New Kit For The Pirates

Evans and Hambly, accompanied by two female models, spent more than five hours under the brush in preparation for the launch.

However, the Pirates' forwards were impressed with the end result. Evans said: "It's very nice, as usual with the red and black for the Pirates - it's good."

Hambly added: "Hopefully they're not this tight on the field! No, they're quite nice, I like the design of the home and the away."

The launch event was a welcome respite for the two players who have been hard at work in pre-season training under the watchful gaze of Australian coach Jim McKay.

Evans is expecting the team to hit the ground running on the opening day and he believes preparations are going exactly to plan.

"It's been going really well, actually," said Evans. "We've had a tough five weeks now. It's been really good, though - a lot of skills work, a lot of running and stuff. The boys are looking really sharp. Hopefully we'll continue that on until the season starts."

McKay's pre-season schedule will also include the Henley sevens tournament on August 7, an event the Pirates won last year when they defeated Northampton Saints 31-17 in the final.

A similar outcome this year will provide the whole squad with a welcome boost. With speedy stars such as Rhodri McAtee, who scored a hat-trick in last year's final, in their ranks, both Hambly and Evans have high hopes for second consecutive victory.

"We always look to win things like that," said Hambly. "It's always good to start the season with a win."

Evans added:
"As Owen said, it's a very good platform for the season. If we perform well, it won't do any harm for the squad as a whole and for the guys who play in the sevens, who should be playing in the squad, every win is a morale boost.

"If we get a good win next weekend it will be good for all of us."

Team togetherness is very much a topic on the pre-season agenda for the Pirates.

McKay has recruited more than ten new players as he looks to push his team further towards a place in the Premiership.

Despite the increasing number of new arrivals at the club, Hambly believes the new recruits will add a fresh dimension to the Pirates and will help achieve their long-term ambition of promotion.

"They've settled in fine," said Hambly. "Everyone has made them feel welcome. Some of them are looking really good quality players, it's good to see.

"I think we can improve on last season. We're always looking to do that, but I think we have to take each week as it comes.

"There's two more teams added to the league, so it's going to be a long season. Hopefully we can win the crucial games and maybe get promotion."

As Evans points out, however, McKay is not a coach easily swayed by the hype and he gave a rare insight into their coach's philosophy on rugby.

Evans said: "The nice thing about Jim is that he doesn't really set too many targets, he just tells us to go out and perform. He basically targets one performance, game by game, which is good.

"The individual performance of the team is more important and we all believe, as a squad, that if we perform well results will look after themselves.

"If we can perform well, then who knows [where we'll be] at the end of the season.