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Pirates

National Division 1

21st January 2006

Earth Arena

Kick Off 2.00pm

Andre Bester makes four changes to the starting fifteen that beat Coventry at Clifton Lane last week.

Just one change in the backs sees Morne Jonker come in at scrum half for Joe Bedford. This is a big game for Jonker as it will contribute significantly to whether he’s playing rugby for Roth next season or not.

In the forwards there’s partial front row rotation with Conroy and Hopcroft coming in for Hanna and Rawson. Golding retains the one shirt as Jarleth Carey recovers from a neck injury he picked up at Exeter two weeks ago.

Carey will be side-lined for up to two months after being diagnosed with a bulging disc after suffering severe pain in his neck and shoulder.

The other change is in the second row where Louis McGowan replaces Gareth McComb. Chris Hala’ufia is unavailable for selection as a re-occurrence of his shoulder injury has flared up once again.

Head Coach Andre Bester is relishing the massive challenge that the Pirates will pose and said, “It will be tough out there on Saturday, they have a big combative pack and our first up tackles have got to be spot on. They’ve got quality all over the park and can strike from anywhere. But we have improved massively since the defeat down there and the guys are looking to set the record straight.”

Earth Titans: 15 Errie Claassens, 14 John Holtby, 13 WP Strauss, 12 Lee Blackett (Capt), 11 Anthony Carter, 10 David Strettle, 9 Morne Jonker, 1 Jon Golding, 2 Nigel Conroy, 3 Adam Hopcroft, 4 Jannie Bornman, 5 Louie McGowan, 6 Hendre Fourie 7 Neil Cochrane, 8 Scott Donald

Replacements

16 Joe Bedford, 17 Ledowyk Strauss, 18 Mike Whitehead, 19 John Rawson, 20 Attie Pienaar, 21 Gareth McComb 22 Neil Hanna.

Pirates Squad TBA

Rotherham’s form of late has been good with five victories in their last six league games. Confidence is high in the Roth camp after the six try beating of Coventry last week and it will need to be as they prepare for the testing visit of Cornish Pirates this Saturday.

Pirates lay currently second in the division having lost only two league games all season. The reversals suffered were away at Harlequins and Plymouth Albion and there’s no disgrace in that.

Pirates themselves have won their last five games on the bounce and will prove very difficult opponents for an improving Rotherham side. Andre Bester wants to set the record straight after suffering his heaviest defeat of the season at Truro just two games into the season.

Bester warned, “We owe Pirates one, because we have to redeem ourselves for what happened down there!”

Behind Harlequins, the fully professional Pirates are arguably the next best side in the division. Although not having any star names in their squad, there is undoubted quality in their ranks.

The league’s leading try scorer Richard Welding is an obvious danger, fly half Tom Barlow has enhanced his growing reputation this season with some outstanding performances and Welsh centre Kevin James is always a handful. Ally that to a big aggressive pack and you can see why the Cornishmen are having such a fine season.

The teams have met just three times in league history with the Pirates coming out on top every time, with Rotherham not even collecting a bonus point along the way.

Rotherham will need to find their best form of the season if they are going to produce a shock win and continue the good run they are on at the moment.

Roth Admin Prediction: Roth by 1

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