By Dick Straughan
August 17 2007

Jim McKay`s Cornish Pirates complete their pre-season warm-up with a match against Newport/Gwent Dragons at Camborne tomorrow (5pm) in what promises to be a hard fought and close encounter. After an encouraging display against Leicester Tigers two weeks ago the Australian will expect nothing less than a win.

The Pirates lost 53-8 when the teams first met back at the Mennaye Field in August, 2003, the gap narrowed to a 23-19 defeat at the same venue in 2005. Last year, against the strong Welsh outfit, the Pirates again lost, this time by 20-6, it their first 'home' game at the Recreation Ground, Camborne. Time for revenge? Quite possibly. On Tuesday evening the Dragons scraped a narrow 16-12 points victory against the Cornish All Blacks at Polson Bridge, but coach Paul Turner will put out a much stronger side against the Cornish Pirates - as was always likely, with up to 11 internationals at his disposal.

Included in the visiting line-up should be former 'Pirate' Joe Bearman, who will no doubt be given a rousing sporting welcome on his brief return to the Duchy.

As for the Pirates line-up, it is expected that forwards Chris Cracknell and Johnny Williams, along with Kiwi centre Nick Buckley, will feature in the match, all three having been unavailable for the game against Leicester Tigers.

Head coach Jim McKay is looking forward to a stern examination, commenting "The new season is only a couple of weeks away, so we've got to start stepping things up a bit. We've talked about the good and bad of the Leicester game, but now we've got to move forward and the Dragons will be another good test for us this weekend."

Following their match at Launceston , the Dragons have been accommodated at Tremough and hosted by Penryn for a training camp.

Pirates (from):
D. Seal, P. Cook, J. Williams, S. Heard, R. Elloway, D. Dawidiuk, J. Beardshaw, B. Cumming, S. Hobson, E. Gesinde, C. Cracknell, S. Betty, I. Motusaga, T. Cowley, E. Williamson, R. Bolt, G. Steenson, B. Tuohy, J. Moore, R. McAtee, S. Whatling, N. Buckley, P. Devlin, S. Parsons, A. Winnan.

Dragons (from):
J. Bearman, A. Black, G. Chapman, L. Charteris, J. Corsi, K. Crawford, B. Daly, L. Evans, W. Evans, R. Fussell, H. Gustafson, A. Hall, J. Harris, L. Harrison, A. Jones, S. Jones, A. Lyon, G. Maule, G. McCarthy, R. Mustoe, R. Parks, J. Ringer, G. Robinson, P. Sidoli, A. Smith, A. Thomas, M. Thomas, R. Thomas, A. Walker, R. Wilkes, A. Williams, G. Wyatt.

Supporters buying tickets on the day should purchase them from the ticket office marquee sited at the corner of the Crane Park field by the clubhouse. Kick-off is at 5p.m.

 

*Story courtesy of www.cornish-pirates.com