By Frank Stormont
March 23 2007

A look ahead at the weekend rugby. Gully is on the bench with Tom Arscott. Still time to get tickets and book travel for this important weekend

Squad 4 Cornish Pirates

Tim Mathias

Richard Oxley

Scott Zimmerman

Mike Lewis

Tom Hayes

Federico Genoud

Danny Thomas

Chris Lowrie

Ed Lewsey

Ed Barnes

Nic Sestaret

Keni Fisilau

Regardt van Eyk

Wihan Neethling

Nat Saumi

Tom Arscott

Arran Cruickshanks

Matt Newman

James Owen

Gareth Evans

Brett Stroud

Ben Gulliver

Bench

Spy in the Camp Pirates

24th March  3pm K.O.

@ Camborne Rugby Club

 

A match that many of the supporters from both sides would have seen as a great final rather then semi-final. The draw out of the hat favoured Pirates with a home draw so they will have the home advantage. 

The away advantage has not been absent in this years competition since if the sides are level after extra time the away side will be put through to the final.

Coming into this match most neutral supporters would probably give the edge to Pirates but Albion should never be written off. Albion are rebuilding their performances after their bad run of form at the beginning of the year.

This is realistically the only competition that either club have any chance of winning this season so both sides will be looking at this match as a must win. Also being a cup match there is no prizes for scoring 4 tries or missing by 7 or less points. This may effect the style of play as it did in the Coventry match at Brickfields.

 

As and when Pirates announce their starting line up I will add it to this listing as well as the Albion side.

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Last meeting

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 ...      This is ... Report    Pirates Report

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The way to the semi

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Predictions

BetFred 

BetFred can not split Albion and Pirates to win the trophy

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Rugby world give the match to Albion by just 2 points

They also give Exeter a win by 8

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Frank's prediction.

It will be a close match and only won by the odd point possible scored in the last few minutes of the match. It will be a different atmosphere perhaps from the last meeting at Camborne for various reasons.

Last season we lost to Pirates in the league but beat them in the Trophy match.  Since we have already beaten them in the league at Camborne I hope that this is not an omen for this fixture.  Whilst the Pirates have the advantage of the home crowd I hope there will be a large contingent travelling down from Plymouth to support Albion.

There are at least two coaches from the travel club and there are special deals on the trains but last time some of the return trains were on the full side.  We must not forget that in the event of equal scores after extra time the match will be awarded to the visiting side.

Pirates 22 Albion 23

Don't forget you can register your own predictions!

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Visiting fans

Tickets are £2 more if purchased at the gate  Brickfields still have a number of ground tickets at £10. Just pop in and buy as many as you want.

Ground Information

Car park - £2

Programme £2

Food/beer
No information on website

How to get there
Travel club may still have some spaces on the coaches try Keith on 567478 £10 for travel club member

You can get some good prices on the Trains to Cambourne station from Plymouth. Last time the players used the train so you might even bump into them on the return trip.

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Weather

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Officials

No information 

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Albion matters

Tom Arscott was helped off the pitch at the end of the match against Sedgley Park and did not feature in either of the Warriors matches this week.

Wihan Neethling started on the wing against Sedgley Park but the kicking duties were excellently retained by Regardt van Eyk.

It appears that Nigel Can is still not match fit as is also Martin Rice and Colin Stewart.

Dan Smith has played in both Warriors matches this week but is not available for Saturday as he is cup tied.

Ben Gulliver has played the last 20 minutes of the Warriors matches and made his presence felt.  Whether he is fit enough to start or not on Saturday is unknown, to me, but if he gets on the pitch he will lift the side.

 

Some weeks predicting the Albion side is an easy task but this week it will be a difficult one.

Franks Team:- Nat Saumi, Wihan Neethling, Regadt ban Eyk, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Ed Lewsey. Tim Matthias, Richard Oxley, Scott Zimmerman, Ben Gulliver, Tom Hayes, Federico Genoud, Danny Thomas, Chris Lowrie.  Replacements: Matt Newman, Sila Va'Enuku, Arran Cruickshanks, Gareth Evans, James Owen, Brett Stroud  

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Westcountry Warriors

With two matches already this week the re arranged match against Richmond has had to have been cancelled.

There are a number of matches that need to be rearranged in the Tamar Shield and once these have been fixed I will let you know.

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Ladies

Nine Albion players played in the annual Varsity match at Brickfields with Marjons coming out winners 27 - 5.  Two tries for Albion and England star Georgina Rozario and one each for  Rachel Chidgey, Vee Thompson and Verity Waters with Nancy Stone getting the kicking points

This Sunday they take on Richmond at Brickfields,  this is their last home match of the league and the Ladies will be expecting to finish their season at Brickfields with a win. 

KO is at 2:30

Last match against Richmond

05 November 06
Richmond II 27
Plymouth Albion Ladies 5

The ladies lost their London match against Richmond II by 27 - 5 in a game that had two yellow cards shown to Albion in the second half.

The match played just a few miles up the road from the England side being beaten by the All Blacks Albion were disappointed with a large number of the decisions that were made during the match.

Albion’s only score came in the 37th minute by Sonia Clatworthy after a well worked move by the forwards which gave the backs an overlap on the outside which the backs took advantage of to reduce the deficit before the half time whistle.

With the score at 12 - 5 at half time Richmond played the referee far better than Albion in the second half and being a player down for 20 minutes did not help.

The team now have to go away and think about their performance and how they could have better dealt with the situation.

After the match the referee admitted that she was out of her league and should never have been given the game.

Team: Tracy Corby, Kim Davey, Anna Shepard, Jade Whitby, Sonia Clatworthy, Nancy Stone, Georgina Rozario, Jenny Dyer, Claire Steer, Vee Thompson, Helen Duffin, Sarah Curtis, Jenny March, Rachel Tucker, Terri Cormack Replacements: Jo Holden(used), Megan Higgins(used), Tracy Surruys, Jodie Wrey, Barbara Jensen, Rachel Chidgey, Cathy Shaw

Scorers :- Try Sonia Clatworthy