Doncaster
v Cornish Pirates Saturday October 7th 2006 CORNISH
Pirates coach Jim McKay is hopeful his side can overcome their recent bouts of
travel sickness with victory over Doncaster at Castle Park tomorrow. At
home it has been plain sailing for McKay's men as they've comfortably swept aside
the challenges of Otley, Moseley and more recently Newbury. However, on the road
it's been a different storiy with defeats at Waterloo and Leeds Tykes. Defeat
for a third time away from Camborne would not only leave McKay with another headache,
but it would leave the Duchy's finest with yet more work to do in their quest
to be among the division's high-flyers. "We're expecting a very
tough game up at Doncaster," said McKay yesterday. "It's
a challenge we need to be right up for, but it's a challenge we believe we can
do well in. "We'll give Doncaster full respect, like with all
the teams we play. They have some very good players in their side, but so do we
and it's up to our guys to make their mark." Buoyed by last Sunday's
34-13 win over Newbury at Camborne, the Pirates will head to Yorkshire looking
to claim their first back-to-back success of the new season. "We'll
go up there in confident mood," added the Australian. "Last week
was a pretty good performance, especially considering the tough conditions. It
was very windy, but we adapted well and we came away with the five points, which
is good. "We're expecting this weekend's game to be much more
intense than Sunday's game. Like I said, Doncaster have some very good players
in their side, they like to play rugby, but they've also got other aspects to
their game, like a good maul and a good kick and chase game. Those are areas we
have to be aware of, but at the same time we've got to look to impose ourselves
and our game on them." Team news for the visitors sees just one
change, Duncan Roke comes in at centre for Henry Barratt, who was forced off during
the Newbury game with a knee injury. However, the former Harlequins player is
fit enough to take his place on the bench. Meanwhile, skipper Gavin Cattle
has shaken off the effects of a troublesome hamstring injury and he again starts
at scrum-half for the Pirates. Doncaster make just one change to their line-up
from that which won 29-8 at London Welsh a week ago. Experienced scrum-half Dave
Scully starts in place of Ben Jones. Also included in the home line-up is
former Pirate Wes Davies, who starts on the left wing. The versatile back enjoyed
two successful seasons down in the Duchy before opting for a return back North. However,
Donny's new Fijian signing Netani Talei is unlikely to figure in tomorrow's clash.
The 23-year-old No.8 only jetted into England earlier this week. He comes fresh
from playing in the Pacific Five Nations tournament this summer and also featured
in Fiji's 29-18 victory over Italy in June.
Pirates Team 15
Adryan Winnan - 14 Rhodri McAtee - 13 Duncan Roke - 12 Duncan Bell - 11 Jonny
Hylton 10 Alberto Di Bernardo - 9 Gavin Cattle(Capt) - 8 Matt Evans - 7 |va
Motusaga - 6 Stan McKeen 5 Joe Beardshaw - 4 Heino Senekal - 3 Sam Heard -
2 Viliami Maasi - 1 Alan Paver Replacements: 16
Owen Hambly 17 Grant Anderson 18 Scott Hobson 19 Chris Cracknell 20 James Moore
21 Henry Barratt 22 Steve Winn |