The week off arrived at the perfect time after a difficult block of games including Yorkshire Carnegie and Hartpury away in a six-day time frame which utilised nearly every member of the playing squad.
Ampthill’s current form is good with three wins from the last three games and they find themsleve in 4th place in the league. However, make no mistake (without being rude), the Cornish Pirates are a very different proposition to Ampthill’s most recent opposition and with good reason sit proudly in third place in the Greene King IPA Championship.
“Pirates gave us a lesson down at the Mennaye in November and I hope we can make it a more competitive game at Dillingham Park. The Pirates pack is amongst the best in the competition and the backs play a direct and confrontational type of rugby.
We have made a few changes from the side that won at Hartpury with Soane Tonga’uiha and Michael van Vuuren adding some experience in the front row. Billy Johnson and Shay Kerry renew their productive locking partnership in the second row whilst Jac Arthur gets the nod at blindside for what should be a massive battle between the two packs.
Barrett and Grimoldby continue at half-back with Jarryd Sage and Reuben Bird-Tulloch in the centres.
Baker, Sutherland and Lewis form a dynamic back three that we hope will give the Pirates something to think about.”
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Pirates Squad
Marlen Walker
Dan Frost
Jay Tyack
Fa’atiga Lemalu
Brett Beukeboom
Josh Caulfield
Antonio Kiri Kiri
James McRae
Ruaridh Dawson
Will Cargill
AJ Cant
Shae Tucker
Rory Parata
Robin Wedlake
Kyle Moyle
Tom Channon
Jack Andre
Sam Rodman
Danny Cutmore
John Stevens
Harry Davey
Javier Rojas Alvarez
Callum Patterson