Returning
to Cornwall early this week following their Rugby World Cup Sevens exploits in
Dubai, gold medal winner Rhodri McAtee (Wales) and Brian Tuohy (Ireland) are both
named in line-up to take on Esher this Sunday. The
Pirates are expecting a tough battle against the 'EEEs', who are in a rich vein
of form, and although the Pirates won 70-10 when the teams last met on Cornish
soil in February last year, that result will have absolutely no bearing this weekend. The
men from Surrey have lost just one game in 2009, a 47-21 defeat at league leaders
Leeds Carnegie, and in their last two games they have won 40-19 at Rotherham and
23-17 at home to Moseley. Full-back Neil Hallett is to be congratulated on passing
the 1,000 points mark for the club last week against 'Mose', to become the 2nd
top points scorer of all time for Esher. Also, of course, it must also be mentioned
that back in December it was Esher who almost created an upset at Exeter's Sandy
Park, where they at the very least fully deserved a 12-all draw. Neil
Hallett is not named in the Esher team for Sunday's contest, replaced by the experienced
former London Welsh full-back Sam Ulph, with there clearly quality aplenty in
the Esher side. A link with Harlequins enables them to use a number of very useful
loan players, including centre Charlie Amesbury and Seb Jewell, and props Alex
Rogers and Ignacio Elosu. Scotland 'A' wing Doug Flockhart is someone who demands
respect, whilst fellow wing Tom Lozides, a former 'Saracen' who has played for
England U19s, is one to watch. Selected at No. 8 is former Western Province and
Glasgow Warriors player Shawn Renwick. Esher will be captained
by fly-half David Slemen, the son of former England wing Mike, and he is confident
that his young side can qualify for next season's 'Championship'. They are presently
12th in the league and just one point behind Moseley, who, as mentioned, they
beat last week. Slemen was full of praise after that win, commending their dogged
defence and insisting that they can step up a gear again when they travel to face
the Cornish Pirates. Mike Schmid, Esher's Director of Rugby, this week commented: "We
have seven games left, so it's all to play for. I'm not getting too excited yet
but the team has shown a lot of character." Back
to the Cornish Pirates, besides welcoming back Rhodri McAtee and Brian Tuohy,
who take over from Jimmy Moore (injured) and Paul Devlin, the half-back partnership
on Sunday links Ed Fairhurst and Simon Whatling, with Nicky Griffiths and Rhys
Jones dropping to the bench. In the back-row there is also a unit change, as Matt
Evans, Sam Betty and Blair Cowan replace Bertrand Bedes, Iva Motusaga and Chris
Morgan. 'Up front' Scott Franklin starts at tight-head prop ahead of Sam Heard. The
expected team line-ups for Sunday are as follows:-
Cornish Pirates:
A. Winnan,
R. McAtee, M. Ireland, S. Winn, B. Tuohy
S. Whatling, E. Fairhurst, M. Evans,
S. Betty, B. Cowan
B. Gulliver (capt), H. Senekal, S. Franklin, D. Dawidiuk,
A. Paver.
Replacements: S. Heard, R. Elloway, M. Burak, S. Raven, N. Griffiths,
R. Jones, P. Devlin
Esher (Team as named for the
programme):
S. Ulph, D. Flockhart, C. Amesbury, S. Jewell, T. Lozides
D. Slemen (capt), R. Shaw, S. Renwick, S. Stitcher, J. Waterhouse
A. Ayling,
P. Barker, I. Elosu, K. Corrigan, A. Rogers.
Replacements: T. Tunnicliffe,
M. Blakeburn, L. Starling, S. Goldsmith, S. Gaynor, T. Clouston, I. Barnes |
