We start over again now says Carnegie boss Sirling
CHRIS STIRLING says Yorkshire Carnegie have erased 2018 from the memory banks as they look to build on their 30-22 bonus-point win over Doncaster.
By taking maximum points in the festive fixture the Leeds-based side leapfrogged Hartpury College at the foot of the Championship table and they now head into today’s game against third-placed Cornish Pirates, which marks the halfway point of the campaign, with renewed confidence.
“We’re first on our table, the 2019 table, and we’ve written off 2018, it didn’t exist,” Stirling said, wryly.
“I said to the boys that this is a really exciting week because we get to pit ourselves against a team that is playing well and has consistently been at the top of the Championship right through from day one.
“This gives us a really good opportunity to see where we are at. I think we can make a real statement, but we’ll have to play well.”
Jacob Umaga returns for a second loan spell from Wasps and steps into the side at full-back, while Nick Mayhew, brother of Carnegie captain Rich, is set to make his club debut from the bench.
Umaga’s inclusion means a rejuvenated Chris Elder continues on the wing, the former London Welsh man having put a poor first half of the season behind him with a cracking match-winning effort late on against the Knights.
“I was in the process of having a conversation with him about what he wanted to do, about whether he wanted to leave and call it quits, because he was in a horrible place and not enjoying it,” admitted Stirling.
“His confidence has really shifted, and he is playing some really good rugby now. His aerial skills are outstanding, we want him to be brave and get off the ground and take high balls and he is doing it.”
Stirling says the win at Castle Park was vital to morale. “If we’d have gone back into the Championship and lost, the doubts would have come crashing back in. There’s no way we’d have won that game on the 29th (of December) if we hadn’t have had five wins in the Championship Cup, we wouldn’t have had the belief that we could do it.”
Pirates gave Stirling his first opportunity to impress in the English game after arriving in the Duchy in time for the first season of Championship rugby.
Current joint head coaches, Gavin Cattle and Alan Paver, were two of his chief lieutenants as the Pirates made the Championship play-off final and won the inaugural B&I Cup.
Stirling says it comes as no surprise to him that both are now carving out a successful career in coaching.
“They were key as players when I was coaching there, and you could always see they would move into coaching. Gav takes things in his stride and Paves is extremely intense; they complement each other extremely well and that’s one of the reasons for their success.”