This
coming Saturday's away game to Bedford (ko 3pm) provides the Cornish Pirates with
a tough opener for November. The 'Blues' are clearly
one of the very best sides in the league, and are presently fourth in National
Division One after winning seven of their nine matches played to date. Their only
home defeat was a narrow 23-26 points result against Exeter Chiefs, whilst last
Sunday saw them lose 15-7 away to Nottingham in an East Midlands derby game. Losing
a close and keenly contested match at Nottingham will make Bedford even more determined
to win on Saturday in front of their passionate home supporters, who have witnessed
not only a fair share of successful and entertaining rugby to date, but will also
remember the Pirates sneaking a late win (15-17) at their Goldington Road ground
last February. In wing Ian Davey and centre Billy Twelvetrees
they have two potent finishers, the pair having already notched up 10 and 9 tries
each in the present campaign. Davey joined the club in the close season from Bath,
as did experienced scrum-half Nick Walshe, whilst young Twelvetrees moved just
a short distance from Leicester Tigers. For the Cornish
Pirates, who climbed from ninth to seventh in the league following their win against
Moseley, they'll be looking to compete well and put in another impressive performance
on the road, similar hopefully to that which they displayed away to Doncaster
in their last away match. Full-back Adryan Winnan, who had
an outstanding game last Sunday, is handed the back the captaincy role in a Cornish
Pirates team that shows just three changes from the side that started against
'Mose'. In the backs, Steve Winn is selected at centre in place of Tom Luke, whilst
changes in the front row see hooker Darren Dawidiuk and prop Scott Franklin given
starting roles in place of Rob Elloway and Sam Heard, who are both injured. Cornish
Pirates:
A. Winnan (capt), B. Tuohy, P. Devlin, S. Winn, R. McAtee,
R.
Jones, N. Griffiths, B. Bedes, I. Motusaga, C,. Morgan
B. Gulliver, H. Senekal,
S. Franklin, D. Dawidiuk, A. Paver. Replacements: P.
Cook, D. Seal, M. Burak, S. Betty, E. Fairhurst, T. Luke, M. Ireland.
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