Cornish Pirates

Cornish Pirates

Full name	Penzance and Newlyn Rugby Football Club
Founded	1945
Location	Cornwall, England
Ground(s)	Mennaye Field (Capacity: 4,000 (2,200 seated))
Chairman	Dicky Evens
Coach(es)	(Forwards) Ian Davies (backs) Harvey Biljon
Captain(s)	Gavin Cattle
League(s)	The Championship
2010–11	3rd (Losing Play-off Finalists)
Team kit
Official website
www.cornish-pirates.com/

The Cornish Pirates (Cornish: An Vorladron Kernewek) are an English professional rugby union team who play in the Championship, the second level of the English rugby union pyramid, and are the premier Cornish rugby club. Formerly known as Penzance & Newlyn Pirates, the Cornish Pirates play their home games and train at their traditional home at Mennaye Field in Penzance.

Plans ca. 2004/05

There has been recent talk of plans to build a permanent 15,000 seat stadium which will be fit to host Premiership rugby, but at present the club is considering its options as the minimum entry requirements to the Premiership are constantly changing.

At the end of the 2004/05 season the Pirates finished in 4th position in National Division 1 which at the time was their highest league position since owner Dicky Evans became President and just 3 places below Premiership rugby status. To fulfill the club's aspirations of gaining promotion into the Premiership it is necessary to fulfill a number of criteria including becoming a Limited Company and playing home matches in a new capacity stadium.

The decision to relocate

In 2005 the Pirates moved away from their home at The Mennaye in Penzance, first to Kenwyn Rugby Ground, near Truro, and then to Camborne Recreation Ground. In examining the options it was viewed as imperative to increase the support base which led to a difficult decision for Dicky Evans and the supporters of the Pirates namely, should the team relocate to another site to play their home matches or not? The questions, concerns and sentiments arising from the proposals were thoroughly debated in the clubhouse and elsewhere. However, on 27 May 2005 at an emergency meeting held in a packed St Johns Hall the innovative plans were passed. They included:

• Relocating to a new temporary site at Kenwyn, Truro for the 2005/6 season.
• Re-branding including changing the club's name to the Cornish Pirates.
• Upgrading all the facilities at the Mennaye Field which will continue to act as the permanent training base for the Cornish Pirates.
• The Mennaye to continue to act as the playing home for the Pirates mini and junior sections and Mounts Bay.

Following the vote Richard Evans told members: "ten years ago I asked you to support me in taking this club into the professional era. At that time there were those were totally against this move, there are people that are against this latest move. However, it is my belief that we must try this venture". He expressed his personal happiness at the support expressed for the move and regarded it as a step towards a Premiership rugby club in Cornwall.

Cornwall Council is currently developing a business plan for a proposed Stadium for Cornwall, which could host both the Pirates and Truro City Football Club.

Joe Beardshaw wins line-out ball for the Pirates against Plymouth Albion

2006/7 season

Following a highly successful 2005/6 season, (when crowds were increased and the Pirates finished 3rd in Division 1), it was decided to relocate again and over the next two seasons the Cornish Pirates will play their home rugby matches at Camborne RFC's recreation ground. Camborne's ground is seen as many to be the best rugby ground in Cornwall boasting a superb grandstand.

Penzance & Newlyn RFC club badge

The Pirates say they intend to make match days an "event" as they did last year at Kenwyn and as the Camborne Recreation Ground accommodates over 9,000 people with a stand capacity of 780, and a new Family Stand of allowing for more than 1,000. There is also good banked standing, a 80-foot-long (24 m) marquee bar complete with Cadgwith Singers and ample parking at or near the ground.

Cornish Pirates continue to work towards developing a stadium that will be required to ensure Premiership status. They are reportedly working with Cornwall County Council, and other partners, and at various sites near Truro, Camborne, or points in between. The Camborne Rec is a popular and historic Cornish rugby venue, having hosted many top class games over the years against teams including the "All Blacks" and the "Wallabies".

On 15 April 2007, the Cornish Pirates won the EDF Energy National Trophy at Twickenham for the first time in the club's history, against Exeter Chiefs. The score was 19–16.

