PIRATES

This Weekend

v
Albion v Pirates
Saturday 29 November
K.O. 5 :15 pm
also
Richmond II v Ladies
Sun 2pm

 

Firstly please make a note of the kick off time its 5:15! with England kicking off at 2:30 this should give most the time to watch most of the international before running to the ground. Argyle with a 3pm kick-off will be on their way out so please avoid.

If you want to watch the England match at the ground then arrive early as places in front of the screens will be limited. With Cowlin, Redrow and Sponsors Marquee taken for "lunch" and also part of the Ryearch also set aside make sure you get a supply of £2 pints and take up your place in the Clubhouse or Ryearch for a view of the match. You could also go up to the Courage Diner for a two course meal £8.50, no booking required, and watch it on the screen there. 

Albion's biggest problem will be in the front row an with Gareth Evans able to cover any slot will he be left back on the bench? Tim Matias, who played last week is unlikely to be available for this week as Bay are back to league matches on Saturday. Will Graham be bringing in some prop cover? There was an unknown face at Brickfields on Tuesday. Will he feature?

In the backs GD has more of a problem with 3 on form fly-halves who will get the nod at 4:15 when the team sheets have to be submitted. Ross Laidlaw had a good game against Esher last week and has certainly raised his all round game. Kieran  should be back from the injury he picked up at Bedford and Alex Davies has returned and had a good match for the Warriors against Devon U20. I would find it difficult to name my 1 2 3.

Matt Hopper is likely to keep his place after a dream debut last week, so where does that leave Ross Allan? 

Colin Stewart is not far off his return but it is still likely to be a couple more weeks before he will be available.

Keni has now seen Yellow twice this season and will need to be careful that he does not pick up another as this is likely to mean he will spend time unavailable to the team.

Justin and Sean-Michael are both back and available and will give the squad that something extra.

Pirates

Is a long spy this week, as the Pirates are our friendly rivals from ‘over the Tamar’. Off the field the Pirates players recently volunteered to provide manual ‘labour’ to the Vitalise Churchtown Centre in Lanlivery. The centre provides breaks and day services to adults and children with sensory, physical and learning disabilities. The players provided the labour to help maintain the ground and worked towards making the wheelchair friendly path safe, full details of the players efforts can be found on the unofficial pirates site. They have also been out of their kit as well, there is also a 2009 naked Cornish Pirates calendar out, so ‘us ladies’ can look at a naked pirate every day of the year. 

On the field, a few days ago the Pirates announced that they had decided to release Joe Beardshaw from his contract, having been injured just before Christmas last year and unable to play since. The Pirates had a close run with top of the table Leeds, only missing out by two points, last week the Pirates played the Sedgley tigers. Having only won twice at home the Pirates were looking for a win, the tigers tried to roar, but this was drowned by the Band of pirates, the final score was Pirates 56, tigers 14. Leaving the Pirates on the same points as Albion, but sitting above us in the table, so this will be a very close game if both teams are on form.

This week it will be a case of ‘last one out of Cornwall switch the lights off’, as most of the ‘Cornish faithful’ will be weighing anchor and setting sail to Fortress Brickfields. Their away form is good, having won 4 and drawn one, and the Pirates have wonderful travelling support, that includes the Press Gang, the unofficial Pirates site has quite a few members travelling, so the on liners will be able to chat to each other in person. Pirates supporters come from all over the county and indeed the country to support their team, and friendly banter on the topic of whether the Pastie originated in Devon or Cornwall will be hotley debated both before and after the game at the Fortress. The Pirates average gate is 3198, with a maximum of 4913 this season, just above that of Albion's average of 2849, hopefully the travelling support will exceed the Fortresses maximum gate of 6871. 

So it looks like Fortress Brickfields may be full to the gunnels and it will be Albion's task to repel borders and defend their end until the final whistle.


Unfortunately there has been no team list posted on the Pirates site yet, but players to look out for:-
Marks Vakacegu, who has scored 6 tries
Iva Motusaga, who has 5 tries, scoring 2 of those against the tigers last week
Aisea Havili, who has 4 tries
Brian Tuohy, who has 3 tries and 1 conversion
Rhodri McAtee, who scored a try for the Barbarians in the remembrance day match at the Fortess who has 2 tries
Ryhs Jones, who converted Rhodri McAtees’ try in the Barbarians in the remembrance day match at the Fortess, has scored 9 conversions, 1 drop goal and 16 penalties
Jimmy Moore who has 2 tries, 1 penalty and 3 conversions
Bertrand Bedes, Darren Dawiduik and Nick Griffiths who have 2 tries each
Bertrand Beades, Mike Burak, Cooke Rob Elloway, EvansRhodri McEntee, Chris Morgan, Dan Seal, Steve Winn and Adryan Winnan who have 1 try each
Douglous Sanft, who has scored 7 conversions and 5 penalties
Tom Luke, who has scored 2 conversions and penalties
Whatling, who score a drop goal last week
Motusaga and Morgan who converted one each last week

