FLANKER Alex Everett will captain the Cornish Pirates upon his return from injury for Saturday’s Champ Rugby home clash with Ampthill at Camborne (2pm).

With the recent ‘Storm Goretti’ having severely damaged the main grandstand at the Mennaye Field in Penzance, and their culminating problems, by amicable agreement the fixture will be played at the Recreation Ground.

Despite the change of venue, and with sincere appreciation extended to the Camborne club, a big crowd is expected at a venue where the Pirates played for four seasons up to becoming first-time winners of the British & Irish Cup in May 2010. On that special occasion they emerged 23-14 winners against Irish powerhouses Munster.

The Pirates will now be keen to put in strong performances in the second half of the season, a fact not lost on joint head coach Gavin Cattle.

He said: “We are looking forward to Saturday having not played since the game away to Coventry on New Year’s Day.

“A plus has though been an opportunity to rest bodies and minds ahead of our task in the second half of the season, which is to hopefully climb up the league table after having lost five on the bounce.

“Despite the loss at Coventry last time out I feel it was a performance that we could at least hang our hat on in terms of physicality, and with more numbers coming back and available, including among them Alex Everett who is chomping at the bit to return to action, it has helped in our training.

“As for Saturday and the change of venue, firstly sincere thanks to Camborne for agreeing to accommodate us this weekend following our problems suffered at the Mennaye in relation to Storm Goretti. It is not ideal at short notice, but we are very thankful, and it is a familiar ground where Alan (joint head coach Alan Paver) and I have played at in the past, as has Wardy (Ampthill’s head coach Dave Ward).

“Overall, ahead of the game I think the way we have acted in difficult circumstances off field, and the response of Penzance & Newlyn and the Cornish Pirates working in tandem, has been transparent, and the Mennaye should hopefully be available for us to play again very soon.”

The Cornish Pirates matchday squad is as follows: 15 Iwan Price-Thomas, 14 Arthur Relton, 13 Chester Ribbons, 12 Joe Elderkin, 11 Matty Ward; 10 Arwel Robson, 9 Dan Hiscocks; 1 Alessandro Heaney, 2 Sol Moody, 3 Alfie Petch; 4 Charlie Rice, 5 Josh King; 6 Alex Everett (capt), 7 Jack Forsythe, 8 Tomi Agbongbon. Replacements: 16 Matt Pritchard, 17 Billy Young, 18 Ollie Andrews, 19 Milo Hallam, 20 Alfie Bell, 21 Will Rigelsford, 22 Louie Sinclair, 23 Ben Cambriani.