The Pirates will again be led by the inspirational Tim Cowley having survived several attempts on his life last week against the Chiefs, but Chris Cracknell (Hip) and Steve Winn (Hamstring) have failed to recover in time from their injuries sustained in the same game and miss out.

Nick Buckley replaces Winn whilst Scott Hobson holds onto his place at lock where he partners Joe Beardshaw. Bruce Cumming takes Cracknell`s place at flanker having impressed there in the second half last weekend.

Ali Koko also misses out having injured a bicep against the Chiefs allowing a return for Pirates favourite, Rhodri McAtee. Last Sunday`s last gasp hero, Jimmy Moore, takes over at fly-half with Garteh Steenson absent for family reasons. Moore will partner Canadian international scrum-half Ed Fairhurst in a half-back pairing that should cause Esher a lot of problems.

On the bench there are recalls for Sam Betty, Sam Parsons, Richard Bolt, and long term injury victim Matt Evans.

The Pirates are now unbeaten in four league games and will be determined to stretch that run against an Esher side still coming to terms with life in Division One. The men from the Pillar Data Arena currently sit in thirteenth place in the league with just one win to their name. That came against local rivals London Welsh where they triumphed 28-16.

Their two other home fixtures have brought defeats to Plymouth Albion (16-25) and Sedgley Park (23-30). On the road they have lost at Bedford (29-31), Doncaster (17-26), and last weekend against Rotherham (24-29).

The Pirates last played at Molesey Road, as it was then known, in September 2002 in a Division Two fixture and narrowly won 31-26. The last meeting between these two sides came in October 2004 at the Mennaye Field in the third round of the Powergen Club. With Kevin Moseley having just left the Pirates it was effectively Jim McKay`s first match in charge. Forty second half points seeing the Pirates home by 64-0 on the day.

Tomorrow`s match will be much, much tighter. I expect the Pirates to win but Esher are fairly handy at scoring tries themselves. The result will depend on the Pirates suffering no mental hangovers from last Sunday.

Pirates Team:-

15 Ollie Thomas, 14 Brian Tuohy, 13 Paul Devlin, 12 Nick Buckley, 11 Rhodri McAtee, 10 Jimmy Moore, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 8 Tim Cowley (capt), 7 Iva Motusaga, 6 Bruce Cumming, 5  Scott Hobson, 4 Joe Beardshaw, 3 Dan Seal, 2 Nathan Kemp, 1 Alan Paver.

Replacements - 16 Sam Heard, 17 Peter Cook, 18 Rob Elloway, 19 Matt Evans, 20 Sam Betty, 21 Sam Parsons, 22 Richard Bolt.

Referee - Andy McPherson (RFU) 

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