The pirates are good on their Discipline, only having 4 players sin binned (Scott Franklin, Chris Morgan, Dan Seal, Marka Vakacegu), however this is less than Albion's 6 yellows. So with a choice of try scorers and goal kickers the Pirates have a very strong team, although as yet there is no indication of who will be playing on Saturday

Ben Gulliver, our friend, was at Brickfields on Tuesday night taking a coaching season in preparation for the ladies fixture on Sunday against Richmond. He may retain the captain's role for the Pirates on Saturday. He admits that there are a number of matches that his side should have won but that they let slip through their fingers. Not the least of these was the Leeds fixture the other weekend.

CD’s prediction

 this is going to be a hard game – think a three point win – hopefully to Albion, but the Pirates can easily take it off us

National League One Data

League Table
		P	W	D	L	F	A	dif	TF	TA	BP	Pnts
1	Leeds	13	13	0	0	528	154	374	76	14	9	61
2	Chiefs	13	12	0	1	515	165	350	72	18	10	58
3	Nott'ham	13	11	0	2	387	218	169	52	24	8	50
4	Welsh	13	9	0	4	288	241	47	32	27	5	41
5	Knights	13	8	1	4	364	249	115	42	27	7	41
6	B Blues	13	8	0	5	398	212	186	52	21	7	39
7	Pirates	13	7	1	5	329	234	95	39	25	5	35
8	Albion	13	7	1	5	292	258	34	32	31	5	35
9	Cov	13	6	0	7	269	298	-29	37	37	5	29
10	Titans	13	6	1	6	390	342	48	50	42	6	28
11	Moseley	13	5	0	8	296	355	-59	35	49	7	27
12	Esher	13	3	0	10	202	401	-199	25	54	4	16
13	Tigers	13	3	0	10	220	526	-306	29	72	3	15
14	N Blues	13	3	0	10	159	417	-258	18	57	2	14
15	Otley	13	1	0	12	167	456	-289	18	63	5	9
16	Man	13	0	0	13	195	473	-278	18	66	6	6

ADJUSTMENTS

Nottingham -2 points
Nottingham have had two league points deducted for including an un-registered player in their match squad for the match against Bedford played on 26th October.

Rotherham Titans -4 points
Back row forward Barry Jacobsz effective registration with the RFU expired on 18th Sept 2008 yet the player was included in Rotherham's match squad for 2 matches.

 

 

Points by type & Discipline Record
Team	Tries	Cons	Con Rate	Pens	Drop goals	Pen try	Yell	Red
Pirates	39/25	24/17	62	25/24	2/1	1/0	5/8	0/0
Albion	32/30	22/17	69	28/21	2/2	0/1	6/9	0/0

This table shows the for and against for each team. eg Tries 74/17 is 74 tries scored and 17 conceded. Con Rate is the percentage tries converted.

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Next Fixtures

Friday 28 November
Bedford Blues	v	Moseley
Saturday 29 November
Esher	v	Doncaster Knights
Exeter Chiefs	v	Rotherham Titans
London Welsh	v	Coventry
Newbury Blues	v	Leeds Carnegie
Otley	v	Sedgley Tigers
Plymouth Albion	v	Cornish Pirates
Sunday 30 November
Nottingham	v	Manchester

