Pirates lie in wait for ‘nuggety’ new boys
CORNISH Pirates, with their rich Championship pedigree, welcome new boys Richmond to the Mennaye today, but Gavin Cattle is adamant there will be no complacency from his men.
The Pirates ended a fivegame losing streak last weekend with a 35-26 win over Doncaster, while Richmond are still high on confidence after their first league win two weeks ago against London Scottish.
To boost their moral further, the Londoners came within a whisker of beating Yorkshire Carnegie despite trailing 22-0.
“Richmond are a very nuggety team. They have defended quite a bit this year and if you defend that much you become good at it,” said Pirates co-head coach Cattle.
“They had a win over Scottish two weeks ago, and then put up another good fight against Carnegie. So that just shows where they are at as a group. They are tight-knit, so there will be no complacency from us.
“I was really pleased with the way we stuck at it against Doncaster last week. We have been on the wrong end of the result a lot of times so this was another good building block.”
Wing Matt Evans and lock Brett Beukeboom return from Canada duty to start for Pirates while the game will also mark flanker Alex Cheesman’s 100th appearance for the club.
Ronnie McLean returns to Richmond’s line-up at centre. Jordan Simpson-Hefft is given his first Championship start on the wing in place of injured Adam Gadsby, while No.9 Jamie Gibbs and wing Jono Woodward return to the bench.
Director of rugby Steve Hill said: “These last two performances have demonstrated that this squad has the ability and togetherness to compete at this level and how with each match they are improving.”