WITH the halfway point of the season edging closer, the Cornish Pirates face their first South West derby match on Saturday.

Plymouth Albion will welcome the Mennaye outfit to The Brickfields for the Greene King IPA Championship clash, with both sides having not ventured onto a rugby pitch for a fortnight.

Their most recent action came in the final pool games of the British & Irish Cup with each crashing out of the competition.

Pirates director of rugby Ian Davies said recently the side’s B&I campaign had given a glimpse of how some of the young players are blossoming.

He added the team must keep on pushing forward in their development with league games the only thing to concentrate on.

Davies said: “We are definitely improving.

“The test for us as a group is to continue the development in our remaining games and from what we have seen thus far this hopefully bodes well for next year.”

When the Pirates hosted Albion on Boxing Day last year, a tight affair ensued with just 13 points scored in total.

It was the home side who came out victorious though with a 10-3 win thanks to a man-of-the-match performance from prop Jack Andrew which saw him score the game’s only try and scrummage brilliantly.

In their last match against each other on March 27, it proved to more high scoring with the Pirates returning to Cornwall with a 26-20 success.

Tries from Tom Riley, Max Bodilly and Tom Kessell were added to three penalties from Kieran Hallett to see home the victory.

Life so far this season has been very difficult for Albion with just one win in all competitions.

This victory came on November 28 in the B&I Cup tie away at Jersey when they defeated the islanders 23-14.

The closest Albion have come to victory in the Championship so far this season came a week earlier when they drew 19-19 with Yorkshire Carnegie.

Bedford Blues were the last team to face the Pirates in league action and were thrashed 65-14 at the Mennaye with nine tries scored by the hosts.