As well as re-signing James Moore,Rhodri McAtee,Ed Fairhurst,Darren Daviduk,Rob Elloway,Bruce Cummings and Matt Evans,the pirates have signed back rower Jannie Bornman and 2nd row Ben Gulliver from Albion and Canadian international 2nd row Michael Burak from Pau in France.

A good thing Burak wasn't signed by a Yorkshireman - he'd have gone down in the annals as being from T'Pau!

Presumably the contracts are arranged and signed by the Pirates CEO. He is a Yorkshireman!

Was he drinking a cup of tea at the time? 'Cos then he'd have had china in his hand...

Thanks BoP, I'd been trying to remember that hit by T'Pau. Must be old age finally catching up with me. The lead singer was Carole Decker I believe.

Carol (without the 'e')

I thought you where now 'formally arfur' arfur

I never was arfur actually in real life. That login name was just my way of remembering my Dad who died just before I first went on an Internet forum.

Wait a cotton pickin' minute. I am a bit confused here. Is it formally or formerly?

Dave,

I've just changed my log-in name on the Pirates forum so you could say I've formally changed my former name.

Now I understand.

Pirates have today signed Newbury flanker Chris Morgan,Doncaster centre/fly half Tom Luke and Bees winger/full back Marika Vakacegu.
Tim Cowley has left to join Bourgoin and winger/full back Vunga Lilo has joined Bristol.

and Jason Strange joining from Bristol to play/help Brett Davey with backs coaching

Has that been confirmed LL?.

Good signing if true.

I be very interested to hear the comments of our Pirates supporters on here as to their thoughts regarding this squad for next year.I appreciate that there will be more.

Update - Pirates Squad News
   
 
 
Squad News
May 6th 2008

Squad Nears Completion

The end of the season might be less than two weeks ago, but the Pirates can already confirm the bulk of the squad for the 2008-09 National One campaign.

It is also likely that another three names will be announced in the near future, but for the present the squad list reads as follows:-

Backs
Paul Devlin, Ed Fairhurst, Mark Ireland, Rhodri McAtee, James Moore, Ollie Thomas
Brian Tuohy, Simon Whatling, Adryan Winnan, Steve Winn
New signings
Nicky Griffiths, Rhys Jones, Tom Luke, Marika Vakacegu.
Richard Bright (Academy)

Forwards
Joe Beardshaw, Sam Betty, Peter Cook, Bruce Cumming, Darren Dawidiuk,
Rob Elloway, Matt Evans, Sam Heard, Iva Motusaga, Alan Paver, Dan Seal
Heino Senekal
New signings
Mike Burak, Iain Exner, Ben Gulliver, Chris Morgan.
Paul Andrew (Academy)

Speaking with reference to the Cornish Pirates squad for the 2008-09 season, Rod Coward, CEO, commented: 'We have assembled a strong squad, which we believe will be capable of competing with the best. I anticipate that we will be recruiting four more quality players and in addition will have an agreement with a Premiership Club to bring in loan players to further strengthen our squad. Our targets are at least a top three finish in National 1 and to reward our supporters by reaching the National Trophy final.'

The following have left for other Clubs:-

Richard Bolt (Exeter Chiefs), Nick Buckley (Rotherham Titans), Ali Koko (France - tbc)
Sam Parsons (Redruth), Gareth Steenson (Exeter Chiefs), Vunga Lilo (Bristol)
Tim Cowley (Bourgoin), Chris Cracknell (Exeter Chiefs), Scott Hobson (Bath)
Nathan Kemp (Jersey), Stan McKeen (Oxford University).

arfur over to you.

Doesn't "a Top 3 finish" suggest a rowing back from previous ambitions?

Some good players going elsewhere.  Anybody want to bet against Exeter winning National 1?

Don't agree that aiming for a top three finish in a very tough, competetive league with at least four other top quality sides is a lowering of ambition. The management have said that IF, and it's a mighty big IF, Pirates won the league then Camborne could be adapted temporarily to meet GP criteria.

As for the players leaving we will miss Tim Cowley and Chris Cracknell more than most with Vunga Lilo a close third. Scott Hobson could well go on to being an England regular if he keeps his standards high especially with the experience of being in a GP set up. The rest will not be missed too much though, even Steenson though a good penalty taker often kicks the ball away aimlessly to the opposition more than he should. A fully fit Stan McKeen was excellent but I believe his injury has not healed sufficiently for him to play top class rugby again.

There are some good players coming in and, apparently, more to follow. I'm pretty sure that our GP tie-up is with Wasps but that's still to be confirmed by the club.

Looking forward to the new season already.

I'm not too sold on the Wasps link up,arfur, seeing that Mark Hewitt arrived from Glos and still remains in contact with the club, i would've thought that Glos would be the one to loan players this coming season.Then again......

POWERFUL TONGAN JOINS PIRATES

MARK STEVENS

11:00 - 08 May 2008



Having bid farewell to one Tongan international in recent weeks, the Cornish Pirates are now set to greet another after winger Aisea Havili yesterday confirmed his move from Guinness Premiership side Worcester Warriors.

The experienced 31-year-old back signs as a direct replacement for compatriot Vunga Lilo, who recently agreed a move to Bristol after just one season with the Pirates.

Havili, however, comes highly recommended and is sure to add some notable firepower to the Pirates back division in National League One next season.



First capped by his country against Fiji in 2000, Havili's first taste of Northern Hemisphere rugby came when he signed for Bridgend and then for the Celtic Warriors at the advent of regional rugby.

But when the Celtic Warriors disbanded, the 5ft 10in, 15 stone speedster was quickly snapped up by Welsh rivals Llanelli Scarlets where he spent the 2004-05 season, finishing as the club's leading try-scorer that term. His scoring exploits and blistering pace attracted the attentions of many suitors, including Worcester, where he has again impressed.

During his first two seasons at Sixways, Havili helped himself to 17 tries in 36 league and cup appearances and was also part of the Tongan World Cup squad that competed in last year's Rugby World Cup in France.

His arrival at the Pirates, though, is a major boost and one which has delighted head coach Mark Hewitt, who has not ruled out adding a couple more new faces before next season. "It's a great signing for us," he said. "Aisea is a quality player who has played at the highest level. He has great ability, he's a great finisher and I know he will be one of the quickest players in our division next season.

"I've seen him play in the past for Worcester and know what he is capable of: all we have to do now is try and create the openings for him. Also I think he will be great entertainment for our supporters."

As well as netting Havili, Hewitt has also confirmed that prop Sam Heard - currently on an emergency loan with Premiership side Wasps - has agreed a new deal with the club, but forwards Scott Hobson and Stan McKeen are moving on to Bath and Oxford University, while Ali Koko is returning to France and Sam Parsons has agreed to join Redruth.

"We're almost there," added Hewitt. "We may add one or two more next week, but we'll just have to wait and see."


http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/index.jsp

The squad is coming together nicely,looking stronger in certain areas than last season,mainly the front 5 but hopefully with a couple more signings in the back row and possibly a more experienced 10 and we should be set to challenge the top sides in the league.