Stans Away When The Pirates Play

Pirates V London Welsh
Sunday November 19th 2006 - Kick Off 2 pm

Instead of tackling London Welsh at Camborne's Recreation Ground this Sunday, Pirates forward Stan McKeen will face the Principality's finest in Cardiff this evening.

Stan McKeen At Rotherham

His inclusion for this game - and most probably, next weekend's Test with Italy - means Pirates coach Jim McKay will be forced into making at least one change from the side which won at Rotherham 24-18 last Saturday

However, who replaces McKeen - an ever-present so far this season - will not be decided until later today when the Pirates are poised to stage their final training session of the week.

Not that McKay need worry too much about the man called into replace the 24-year-old. The Australian is blessed with a wealth of back-row talent and competition for the spot will be red-hot.

"Stan has been immense this season, so we'll definitely miss him," said McKay yesterday. "That said, his going away creates an opportunity for someone else to step in. We've got a lot of options in the back-row, people like Chris Cracknell, Sam Betty and Tim Cowley, all of whom will come into the reckoning for Sunday."

But as the Pirates bid farewell to McKeen for the next fortnight, their ranks are again swelled with the return of Heino Senekal and Duncan Bell.

Lock Senekal has spent the past fortnight away on international duty with Namibia, while hard-hitting centre Bell was absent from last Saturday's trip to Yorkshire as he returned home to New Zealand for a week.

Both men have played significant roles in helping the Pirates reach the top of the table, but as McKay was quick to stress: "The guys who have come in for them have also done very well, so it's going to give us a few headaches when we come to selection."

Certainly it's the kind of dilemma every coach or manager craves and whatever squad the Aussie finally opts for, visiting London Welsh know they will be in for a tough afternoon's work.

As yet the Pirates have yet to taste defeat at Camborne in the league, their impressive five from five statistic is ably backed up by the fact they have claimed maximum points in all of their outings at the Rec so far this season.

	More of the same will be demanded this weekend, but McKay knows the Exiles will offer much more of a threat than their lowly league position shows. "We're expecting a really tough game on Sunday," added the Pirates coach. "Their away form has been better than their home form, which is a bit strange, but they know how to win in this league. "They are a very proud side and come the end of the season, I'll be surprised if they are still down in the lower end of the table."
Coach Jim McKay

McKay's concerns are backed up by the fact that Welsh defeated Leeds Tykes on their own turf on the opening weekend of the season, but injuries to key personnel have meant they have been unable to build significantly on that notable success.

The Pirates, though, are the division's in-form side and last weekend's win over Rotherham was noted by many of their rivals.

"It was a very good win," added McKay. "I wouldn't single any one player out, it was a real good team effort. The boys have been working hard, not just this past fortnight, but since the summer and we're kind of getting our rewards for that.

"That said, we don't want to drop our standards because if we do, even by a single per cent, that can soon amount to five or ten per cent and then you'll have problems. Our aim is to simply keep improving and see where that takes us."

Pirates (from):
A Winnan, R McAtee, J Hylton, H Barratt, S Winn, D Bell, L Vinnicombe
J Moore, A Di Bernardo, G Cattle (capt), A Paver, S Heard, D Seal
V Ma'asi, N Makin, O Hambly, J Inglis, H Senekal, J Beardshaw
S Hobson, C Cracknell, T Cowley, S Betty, I Motusaga, M Evans