CORNISH Pirates joint head coach Gavin Cattle wants to see his side ‘come out fighting’ when they welcome Caldy to The Mennaye Field tomorrow (1pm).

The Pirates went into last weekend’s home date with Richmond in buoyant mood following a first away win of the season the week before at Rotherham Titans, but despite opening up a 12-point lead, were unable to add to their tally as the Londoners left with a 33-19 success.

Unsurprisingly there are some changes to the starting XV.

Angus Mawson makes a rare start at full-back following Will Becconsall’s injury last weekend, while Joe Elderkin also gets an opportunity in the centre alongside Harry Ascherl as Josh Radcliffe makes way.

In the pack there is just one alteration as key man Hugh Bokenham is preferred to Tomi Agbongbon.

Caldy arrive from Merseyside sitting 11th, four places below their hosts who have four wins and three defeats so far.

The Pirates have also bolstered their squad this week with the signing of Irish-born USA scrum-half Karl Keane on a short-term deal from American Major League Rugby side Anthem having previously been at the Seattle Seahawks.

With Becconsall injured, Cattle admitted they needed reinforcements, telling the club website: “With Will currently sidelined through injury, we needed to strengthen our options at scrum-half, and Karl brings a strong kicking game, solid core skills and valuable versatility, with the ability to cover both full-back and wing.”

He continued: “Things have moved incredibly quickly. I spoke to Karl on Sunday while he was still in New York, and he arrived in Cornwall on Tuesday. That speaks volumes about his attitude and eagerness to roll his sleeves up and get involved.

“We’re grateful to Karl for making himself available at such short notice and look forward to seeing the impact he can make within the group.”

Cattle also had his say on last weekend and what he wants to see in tomorrow’s lunchtime kick-off.

“We had no complaints in our defeat by Richmond last weekend”, he added. “I think we have played worse and won in previous fixtures, but they took their chances really well on the day, plus they defended heroically.

“Clearly there are certain areas of our game we need to work on, and from last Saturday’s case, to learn from. Obviously, the boys are frustrated, but one thing I would say is that although our intensity was decent, it was our execution that let us down. For us, we had a big punch on the face, so it’s about how we come out fighting this week.”

CORNISH PIRATES: Angus Mawson; Arthur Relton, Joe Elderkin, Harry Ascherl, Henry Palmer; Arwel Robson, Dan Hiscocks; Alessandro Heaney, Morgan Nelson, Alfie Petch; Milo Hallam, Josh King; Alex Everett (capt), Jack Forsythe, Hugh Bokenham. Replacements: Matt Pritchard, Billy Young, Jamie Clark, Matt Cannon, Tomi Agbongbon, Karl Keane, Josh Radcliffe, Finn Love.