A BIG crowd is expected at the Mennaye Field on Sunday as the Cornish Pirates take on Welsh Premiership leaders Pontypridd in the British Irish Cup quarter-final (2pm).
The winner will be guaranteed a home semi-final next month against either Munster or Leinster who play on Friday night and the stakes are high for both clubs.
Defeat will effectively end the season for the Pirates despite having three Greene King Championship games still to play, while Pontypridd are chasing a league and cup treble as they look to round off an impressive rugby year.
Director of Rugby Ian Davies knows that his Pirates squad will have to be at their best to progress in the competition they won four years ago but believes that last Saturday’s 26-20 Championship win at Plymouth Albion was the perfect preparation for this game.
He said: “Hopefully we will take a bit of confidence into the game on the back of two league wins. I expect Ponty to be very similar to Plymouth in that they will play with a lot of passion and they certainly won’t lie down.”
“I thought we showed a lot of emotion against Plymouth and we need to take that same attitude into Sunday’s game. Tactically and technically we were up there but we just needed to bring the emotion into our performance.”
“This is a home game for us and hopefully every man and his dog from Cornwall will be out to support us.”
The Pirates were captained by lock Darren Barry at Brickfields in the absence of the injured Chris Morgan and if he is ruled out again this weekend Davies may go with the same choice again after the Bristolian’s impressive debut wearing the captain’s armband.
“The first thing he said to me after the game was “One from one!”,” said Davies. “I thought he led really well and there was a lot of pressure on his young shoulders, but he has played a lot of Championship rugby and he led the forwards really well.”
Barry is currently amongst the walking wounded from Brickfields with an ankle injury and the Pirates are also hoping that Shane Cahill and Mike Pope are fit to return to action.
Pontypridd come into the game on the back of only their second Welsh Premiership defeat of the season after going down at Aberavon on Saturday.
They will meet the Wizards again before travelling to Cornwall as they begin a hectic schedule of eight games in April.
The Welsh side qualified from the group stage of the British Irish Cup on points difference after tying with London Scottish at the top of Pool 2. However, they lost on the road to both Championship opponents going down at both the Scots and London Welsh.
Davies added: “They are going for the treble and they want to win on Sunday. There is a lot of experience in their squad and if they are bolstered by Cardiff Blues players they will have a lot of high level experience.”
“The team of three in the middle are all from Ireland and we need to understand their interpretation of the laws quickly. We have come unstuck with non-English officials before and the scrum and breakdown will be absolutely crucial on Sunday.”
Cornish Pirates (from): Fatialofa, Goss, Hendrickson, Holland, James, Jones, Kessell, Moyle, Riley, Sinclair, Fullerton, Andrew, Barry, Cahill, Carpenter, Channon, Graulich, Prescott, Stevens, Davies, Cheesman, Dancer, Morgan, Parker, Bodilly, Bolwell, Hallett, Duncan, McGlone, Carrick-Smith, Atkinson, Elloway, Carrick-Smith, Conlon.
Article source: http://www.express.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/405317/Harlequins-up-against-it-in-next-year-s-Heineken-Cup
Rugby: In My View by Dick Straughan April 3
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