Nottingham v Pirates 05/11/06 match preview

Archive Index

Robin Hood's merry men meet the Pirates from Cornwall

Nottingham v Pirates
Sunday November 5th 2006 - Kick Off 1 pm

The Cornish Pirates head for Robin Hood country this Sunday bracing themselves for the first of two tough assignments on the road.

Standing in their way this weekend at Meadow Lane (1pm) will be the 'Merry Men of Nottingham', who after a somewhat spluttering start to their season, have run into some form with successive victories over Plymouth Albion and London Welsh.

The Pirates themselves are in a rich vein of form, however. Jim McKay's side have won their last five games, including back-to-back home wins over Bedford and Exeter Chiefs.

It is a run of results which has lifted the Duchy's finest to second in National League One, a position they could well improve on should Westcountry neighbours Albion defeat Rotherham at the Brickfields on Saturday and the Pirates emerge triumphant from their own encounter.

"Last week's gone and won't really count for anything at Nottingham on Sunday," said McKay. "It's what we do on the day that counts and hopefully we can go up there and give a good account of ourselves.

"All our attention this week has been on Nottingham and nothing else. We'll worry about the Rotherham game once Sunday is out of the way."

McKay added: "Nottingham is going to be a very tough game for us. Looking at the statistics from past games, it's always been high scoring when the two sides have played each other.

"Our aim has to be really concentrated on our defence, whilst at the same time show some consistency in our attack play.

"They [Nottingham] are a high scoring team and have lots of players who can cause you problems. It's a really good playing surface up there and they like to run the ball, so it's got the makings of a really good game."

Coach Jim McKay

Such a scenario would certainly delight the Pirates faithful, but Aussie coach McKay is refusing to get carried away with the club's recent run of form.

Among the dangermen for the home side will be former Pirate Tom Barlow, who switched to Nottingham in the summer following two seasons with the Cornish club.

"We know all about Tom and what he can bring to a game," warned McKay. "He'll look to run the game for them, but he's also a very good goalkicker, so we'll have to be very disciplined as well."

Despite last Sunday's 37-20 success over the Chiefs, McKay has made changes to his starting line-up with Steve Winn and Henry Barrett forming the centre partnership in place of the two Duncans, messrs Bell and Roke.

On the bench, there could also be a first appearance of the season for hooker Nick Makin, who has spent the current campaign sidelined through injury.

Pirates
A Winnan; R McAtee, H Barratt, S Winn, L Vinnicombe
A Di Bernardo, G Cattle (capt); A Paver, V Ma'asi, S Heard
J Inglis, J Beardshaw; S McKeen, I Motusaga, M Evans.


Adryan Winnan	Rhodri McAtee	Henry Barratt	Steve Winn	Lewis Vinnicombe

Alberto Di Bernardo	Gavin Cattle (Capt)	Alan Paver	Viliami Ma’asi	Sam Heard

James Inglis	Joe Beardshaw	Stan McKeen	Iva Motusaga	Matt Evans