Team for Pirates
Skipper
By Bluesbrother
December 12 2014
Our interest in the B&I Cup may be tenuous but we do have a thrashing to avenge when the Pirates swashbuckle their way into Goldington Road - Saturday 2.00 kick off ...
They gave us a right good pillaging at the Mennaye Field last time we met with the 65-14 deficit a scoreline nobody saw coming.
With league games against Moseley and Bristol coming up we need to reverse that scoreline and get ourselves ready for an interesting 2015.
Blues: 15. James Pritchard (c), 14. Pat Tapley, 13. Michael Le Bourgeois,12. Viliami Hakalo, 11. Dean Adamson, 10. Jake Sharp, 9. Darryl Veenendaal,
1. Tom Williams ,2. TJ Harris, 3. James Currie, 4. Harry Wells, 5. Ben Gulliver, 6. Justin Blanchet, 7. Josh Buggea, 8. Paul Tupai.
Reps: Charlie Clare, Camilo Parilli-Ocampo, Phil Boulton, Mike Howard,. Hayden Thompson-Stringer, Pete White, Henry Staff
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"Phil Westren's Preview
Victory Is The Ultimate Target For The Pirates
Disappointed not to have secured the full five points from their British & Irish Cup encounter at home to Doncaster Knights last weekend, when they ultimately had to settle for just two in a 31-30 points defeat, the Cornish Pirates travel to play Bedford Blues on Saturday still with a focus to make the quarter-finals of the competition.
This weekend's game is a final Round 6 match in Pool 4 of the Cup and the kick-off at Goldington Road is now at 2pm and not 3pm as originally advertised. There are five pools and the highest ranking club in each pool shall be the pool winner. They, along with the best three runners up across the five pools, will progress to the quarter-finals stage.
Saturday's Blues versus Pirates Pool 4 match, which is a third versus second affair, is one that for a number of reasons clearly has more than a little extra interest. It will be remembered that the Pirates lost an Appeal whereby the result of their home game versus Bedford Blues in the Cup was reversed, and then, three weeks ago, they battered the Blues with a super 65-14 points win in the Championship. That result stunned Bedford, so the Pirates expect Mike Rayer's side to be extra keen for revenge this weekend, and it noted too that the Blues won 48-10 away to Cross Keys in the Cup last Saturday.
British & Irish Cup matches to be played this weekend will demand close monitoring, and for supporters of the Pirates it will be a case of fingers crossed that the team can achieve victory, ideally with a bonus point, and that results of other games also go their way.
There are a number of changes from the team that started against Doncaster Knights, including the return to the starting line-up of skipper Chris Morgan. Tom Channon is back in at hooker, Alan Paver starts at tight-head prop, and the club's top points scorer Kieran Hallett returns at fly-half. Laurence May moves to full-back, Max Bodilly switches to one wing berth, with Kieran Goss taking the other, and another returnee, Tom Riley, will partner Alex Dancer in the centre.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's game, Cornish Pirates' Director of Rugby Ian Davies said: "A win is our ultimate target but we know this still may not see us through to the quarter-finals. As such, we have set performance targets too so that the match result is not the only focus."
Cornish Pirates:
15 Laurence May, 14 Kieran Goss, 13 Tom Riley, 12 Alex Dancer
11 Max Bodilly, 10 Kieran Hallett, 9 Tom Kessell
1 Jack Andrew, 2 Tom Channon, 3 Alan Paver, 4 Will Carrick Smith, 5 Darren Barry, 6 Chris Morgan (capt), 7 Joe Atkinson, 8 Matt Bolwell.
Replacements:
16 Dean Brooker, 17 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 18 Francisco Deformes
18 Laurie McGlone, 20 Joel Conlon, 21 Gavin Cattle, 22 Rheon James."
Potentially and given some momentum the blues have the makings of a winning team going into the New Years, it's what we all want!
Quote:B&I cup requirements. All final pool games kick off at 2pm - presumably earlier than usual to cater for clubs with no floodlights.Hans Brix
Why is it a 2pm KO , is it all part of a conspiracy to get people out of any sort of routine with their rugby watching or is it the 5 nations later?
Hard to pick a MOM Toops, Harry Wells, Darryl and Jake were all outstanding today.
Well done boys, bring on Bristol.
