Phil Westren's match report from Saturday's draw against Doncaster Knights:

Welcome to the Mennaye for Cornish Pirates vs Doncaster Knights. Cloudy, blustery and an increasing amount of rain as we head towards kick off. Late team change: Tomiwa Agbongbon replaces Alex Everett who is out due to illness. Luke Ratcliff comes into the 23.

Matchday 23 for tomorrow's home game Cornish Pirates vs Doncaster Knights 2.30pm, Saturday 18 October at the Mennaye.

Yesterday’s match ended in a disappointing 26-21 defeat - unlike last week’s game of two very different halves, a close match throughout and we couldn’t quite turn pressure in the last 10 minutes into a winning score. Match report now available here

First away game of the season: our hosts are Ampthill, kick off at 3pm. Here’s the Cornish Pirates 23. First Champ starts for Rory Suttor and Ben Cambriani.

Today’s other round 1 Champ results: Worcester Warriors 29-19 Coventry Caldy 26-10 London Scottish Cambridge 24-45 Ampthill Richmond 18-13 Chinnor Bedford Blues 22-50 Ealing Trailfinders

Tough opening match - hefty wind blowing straight from Newlyn End and all of the points were scored at the Penzance end. Unfortunately Hartpury scored one more point in the first half than we did in the second - so close to a memorable comeback. Cornish Pirates 21-22 Hartpury

Score from tonight’s season opener: a strong start from Nottingham against near neighbours Doncaster (when you’re starting from Penzance, everyone else is near neighbours really) Nottingham 26-8 Doncaster

24 hours to go: here's the Cornish Pirates team for tomorrow's season opener against Hartpury. 2.30pm at the Mennaye, commentary on BBC Radio Cornwall and livestream available via Clubber.

3 days to go… a reminder of October’s fixtures, all starting on Saturday afternoon with Hartpury’s visit.

Champ Rugby has announced a brand-new streaming partnership with Clubber TV to broadcast all matches for the 2025-26 season. For the first time in Champ Rugby history, all 182 league games across the season, plus the play-offs, will be streamed - see link for more and a 20% discount code.

Congratulations to Alex Everett, named as Cornish Pirates captain for the 2025/26 season. cornish-pirates.com/rugby/alex-e...

Please help support the Bluesky rugby community ⬇️

An excellent final pre-season warm up last night: Cornish Pirates 61-14 Exeter Chiefs. 2 weeks to go until we kick off the Champ season at the Mennaye against Hartpury

Full time: Cornish Pirates 26-38 Bedford Blues. After a fairly structured first half (7-12 HT) there were a lot of changes and a flurry of tries later in the second. Looking forward to seeing Bedford back at the Mennaye for a competitive match later in the season.

Sunny evening for the first home pre-season friendly: Cornish Pirates v Bedford Blues, kicking off in 10 minutes. Team sheet below.

Pretty good first 40 minutes of pre-season at Redruth

#ChampRugby side @cornishpirates.bsky.social announce the signing of #RFCLA prop Ale Heaney for the rest of 2025! Heaney started 12 of his 15 games for LA in #MLR2025, helping them make the postseason and completing well over 100 tackles! Best of luck, Ale! #MLRStats #MLR #MLR2026

Two @cornishpirates.bsky.social legends of the last couple of seasons (Matt McNab and Bruce Houston) involved here - sadly both moving on next season but looking forward to see where Zimbabwe go with this squad.

The 25/26 Champ Rugby fixtures are out: it starts off at the Mennaye with another visit from Hartpury on 4 October. Dates and kick off times for the first 13 games have been set and the second half of the season will be confirmed soon.

Some very exciting news for a Tuesday morning: fly-half Arwel Robson is returning to the Pirates for the 25/26, having previously made 51 appearances.

Excellent news for everyone east of Penzance who likes trains, Friday nights, and Cornish Pirates

Well, that was epic. Finishing the season on a very stressful high after over turning a 14-27 half time deficit to take a 35-34 win against Nottingham. Flawless kicking from Bruce Houston made the difference - 5 from 5 against Nottingham’s 2(!) from 8. We finish 4th in the championship.

Cornish Pirates 23 for this afternoon’s season closing match against Nottingham as we push for a top 4 finish - farewells to a few favourites including a 50th (and final) appearance for Bruce Houston 3pm at the Mennaye

Cornish Pirates 23 for tomorrow's (likely) 3rd v 4th decider at Doncaster Knights.

Another sunny (dusty) day for rugby at the Mennaye

An unchanged Cornish Pirates 23 for the visit of Ampthill tomorrow 17 May, 2.30pm at the Mennaye

Splann.

See you all soon?

Report from yesterday’s win now available ⬇️

All square after 20 mins. More territory for Pirates but Hartpury scored first breaking the line after a scrum on halfway before McNab equalised in the corner. Cornish Pirates 7-7 Hartpury

And here's Hartpury's team

The Cornish Pirates team for tomorrow's huge 5th vs 3rd place game against Hartpury at the Mennaye tomorrow. 10 May, 2.30pm. FREE live stream (link in reply below) and commentary on BBC Radio Cornwall.

Highlights from Coventry - hopefully the start of a strong final block to finish the season on a high cornish-pirates.com/pirates-tv/c...

Report and reaction from yesterday’s excellent result away at Coventry

We hold onto 5 place after wins for everyone else (except Coventry) in the top 6 this weekend. Big game against Hartpury coming up.

20 minutes gone, and Pirates lead 7-0 following a try from Arthur Relton, converted by Houston.

Correction: 3pm

Cornish Pirates squad for today's visit to Coventry. 2.30pm, live on BBC Radio Cornwall. (welcome back to the Pirates legend that is Jack Andrew)

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Welcome to today’ commentary live from the Mennaye grandstand. Early try from Caldy that’s mauled over in the old Western National corner in a drive lasting about a minute and a half following a line out near the Pirates 22. Conversion misses. Cornish Pirates 0-5 Caldy

First starts for Michael Etete and new loan signing Jack Forsythe in the team for tomorrow’s home game against Caldy 2.30pm at the Mennaye, live commentary on BBC Radio Cornwall and live stream available.

Back row Jack Forsythe, in his first season at Exeter Chiefs and playing for Exeter University, has joined on loan and is available for selection immediately.

Today’s news: lock Josh King has signed for a third season with Pirates.

Highlights from Saturday’s close away win at Chinnor are now available. cornish-pirates.com/pirates-tv/c...

The good news for next season begins: delighted to announce that scrum-half Dan Hiscocks has signed a new contract to stay with the Pirates for 25/26.

Report and reaction from yesterday’s away win at Chinnor cornish-pirates.com/match-report...

Not the most relaxing final 40 but enough work done in the first half to see us heading home with the full 5 points. Correction to the half-time post: Matt McNab in fact scored 4 tries after an opener from Dan Hiscocks. Final score: Chinnor 31-33 Cornish Pirates

Excellent first half including a Matt McNab hat trick with the backs picking up where they left off last week. Chinnor 12-33 Cornish Pirates

Cornish Pirates team for tomorrow's trip to Chinnor 12 April 3pm, live on BBC Radio Cornwall