 |
| Alan
Paver |  |
| Bruce
Cumming |  |
| Heino
Senekal |  |
| Vunga
Lilo |
| The
Saints, of course, are odds on to make a swift return to the Premiership, and
though they have had a fright or two, they still remain unbeaten, having acquired
71 points from their 15 games played. In wing Chris Ashton they also possess the
Division's most potent finisher, him scoring 17 of their 91 tries amassed to date. Talking
of potency, Northampton fly-half Barry Everitt also has the best kicking strike
rate in the league - it an impressive 91.30%. When the teams
met at Camborne in September, for the Cornish Pirates a final 26-35 scoreline
proved somewhat frustrating, as having been 19-10 up at the break, we were ultimately
left to reflect that we had let slip a chance of victory. This
time around, it should be close again, as any thoughts of a Camborne cup clash
in three weeks are temporarily put aside. The Pirates side
shows four changes from the one that started against the Cornish All Blacks -
two in the pack and two in the backs. Alan Paver returns at loose-head prop in
place of Peter Cook, and in the second-row Bruce Cumming will partner Heino Senekal,
taking the place of Joe Beardshaw whose has a knee ligament injury which is likely
to keep him out for several weeks. Adding power out wide
is Tongan World Cup player Vunga Lilo, who takes a wing spot from Rhodri McAtee,
whilst the one other change sees the return from injury of fly-half Gareth Steenson,
the Division's leading points scorer. Last week's man of
the match Ollie Thomas, who wore the number 10 shirt against the Blacks, is named
in the list of possible replacements.
Cornish
Pirates:
: A. Winnan, V. Lilo, M. Ireland, S. Winn, B. Tuohy, G. Steenson
E. Fairhurst, M. Evans, C. Cracknell, T. Cowley (capt), B. Cumming
H. Senekal,
S. Heard, N. Kemp, A. Paver. Replacements:
P. Cook, D. Seal, R. Elloway, S. Hobson, I. Motusaga
J. Moore, P. Devlin,
O. Thomas. |
| | Northampton
Saints Backs:
Grant Anderson, Chris Ashton,
Jon Clarke, Paul Diggin, Barry Everitt, Johnny Howard, Stephen Myler, Bruce Reihana,
Carlos Spencer, Neil Starling, Ian Vass. Forwards:
Mark Easter,
Darren Fox, Dylan Hartley, Mark Hopley, Matt Lord, Euan Murray, Alex Rae, Paul
Shields, Christian Short, Tom Smith, Barry Stewart, Soane Tonga’uiha, Paul
Tupai. Referee: Mark Wilson (RFU)
|
