Cornish Pirates stay on top by reading The Rugby Paper…

Cornish Pirates are again punching above their weight in the Championship and head coach Ian Davies has revealed how The Rugby Paper is playing a part in ensuring National League rugby’s westernmost club stays ahead of the game.
The Penzance outfit are masters at talent identification and take pride in the fact around 15 former players currently operate in top teams around Europe, including Gloucester‘s Rob Cook and Harlequins duo Matt Hopper and Dave Ward.
But departing players need replacing and this season has seen the likes of former Loughborough pair Craig Holland and Jake Parker, Mike Pope (ex-Taunton) and South African flyer Kieran Goss seamlessly stepping in.
Last week’s 21-15 win over title favourites Bristol featured nine players who only joined the Pirates this season, and Davies explained how a rigorous selection process ensures only the committed make it into Cornwall.
“We work incredibly hard to get the right players down here,” Davies said. “It’s about making contacts, watching games and DVDs and reading The Rugby Paper to note who’s making the headlines.
“You follow that up by begging, stealing or borrowing DVDs to do further research. Then once you’ve narrowed your targets, it’s about convincing them to come to sunny Penzance.
“We believe good people make good rugby players, so we do our homework and meet them to learn more about their background and aspirations in the game.
“We say it how it is, that in Penzance the sea is very close but they’re a long way from anything else, but that if they want to develop their rugby this is the place to be.”
Davies has aspirations of his own and it remains something of a mystery that, after his success with the Pirates, no elite club has moved in.
He is out of contract at the end of this season but said: “The chairman Dicky Evans gave me a chance in 2009 and hopefully I’m repaying that. Things are moving on my contract and hopefully I’ll put pen to paper, but there’s a gentleman’s agreement if a Premiership or Rabo club comes in.”
NEALE HARVEY