Cowley


Duncan Roke	Rhodri McAtee	Henry Barratt	Duncan Bell	Jonny Hylton

Alberto Di Bernardo	Gavin Cattle (Capt)	Grant Anderson	Nick Makin	Sam Heard

Heino Senekal	Joe Beardshaw	Stan McKeen	Iva Motusaga	Tim Cowley