Respect from Pirates for the Visit of Ealing

NEXT up for the Cornish Pirates is a Round 3 home league game on Sunday versus Championship favourites Ealing Trailfinders (ko 3pm).

For the Pirates this fixture obviously poses a massive challenge against a side that have been dominating teams, so they need to meet it head on in a match that is clearly one of those occasions not to be missed.

Changes in the Cornish Pirates starting line-up this weekend sees Tommy Wyatt moved to the right wing, with Joe Elderkin selected at inside centre, whilst scrum-half Tom Kessell will be making his first league start since returning to the club. As for the replacements, senior players returning to the match day squad and taking places on the bench are prop Jack Andrew and wing Alex O’Meara.

Appointed as Referee for the match is Sara Cox, who at the Mennaye Field in 2018 became the first woman to take charge of a Championship game. Since then, she has continued to impress, and last week had the honour to go one better becoming the first to take charge of Premiership league contest when Harlequins faced Worcester Warriors.

Speaking ahead of the game, Cornish Pirates’ joint head Gavin Cattle has said:

“Firstly, putting aside the performance away to Hartpury will be our aim, as we have been smarting since then. We know we have a big challenge ahead of us against Ealing but what better than to be facing the league favourites. The good thing about sport is that it does give you an opportunity to bounce back, as difficult as that might be.

“Ealing are a team that demand respect as the big boys of the league, so we will have to be at our tip top best to have a chance of achieving a result against such a side.

“Mentioning the word respect, we are delighted for Sara Cox our appointed referee on Sunday, for her achievement last weekend. It was fully deserved recognition and in a game like this week’s we will all be delighted to have her presence.”

The full Cornish Pirates selection for Sunday is as follows: Cornish Pirates: 15 Carwyn Penny, 14 Tommy Wyatt, 13 Rory Parata, 12 Joe Elderkin, 11 AJ Cant, 10 Arwel Robson, 9 Tom Kessell; 1 James Kenny, 2 Tom Channon, 3 Patrick Schickerling, 4 Josh Caulfield, 5 Danny Cutmore, 6 Matt Bolwell, 7 John Stevens (captain), 8 Tom Duncan. Replacements: 16 James Benjamin, 17 Jack Andrew, 18 Alfie Petch, 19 Lewis Pearson, 20 Caleb Montgomery, 21 Alex Schwarz, 22 Harry Bazalgette, 23 Alex O’Meara.

Referee: Sara Cox (RFU)

Assistants: Simon Adams & James Milliner-Woodcock

Official 4: Max Weston

Tickets: Tickets for the game will be available at the gates on the day (open 1pm), whilst in the meantime they can also be purchased on-line. For further information please visit www.cornishpirates.com/tickets