2007/8 season

After the success of the 2006/7 cup win, the hope was that the club’s ambition could finally be realised, this hope was hampered by the loss of Viliami Ma'asi and Alberto Di Bernardo (to Leeds), these losses were offset in some degree by the signing of Canadian international scrum half Ed Fairhurst, former England U21 centre Simon Whatling from Worcester and seasoned professional Rob Elloway from Gloucester. At first the results were not good but after the world cup the team began to pick up and were joined by one of the stars of the tournament Tongan full back; Vunga Lilo. Unfortunately the side couldn’t live with the newly relegated Northampton Saints and were unlucky to draw them in the 1st round of the cup, going down 15–3 at home.

Club honours

EDF Energy National Trophy Winners: 2006/07

British and Irish Cup Winners: 2009/10

Current Standings

2011-12 RFU Championship Table
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Bonus Points	Points
1	Bristol	16	13	0	3	417	296	121	8	60
2	Bedford Blues	16	10	1	5	475	354	121	11	53
3	London Welsh	16	9	2	5	383	293	90	9	49
4	Cornish Pirates	16	8	3	5	448	356	92	10	48
5	Rotherham Titans	16	9	1	6	377	294	83	8	46
6	Leeds Carnegie	16	10	1	5	315	354	-39	2	44
7	Nottingham	16	8	2	6	443	349	94	7	43
8	Doncaster Knights	16	7	2	7	325	344	-19	7	39
9	Moseley	16	5	1	10	328	445	-117	5	27
10	London Scottish	16	4	0	12	334	409	-75	9	25
11	Plymouth Albion	16	5	0	11	264	387	-123	2	22
12	Esher	16	1	1	14	226	454	-228	2	8
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
Green background are promotion play-off places. Pink background are relegation play-off places.

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under IRB eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-IRB nationality.

Player Position Union Tom Cowan-Dickie Hooker England Rob Elloway Hooker Germany Dave Ward Hooker England Paul Andrew Prop England Rudi Brits Prop South Africa Lloyd Fairbrother Prop England Alan Paver Prop England Carl Rimmer Prop England Ryan Storer Prop England Laurie McGlone Lock New Zealand Mike Myerscough Lock England Ian Nimmo Lock Scotland Matt Smith Lock England Phil Burgess Flanker England Dave Ewers Flanker Zimbabwe Kyle Marriott Flanker England Chris Morgan Flanker England Charlie Walker-Blair Flanker England Blair Cowan Number 8 New Zealand Ben Maidment Number 8 England

Player Position Union Gavin Cattle (c) Scrum-half Wales James Doherty Scrum-half England Tom Kessell Scrum-half England Johnny Bentley Fly-half New Zealand Aaron Penberthy Fly-half England Ceiron Thomas Fly-half Wales Tom Cooper Centre England Sam Hill Centre England Drew Locke Centre England Andrew Suniula Centre United States Ryan Westren Centre England Darren Daniel Wing Wales Wes Davies Wing Wales David Doherty Wing England Rhodri McAtee Wing Wales Grant Pointer Wing England Rob Cook Fullback England Matt Evans Fullback Canada

Transfers 2011/2012

Players In

• David Doherty (from Jersey)
• Tom Kessell (from Plymouth Albion)
• Ben Maidment (from Moseley)
• Matt Smith (from UWIC
• Ryan Westren (from Launceston)
• Andrew Suniula (from Chicago Griffins)
• Darren Daniel (from Carmarthen Quins)
• Ceiron Thomas (from Leeds Carnegie)

Players Out

• James Currie (to Worcester Warriors)
• Ben Gulliver (to Worcester Warriors)
• Tyrone Holmes (released)
• Matt Hopper (to Harlequins)
• Nick Jackson (released)
• Tom Luke (to Doncaster Knights)
• Sui Liaga (released)
• Steve Winn (released)

Sevens Players

• Rhodri McAtee (Wales Sevens)

Notable former players

• Joe Bearman
• James Hawken
• Brian 'Stack' Stevens
• Rob Thirlby
• Trent Andrews
• Viliami Ma'asi
• Adam Mills
• Will James

External links

• Official site
• Unofficial Fans site & Forum
• Camborne RFC
• Trelawny's Army
• London Cornish RFC – for those living in London missing Cornish Rugby!
• Cornish Pirates on itsrugby.co.uk