Western Morning News (Saturday)
Pirates ring the changes for clash with Ampthill
AFTER returning to winning ways with an excellent 33-22 win at Nottingham, next up for the Cornish Pirates is a Round seven game in the Greene King IPA Championship versus Ampthill today (kick-off 1.30pm).
The Bedfordshire visitors will arrive at the Mennaye Field on the back of a 43-41 points victory at home to Hartpury on Sunday, so the potential is clearly there for another epic encounter this weekend.
In a much-changed Cornish Pirates side, with fly-half Will Cargill named as skipper, eight players will be looking forward to making their first Championship starts of the season.
Regular replacements Jack Andrew, Tom Channon, and Sam Rodman form the front-row, and Paddy Ryan is selected at No. 8.
In the backs, Will Butler is named to partner Rory Parata in the centre, whilst players ready for action off the bench are lock Cory Teague, backrower Charlie Wright, and fly-half Arwel Robson.
For the latter, who has joined the club on loan this week from Newport Gwent Dragons, it would be his debut appearance.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s fixture, Cornish Pirates’ joint head coach Alan Paver has said: “Ampthill deserve respect, and not just because they have several quality and experienced players in their squad, including a familiar face in Dave Ward and Tongan international Aleki Lutui. For our part though, the aim is simply to do what we do best, because if we don’t turn up and are flat then we’ll get our just desserts.
“Despite it only being a short season, it is felt worthy to mix and match the side a little bit, as is the case for Saturday. We have got to be able to deal with the obvious rigours of the league and make sure that bodies are fresh, and still managing to put out a strong side we expect a high performance from the selected team.”
It has been confirmed that Robin Wedlake, initially named as a replacement, is a late withdrawal because of injury. He has been replaced by Antonio Kiri Kiri.
Ampthill head coach Paul Turner comments: “After what can only be classed as a mad game last weekend, we couldn’t have a tougher fixture than the Pirates at the Mennaye Field with a six-day turnaround.
“Whilst we had a number of positives from last weekend’s bonus point win, if we give the Pirates the sort of start we gave Hartpury last weekend we will be in for a very long afternoon.”
As everyone will be aware, because of present Covid restrictions it will not be possible to accommodate supporters at this weekend’s game. However, the fixture against Ampthill will once again be live streamed on a pay-per-view basis.
Tickets for the match, priced at £10, can be purchased via www. championshiprugby.co.uk/livestreams