The Cornish Pirates will extend a warm welcome to Rotherham Titans on Sunday for a vitally important Pool B game in the RFU Championship. Kick-off at the Mennaye Field is at 4.05pm.
It will be Rotherham’s second visit to Penzance this season, where they were beaten 40-15 points back in October. However, the Titans got their revenge with a 19-18 win at Clifton Lane in January.
To date in Pool B of the RFU Championship play-offs, the Pirates have beaten Doncaster Knights 33-25 at home, and Bedford Blues 31-18 away, whilst Sunday’s Yorkshire visitors have lost 58-15 at home to Bedford and 41-26 away to Doncaster.
The Pirates win at Bedford’s Goldington Road ground last Sunday, where they went for glory and got their reward, was just fabulous to witness, besides also being another great advert for the RFU Championship. Both teams emerged with credit and and it’s hoped that Sunday’s line-ups will make a similar impression. One thing for certain, however, is that the Pirates won’t take the challenge from the Titans lightly. Yes, they have lost two games, but look closer at each match and it is perhaps not so surprisingly obvious that the results could be deemed misleading. Bedford might have won by a comfortable margin at Rotherham, but the Blues toiled for most of the first hour, with there only one score separating the sides approaching the last quarter. Also, from their game at Doncaster last weekend it needs remembering that they still scored four tries against the Knights to register a deserved bonus point.
Rotherham’s Argentine fly-half/centre, Juan Pablo Socino, who ended Stage One of the Championship as the competition’s fifth top scorer on 240 points, has added 21 more to his tally in Stage Two, including two tries. Of interest, Cornish ‘Pirate’ Rob Cook ended Stage One in first place on 262 points, which has now risen to an impressive 295 – taking into account the 33 (two tries and 23 points with the boot) he has scored in the last two games.
BEDFORD TICKETS – BE WARNED, BUY THEM EARLY!
Rugby supporters need to be aware that the Cornish Pirates versus Bedford Blues game scheduled to be played at the Mennaye Field on Sunday 10th April (ko 3pm) will surely be a sell out.
The advice, naturally, is obvious – ‘please purchase your ticket needs early to avoid disappointment’, as following the Cornish Pirates superb 31-18 win at Bedford, Blues supporters will be booking a spring weekend in Cornwall in their hordes, hopeful that their side will exact revenge.
The Cornish Pirates Ticket Office at the clubhouse in Alexandra Road, Penzance (Tel: 01736-331961), is open on Mondays & Tuesdays and Thursdays & Fridays from 9am – 12 noon, or alternatively tickets can also be purchased on-line at www.cornish-pirates.com/tickets and from certain ‘Warrens’ Bakers outlets about the county.
