Pirates will ring the changes for Ospreys

Cornish Pirates v Ospreys

Today, Kick-off 2pm, the Mennaye

CORNISH Pirates can make it two from two as they take on the Ospreys at the Mennaye and head coach Alan Paver is relishing the chance to see new faces.

The Championship side kicked things off with a victory in Galway against the Connacht Eagles and they are now welcoming Welsh opposition to the delight of club legend Paver.

“We take the Cup very seriously and really enjoy playing different sides,” he said.

“It’s different from the Championship where squads are more or less the same week in week out, so for the Cup we take the opportunity to focus more on ourselves to prepare the best we can.”

Paver and his co-coach Gavin Cattle have changed their starting team with prop Marlen Walker and No. 8 Tom Duncan coming back in the pack.

The other two changes come from the backline where full-back Toby May and centre Nicolas De Battista return.

TEAMS

PIRATES: T May; Arnott, Hendrickson, Battista, O’Meara; L May, Pope; Walker, Channon, Gendall; Morgan (c), Pascoe; Bolwell, Simmonds, Duncan

Replacements: Innard, Andrew, Beukeboom, Cheesman, Townsend, Cargill, Dancer

OSPREYS: M Williams; T Williams, Thomas, K Williams, O’Flaherty; Scrivens, C Williams; Jenkins (c), Dunham, Suter; K Evans, Kenny; TomalinReeves, Jones, Davies

Replacements: Liney, O Evans, Jeffries, Walsh, Howard, Jones, James

The Ospreys Premiership Select lost 25-14 to London Irish in their opener at the Gnoll and coach Tom Smith is expecting another tough Test against Championship opposition.

He said: “We were a little disappointed with the result from last week’s fixture against a well drilled team that is currently sitting top of the English Championship.

“Sunday’s game against the Pirates is going to be another tough test. They have had a decent start to their season, and a good win last week out in Connacht will mean that their team will be going into this game with some momentum.”