Cornish Pirates to Welcome the League Leaders

Photo: Cornish Pirates

For the Cornish Pirates their April fixtures start with a bang on Friday, as league leaders Ealing Trailfinders visit the Mennaye Field for a third versus first encounter under Friday Night Lights! Kick-off is at 7.30pm.

The visitors won the reverse fixture back in February and have a good lead at the top of the Championship Table, despite a 29-21 defeat at Ampthill last weekend. As for the Pirates, they have produced an occasional win against the Trailfinders in the past, and in front of a packed home crowd will strive to do so again.

There is only one change in the Pirates selection from the team that drew 27-all away to Doncaster Knights last time out. Prop Lefty Zigiriadis, who is an on loan Trailfinders player in the Pirates squad, sits this one out, with his place taken by stalwart Marlen Walker.

Speaking ahead of Friday’s encounter, Cornish Pirates’ joint head coach Gavin Cattle has said:

“In welcoming league leaders Ealing Trailfinders to the Mennaye Field, the aim will naturally be to give a good account of ourselves.

“We know we’ll have to live with their set piece power and the collision, as we had ably in the initial away game against them in December, before it was abandoned following the injury to Ben Grubb. And as for the hefty defeat in the rearranged fixture, that came at the end of a tough set of games during which we had performed well.

“It is also important, following the circumstances and frustration of our draw away to Doncaster last time out, for us to channel that in the right manner. Hopefully we have learnt a lesson from the result, ahead of what on Friday should be a great occasion in front of a big crowd.”

The Cornish Pirates full selection is as follows:

Cornish Pirates:   15 Kyle Moyle 14 Will Trewin 13 Ioan Evans 12 Joe Elderkin 11 Matt McNab 10 Bruce Houston 9 Alex Schwarz; 1 Marlen Walker 2 Morgan Nelson 3 Matt Johnson 4 Will Britton 5 Steele Barker 6 Alex Everett 7 John Stevens (captain) 8 Hugh Bokenham.

Replacements:   16 Rhys Williams 17 Jack Andrew 18 Fin Richardson 19 Josh King 20 Will Gibson 21 Ruaridh Dawson 22 Tom Pittman 23 Arthur Relton.

Referee:   Dan Jones

Assistants:   Craig Maxwell-Keys & Veryan Boscawen

Official 4:   James Milliner-Woodcock

PR/Coach:   Steve Leyshon

Match Day Sponsor:   Maen Karne

Match Ball Sponsor:   Argos Fire

Match Day Collection:   The Fishermen’s Mission

Tickets:   Tickets will be available at the gates on the day (open 5.30pm), whilst in the meantime they can also be purchased on-line. For further information please visit: www.cornish-pirates.com/tickets