Cornish Pirates proved one of the toughest teams to beat during the 2019/20 season, and their final league position reflected that as they finished third with a final points tally of 75.43.

They began last season with an impressive 30-10 victory over the eventual runners-up, Ealing Trailfinders at Mennaye Field. They, in fact, weren’t beaten until round three, and that defeat came against the eventual winners in Newcastle Falcons.

The Pirates have been in the Greene King IPA Championship since the 2009–10 season, where they finished 6th in their debut year. During their 11 seasons in England’s second-tier, the team from Penzance have finished in 5th place on average, season-after-season.

Pirates completed the league double over Nottingham last season, with 23-14 and 21-15 victories respectively. In fact, the 21-15 defeat that we suffered at the hands of Pirates on Sunday 1st March 2020 was our last game before the season was suspended.

Squad wise, despite losing Brett Beukeboom to retirement, The Pirates have been boosted by the re-signing of many players on two-year-deals, including; Dan Frost, Josh Caulfield, James McRae and Tom Cowan-Dickie.

Tom Channon, Rory Parata, Maliq Holden and Alex O’Meara have all recently signed one-year extensions, with Patrick Ryan signing until May 2021.

We will face Cornish Pirates at The Bay on the weekend of the 17th April.