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Side by side
Gate 2849 avg 6871 max	Gate 3073 avg 4913 max
Form home w w w w l l w w away l d w l l	Form home w l w l l l w away w w d w w l
Best home game 47 - 6 Man Worst away game B Blues 37 - 9	Best home game 48 - 5 N Blues Worst away game Cov 16 - 0
Most points in a match 16 Kieran Hallett Albion 26 - 17 Moseley	Most points in a match 18 Rhys Jones Pirates 23 - 25 Leeds
Most tries in a match 2 Matt Hopper Albion 36 - 14 Esher Justin Mensah-Cover Albion 31 - 7 Tigers	Most tries in a match 3 Marka Vakacegu Pirates 20 - 31 Nott'ham
Recent results Albion 36 - 14 Esher B Blues 37 - 9 Albion Albion 21 - 18 Knights Albion 31 - 7 Tigers Titans 10 - 10 Albion Albion 26 - 17 Moseley Albion 14 - 41 Chiefs Otley 16 - 31 Albion Albion 24 - 25 Welsh	Recent results Pirates 56 - 14 Tigers Pirates 23 - 25 Leeds Esher 3 - 19 Pirates B Blues 6 - 26 Pirates Pirates 19 - 15 Moseley Knights 24 - 24 Pirates Pirates 28 - 32 Titans Man 6 - 12 Pirates Pirates 20 - 31 Nott'ham
TRIES 4 Justin Mensah-Cover 3 Arran Cruikshanks Gareth Evans Keni Fisilau Tom Jarvis 2 Geoff Griffiths Ryan Hopkins Matt Hopper Wayne Sprangle 1 Mike Denbee Jannie Du Toit Liam Gibson Kieran Hallett Kyle Marriott Greg Nicholls James Owen Martin Rice	TRIES 6 Marka Vakacegu 5 Iva Motusaga 4 Aisea Havili Brian Tuohy 2 Bertrand Bedes Darren Dawiduik Nick Griffths Rhodri McAtee Jimmy Moore 1 Bertrand Beades Mike Burak Peter Cook Rob Elloway Matthew Evans Rhodri McEntee Chris Morgan Dan Seal Steve Winn Adryan Winnan
Kicking Points Con DG Pen Points Kieran Hallett 13 2 18 86 Ross Laidlaw 9 - 10 48	Kicking Points Con DG Pen Points Rhys Jones 9 1 16 69 Douglous Sanft 7 - 5 29 Tom Luke 2 - 3 13 Jimmy Moore 3 - 1 9 Simon Whating - 1 - 3 Chris Morgan 1 - - 2 Iva Motusaga 1 - - 2 Brian Tuohy 1 - - 2
Discipline SinBin Arthur Brenton Arran Cruikshanks Gareth Evans Keni Fisilau (2) Sean-Micheal Stephen	Discipline SinBin Scott Franklin Sam Heard Chris Morgan Dan Seal Marka Vakacegu

 

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Officials for the day

Plymouth Albion  vs Cornish Pirates 
Referee: Roy Maybank 
Assistant Refs: Eric Woodmason, Lloyd Jackson
Assessor: Tony Spreadbury 

Roy has had the whistle 4 times this season and we last saw him against Sedgley Park Tigers. He has issued less cards than most refs and his penalty count seems to be lower judging by the number of penalty goals that have been scored in his matches (8 from 4).

 

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Visiting Brickfields

If you haven't been to Brickfields before you will be in for a friendly welcome from the club and the home support.

The ground is growing into a great stadium with plenty of food and beverage outlets to suit all comers. You can get anything from a chocolate bar to a four course sit down meal.

Click to see more details on the ground

 

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Halftime Entertainment.

 

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Weather forecast

Current forecast is heavy showers max daytime temp 7^oC with light westerly winds up to 14mph.

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 RECENT MEETINGS

06 April 08
Cornish Pirates 17
Plymouth Albion 17

Attendance: = 4876

A quick try by Pirates (1 min 3 secs) seemed to knock the stuffing out of Albion and whilst Pirates did not get near scoring again in the first half neither side was particularly dominate.

Albion were getting the penalty count and Ross kicked 2 of his 4 chances for the sides to go into the changing room s with just one point in it.

With Albion making no changes to the team at half time they came out with spring in their steps and took an early try with Jannie at the bottom of the pack that went over the line.

Pirates were awarded penalty in front of the posts after a late tackle by Nat and despite the ball going between the posts for some unknown reason, to the crowd at least, after discussion the kick was retaken with the ball again going through the posts and Pirates moving just one point behind. 10 -11.

Ross Laidlaw was high tackled close to the Pirates line and advantage played but nothing came of it and with Albion unable to a quick kick Tommy signalled for Ross to take the 3 points which he did and took the score to 10 - 14.

Pirates seemed to step up and were camped in Albion's 22 before going over for their second try of the match.

Pirates were back in the lead and Albion tried all they could to score at the other end but after the maul was judged to have been pulled down, much to the annoyance of the home support. The 3 points from Ross's boot brought the sides level at 17 a piece.

With the last play of the game Tom Hayes attempted to intercept a Pirates attack but was unable to keep control of the ball and so penalised for a deliberate knock on. With Pirates yet to miss a kick at goal it looked as though the hosts were going to steel the result but the wind did not help them and the ball went right of the posts.


Albion had played one of their best games this year, if not season, and came away with two points for their trouble. A good all round performance that saw Graham Dawe on the bench for the 3rd time this season in a league match.

Team: Nat Saumi, Darren Ritchie, Arran Cruickshanks, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ross Laidlaw, Nigel Cane, Tim Mathias, James Owen, Scott Zimmerman, Colin Stewart, Tom Hayes, Kyle Marriott, Mike Denbee, Jannie Bornman Replacements: Daniel Hawkes, Ed Lewsey(used), Emyr Lewis(used), Gareth Evans, Graham Dawe, Chris Lowrie(used), Brett Stroud

Scorers :- Tries Jannie Bornman Penalties 4x Ross Laidlaw

24 November 07
Plymouth Albion 9
Cornish Pirates 6

Attendance: = 6381

The first match under floodlights, which were on before the kick off. With blustery winds at times and overcast the ball was kept in hand with occasional kick for advantage.

