Cornish Pirates

Cornish Pirates
Full name Penzance and Newlyn Rugby Football Club
Founded 1945 (1945)
Location Cornwall, UK
Ground(s) Mennaye Field (Capacity: 4,000 (2,200 seated))
Chairman Ian Connell
Captain(s) Chris Morgan
League(s) Greene King IPA Championship
2015–16 9th
Team kit
Official website
www.cornish-pirates.com

The Cornish Pirates (Cornish: An Vorladron Gernewek) are a 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 RFU, the Cornish Pirates play and train at their home ground, the 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 three 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. The Pirates returned to The Mennaye for the 2010–11 season and remain there to date. 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, as to whether the team should 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:

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.[1] The Stadium For Cornwall plans hit a problem when Cornwall Council refused to give any public funding to constructing the facility, which they announced towards the end of the 2011–12 season.

When new chairman Ian Connell took over on 1 July following owner Dicky Evans' decision to retire,[2] it was announced that the club hope to move into a new stadium in Truro in time for the 2016–17 season.[3]

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

2006–07 season

Following a highly successful 2005–06 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.

2007–08 season

After the success of the 2006–07 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

[4]

Current standings

2015–16 RFU Championship Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Try bonus Loss bonus Points
1 Bristol Rugby (Q) 22 20 0 2 718 397 321 14 1 95
2 Doncaster Knights (Q) 22 15 2 5 588 470 118 10 5 79
3 Yorkshire Carnegie (Q) 22 14 0 8 655 466 189 15 7 78
4 Bedford Blues (Q) 22 12 0 10 623 599 24 10 6 64
5 London Welsh 22 11 1 10 442 528 -86 9 3 58
6 Jersey 22 11 1 10 465 466 -1 5 6 57
7 Nottingham Rugby 22 10 0 12 494 483 11 9 7 56
8 London Scottish 22 10 0 12 463 453 10 2 7 49
9 Cornish Pirates 22 8 1 13 530 570 -40 8 7 49
10 Rotherham Titans 22 8 0 14 454 621 -167 3 3 38
11 Ealing Trailfinders 22 6 1 15 523 605 -82 5 6 37
12 Moseley (R) 22 4 0 18 416 715 -299 6 4 26
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Difference between points for and against
  3. Total number of points for
  4. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
  5. 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 is the relegation place.
Updated: 23 April 2016
Source: "Greene King IPA Championship". NCA Rugby. 

Current squad

2015-16 Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union
Aaron Carpenter Hooker Canada Canada
Tom Channon Hooker England England
Rob Elloway Hooker Germany Germany
Jack Innard (D/R) Hooker England England
Jack Andrew Prop England England
Paul Andrew Prop England England
Francisco Deformes Prop Chile Chile
Tyler Gendall Prop England England
Adam Jamieson Prop England England
Alan Paver Prop England England
Marlen Walker Prop New Zealand New Zealand
Brett Beukeboom Lock Canada Canada
Marcus Garrett Lock England England
Will Graulich Lock England England
Joe Atkinson Flanker England England
Matt Bolwell Flanker England England
Alex Cheesman Flanker England England
Dan Lee Flanker England England
Jake Parker Flanker England England
Sam Simmonds (D/R) Flanker England England
Tom Duncan Number 8 England England
Laurie McGlone Number 8 New Zealand New Zealand
Chris Morgan Number 8 England England
Player Position Union
Gavin Cattle Scrum-half Wales Wales
Alex Day Scrum-half England England
Stuart Townsend Scrum-half England England
Will Cargill Fly-half England England
Kieran Hallett Fly-half England England
Laurence May (D/R) Fly-half England England
Alex Dancer Centre England England
Tom Hendrickson (D/R) Centre New Zealand New Zealand
Rheon James Centre Wales Wales
Mike Pope Centre England England
Tom Riley Centre Wales Wales
Jack Arnott (D/R) Wing England England
Matt Evans Wing Canada Canada
Kieran Goss Wing South Africa South Africa
Luke Jones Wing England England
Kyle Moyle Wing England England
Max Bodilly Fullback England England
Craig Holland Fullback England England
Toby May Fullback England England

Notable former players

See also

References

External links

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