This Saturday sees the Cornish Pirates play Cross Keys away in the semi-final of the British & Irish Cup. The kick-off time for this anticipated tough encounter at Pandy Park is at 3pm The Cornish Pirates won 30-3 when the two teams met back in December, but the Welsh side had arrived at the Mennaye Field in the knowledge that they had already qualified for the quarter-finals and appeared not fully focused on achieving victory.

At the quarter-finals stage the Cornish Pirates beat Nottingham 33-3 and Cross Keys were 32-8 winners against Llanelli.

The other semi-final is an all Irish affair which will see Leinster A take on Munster A on Friday evening, with a bonus for the winner being a home draw in the final which is scheduled to be played on Saturday 28th April.

Back to fitness, wing David Doherty returns to the side in place of an injured Grant Pointer, whilst in the pack there are just two changes in the starting line-up from the eight that ran out against Rotherham Titans last weekend. Both adjustments are in the front-row where prop Ryan Storer and hooker Rob Elloway replace Carl Rimmer and Dave Ward.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's important cup game, high performance manager Chris Stirling said: "We know exactly what we will come up against and have to to make sure that we get the key principles of play right, because this will undoubtedly be our toughest game of the season."

The Cornish Pirates selection is as follows:-

Cornish Pirates: R. Cook, M. Evans, A. Suniula, S. Hill, D. Doherty, C. Thomas, G. Cattle (capt), K. Marriott, P. Burgess, C. Morgan, M. Myerscough, L. McGlone, A. Paver, R. Elloway, R. Storer.

Replacements: C. Rimmer, D. Ward, R. Brits, M. Smith, B. Maidment, T. Kessell, T. Cooper.