Both teams defended well, even when CP were down to 6 forwards they still managed to keep Albion away from the try line.

The game was played with different tactics that had been seen in some of the recent matches with the ball being passed out amongst the backs. Unfortunately very little ball got out as far as Nic and Ed Lewsey.

Ed played well on the wing but for me he is far better at scrum half, which was reinforced by a number of turnovers at rucks due to slow removal of the ball.

Albion did well on the CP's lineouts winning a number against the head.

The 4 extra minutes at the end of 80, but Albion held on despite constant pressure.

Team: Emyr Lewis, Ed Lewsey, Arran Cruickshanks, Brad Davies, Nic Sestaret, Ross Laidlaw, Nigel Cane, Tim Mathias, James Owen, Steve Barretto, Colin Stewart, Ben Gulliver, Tom Hayes, Brett Stroud, Jannie Bornman Replacements: Wihan Neethling, Nat Saumi, Richard Oxley, Scott Zimmerman, Keni Fisilau, Chris Lowrie, Adam Kettle(used)

Scorers :- Penalties 3x Ross Laidlaw

07 April 07
Plymouth Albion 19
Cornish Pirates 9

Attendance: = 5981

Albion batter Pirates into a third successive defeat in 8 days. Albion dominate the Pirates at Brickfields in front of a record crowd.

Nic Sestaret takes his season’s league total to 27 taking the record tries for tries by any player in National League One.

Tom Arscott scores for the first time since the end of last 30th December against Bedford.

Albion went into the turn around 14 – 6 up and with the penalty count high on both sides Pirates came back to 14 – 9 early in the second half.

Pirates tried as hard as they could but never made it across the Albion try line. After a number of penalties in Albion’s favour in the right hand corner Keni Fisilau went over in the last play of the game to take the bonus point away from Pirates.

(Pirates have only picked up one point in three matches)

More ...

Opponents Report

Team: Nat Saumi, Tom Arscott, Regardt van Eyk, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Ed Lewsey, Tim Mathias, James Owen, Scott Zimmerman, Mike Lewis, Ben Gulliver, Tom Hayes, Brett Stroud, Chris Lowrie Replacements: Matt Newman, Sila Va'Enuku, Arran Cruickshanks, Dan Smith(used), Richard Oxley(used), Andy Williams, Gareth Evans

Scorers :- Tries Keni Fisilau Nic Sestaret Tom Arscott Conversions 2x Regardt van Eyk

24 March 07
Cornish Pirates 17
Plymouth Albion 9
(Cup match)

Attendance: = 2961

Albion players travel to Camborne in their own cars and have to to ravel home disappointed after two drop goals from Pirates take any chance of a trip to Twickenham away from them.

With Richard Oxley failing a late fitness test due to food poisoning Graham Dawe comes onto the bench.

Albion went into the turn around only two points down (8 –6) and played well in the second half.

The boot proved important in the match with only a single try scored by Pirates.

Opponents Report

Team: Nat Saumi, Wihan Neethling, Regardt van Eyk, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Ed Lewsey, Tim Mathias, James Owen, Scott Zimmerman, Ben Gulliver, Tom Hayes, Federico Genoud, Danny Thomas, Chris Lowrie Replacements: Tom Arscott(used), Arran Cruickshanks(used), Matt Newman, Graham Dawe, Gareth Evans, Brett Stroud, Mike Lewis

Scorers :- Penalties 3x Regardt van Eyk

23 December 06
Cornish Pirates 13
Plymouth Albion 26

Attendance: = 5380

Albion did not get the possession in the first half and spend more than half the time in their own 22 and their defence was second to none.

When Albion did get into the Pirates 22 they took full advantage and went into the turn around 0-13 ahead.

On returning Albion were unchanged and gave Nic Sestaret his 15th try of the season. Pirates come back with 2 penalties but Albion take one back.

With 5 minutes to play Pirates go over in the corner for a converted try.

Albion hold out and finish the match on a high and claim the all important win against league contenders Cornish Pirates

More ...

Opponents Report

Team: Nat Saumi, Tom Arscott, Regardt van Eyk, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Ed Lewsey, Martin Rice, Richard Oxley, Scott Zimmerman, Colin Stewart, Tom Hayes, Federico Genoud, Danny Thomas, Chris Lowrie Replacements: Nigel Cane(used), David Delaney, Arran Cruickshanks, Brett Stroud(used), Francisco Deformes(used), Tim Mathias(used), James Owen(used)

Scorers :- Tries 2x Nic Sestaret Penalties 4x Regardt van Eyk Conversions 2x Regardt van Eyk

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