 |
They
may have lost the services of 'new' Pirate Ollie Thomas, their top points scorer
for four consecutive seasons, but the club now has close links with Premiership
outfit Gloucester. Academy players from the 'Cherry &
Whites' are dual-registered, with a number of experienced senior performers representing
Moseley on loan deals. For the Cornish Pirates, there are
also a number of pluses, with several players back from injury, two of which are
immediately gifted places in a starting line-up that shows five changes from the
side that ran out at the Brickfields last weekend. The two
who will be itching at the bit to go are centre Steve Winn, who was injured early
in the match against Exeter Chiefs a month ago, and flanker Stan McKeen. It will
be Canadian international Stan's first game of the season, following an Achilles
injury which forced him to miss playing in the Rugby World Cup. Other
changes see Chris Cracknell selected at open-side ahead of Iva Motusaga, Joe Beardshaw
replacing Bruce Cumming at lock, and Sam Heard starting at tight-head prop in
place of Dan Seal. On the bench, Paul Devlin is given a
seat having fully recovered from injury. Cornish
Pirates: 15 Ollie Thomas, 14 Ali Koko, 13 Vunga
Lilo, 12 Steve Winn
11 Jimmy Moore, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Ed Fairhurst
8 Matt Evans, 7 Chris Cracknell, 6 Stan McKeen, 5 J. Beardshaw
4 Heino Senekal,
3 Sam Heard, 2 Nathan Kemp, 1 Alan Paver (Capt) Replacements:
Darren Dawidiuk, Peter Cook, Dan Seal, Bruce Cumming
Iva Motusaga, Paul Devlin, Rhodri McAtee |
