By Dick Straughan
December 14 2007

The Cornish Pirates and the Cornish All Blacks go head to head at Camborne on Sunday afternoon (2pm) in the eagerly awaited rematch between the Duchy`s two Division One sides. The fortunes of both teams have varied greatly since their meeting at Polson Bridge on the opening day of the season with the All Blacks currently on a wretched run of six straight defeats.

Local derbies however have a habit of defying the form book and Pirates Head Coach Jim McKay will be anxious for his team to avoid any shocks ahead of next weekend`s massive clash at Northampton Saints.  At the beginning of the month he stated that his team were embarking on a three match test series and with Moseley and London Welsh safely dispatched, the boys from Polson Bridge are now firmly in his sights.

Division One has proven to be a huge step up for the Launceston-based side, and despite recruiting carefully during pre-season they currently prop the league up with just two wins and twelve points to show for their efforts in fourteen matches so far.

Their two victories have come on home soil against Sedgley Park and London Welsh, but on the road they have suffered seven straight losses including heavy defeats at Rotherham, Plymouth, Bedford and crucially Pertemps Bees. There is still everything to play for but the All Blacks`s coaching staff know they need to pull a result out of the bag soon. Next up after the Pirates come Doncaster at Polson Bridge. There really are no easy games in this Division.

Those who witnessed the encounter between these two teams in September will have seen the Pirates take the All Blacks apart in the first forty minutes, before the home side rallied and fought back hard. In the end the Camborne outfit had to settle for a 12-26 win, in a match that was to set a pattern for their opening half of the season.

Last weekend saw a huge improvement at London Welsh who proved formidable opponents on the day. Some sublime early rugby took the Pirates to a fourteen point lead inside twenty minutes before the Welsh fought back hard. Jim McKay is right to be proud of the Pirates win/loss ratio thus far of 12 and 3, and with a now virtually fully fit squad for the first time during the campaign and arguably the best pack in the league, the capture this week of Centre Mark Ireland from London Irish is a great bonus.

The Pirates have made changes to last weekend`s starting line up. Strength in depth within the squad means that Bruce Cumming, Vunga Lilo and points machine Gareth Steenson, who are all carrying knocks, will not be risked. With Alan Paver starting the day on the bench this means places for Heino Senekal (lock), new-boy Mark Ireland (Centre), Peter Cook (Prop) and an interesting selection of Ollie Thomas at fly-half. There is also a recall for former Titans flyer, Brian Tuohy, on the wing in place of Jimmy Moore.

The Cornish All Blacks, who incidentally boast six former Pirates in their squad, have named recent acquisition from Bath, prop Laurence Ovens, in their travelling squad. Last weekend`s washout at Polson against Northampton may have cost the club a lot of much needed revenue but at least gave those on their lengthy injury list an extra week of rest.

For the record, the last time the Pirates hosted Launceston in the league was at the Mennaye Field in a Division Two encounter just before Christmas 2002. Over 2,000 fans braved the rain and mud as the Pirates fought back to win 22-11 with tries from Steve Evans, Victor Olonga and Paul Gadsdon. Two survivors from that Pirates team being Dan Seal and Alan Paver.

Sunday promises to be a full-blooded contest but I expect the Pirates pack to have far too much for the visitors and can`t see past a home victory. 

TEAMS 

CORNISH PIRATES

A Winnan; R McAtee, M Ireland, S Winn, B Tuohy; O Thomas, E Fairhurst; P Cook, N Kemp, S Heard; H Senekal, J Beardshaw; T Cowley (capt), C Cracknell, M Evans. Replacements: D Dawiduik, A Paver, D Seal, S Hobson, I Motusaga, P Devlin,  J Moore.

CORNISH ALL BLACKS

A Birkett; M Jess, R Westren, S Perry, J Fabian; M Scrivener, S Alford; J Bolt, N Clark, R Liddington; S Pape, T Parker; S Hocking, J Lord (capt), T du Plessis. Replacements: L Ovens, O Hambly, W Reed, M Myerscough, W Sprangle or T Rawlings, M Dibble, P Fisher.

Referee: R Kitt (RFU)