Cornwall Pirates have announced that chief executive Rod Coward is to step down from his position with the club at the end of this month.

Coward joined the Pirates in 2006 and has overseen the most succesful period in the club's history. He was also instrumental in organising the move from Truro to Camborne, and then back to its current home at the Mennaye Field in Penzance.

In a statement, Pirates owner Dicky Evans paid tribute to Coward, saying: "Rod came to the Pirates at a particularly difficult time for me where wasteful and profligate spending had been the order of the day, which I was unable to control from 4000 miles away in Kenya."

Coward will stay on at the club in a new capacity as director of Penzance and Newlyn Rugby Ltd, along with taking responsbility for ground improvements in the off-season.