To
end what has been a fascinating month of March, the focus this Sunday will be
directed to the Headingley Carnegie Stadium, where league leaders Leeds will be
anxious to record a win against the Cornish Pirates. Up to the end of February
the Yorkshire side's season had gone pretty well to plan, as they ended it still
unbeaten and looking comfortably clear at the top. However, defeats earlier this
month away to Doncaster and Bedford would have caused anxiety in their ranks,
and they'll be understandably desperate to avoid three league losses on the trot. Alarm
bells have rung, but Leeds are still favourites to make their expected prompt
return to the Premiership, with their cause given a boost, of course, when it
was heard that Exeter lost at Moseley last Saturday. As for the Pirates,
the focus will be to bounce back from their defeat against Esher two weeks ago,
as they gun for revenge against opponents to whom they narrowly lost 25-23 at
Camborne last November. Speaking ahead of the game, coach Brett Davey commented:
"We know it's going to be a big ask on Sunday, but
the boys need to produce a big performance following our disappointing loss to
Esher. We owe it to the ourselves and the supporters to try and put things right." Leeds
will be missing Tom Biggs and Rob Vickerman, who are away on England Sevens duty,
but they have able replacements in former 'Pirate' Richard Welding and Jonny Hepworth.
England U20s captain Calum Clark also returns to the back-row. Changes in
the Pirates line-up from the one that started against Esher see recalls for centre
Paul Devlin and fly-half Rhys Jones in the backs, whilst in the forwards Chris
Morgan returns at flanker, Mike Burak comes into the second-row to partner skipper
Ben Gulliver, and a completely revamped front-row will feature Sam Heard, Rob
Elloway and Peter Cook. Teams A. Winnan, R. McAtee, P. Devlin, S.
Winn, B. Tuohy
R. Jones, E. Fairhurst, M. Evans, C. Morgan, B. Cowan
B.
Gulliver (capt), Mike Burak, S. Heard, R. Elloway, P. Cook. Replacements:
A. Paver, D. Dawidiuk, S. Franklin, H. Senekal, I. Motusaga, N. Griffiths,
T. Luke.
Leeds Carnegie: L.
Hinton, R. Welding, J. Hepworth, H. Paul, L. Blackett
A. Di Bernardo, J. Bedford,
R. Oakley, C. Clark, J. Dunbar
J. Pendlebury, E. Lund, T. McGee, R. Rawlinson,
M. MacDonald (capt). Replacements:
F. Pala'amo, V. Ma'asi,
A. Boyde, S. Mathie, S. Barrow, J. Goodridge.
Officials Referee:
Llyr Apgeraint Roberts / TJs: Andrew Taylorson & Barry Dalby -
Assessors:
Steve Savage - Gary Welsh (Referee Coach)
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