RICHARD Lane and Stuart Townsend are due to make their first competitive appearances for the Cornish Pirates tomorrow when they face Doncaster Knights in the British and Irish Cup.

Both have been included in the line-up for the match which comes just a fortnight after the side from the Mennaye defeated the Yorkshire team 24-22 in the Greene King IPA Championship.

Earlier in the week Lane joined the Pirates on dual registration from Bath while Townsend signed in the summer from Exeter Chiefs on a DR deal.

They are among nine changes made to the starting XV from Sunday's closely fought cup opener with Bedford Blues, which saw the Pirates sneak a 35-34 win.

In the backs, only Craig Holland and Alex Dancer remain in the side with Max Bodily, Tom Hendrickson, Lane, Laurence May and Townsend come in.

Rob Elloway and Alan Paver return to the front row while regular captain Chris Morgan will sit on the bench for the game with Joe Atkinson and Jake Parker being put in at the back of the scrum.

Alex Cheesman will captain the side and director of rugby Ian Davies expects another tough match so soon after their previous encounter.

Davies said: "Castle Park is always a tough place to go but we are keen to repeat the hard fought win achieved a couple of weeks ago."

PIRATES XV: 15 Max Bodily, 14 Craig Holland, 13 Tom Hendrickson, 12 Alex Dancer, 11 Richard Lane, 10 Laurence May, 9 Stuart Townsend; 1 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 2 Rob Elloway, 3 Alan Paver, 4 Will Graulich, 5 Will Carrick Smith, 6 Alex Cheesman (c), 7 Joe Atkinson, 8 Jake Parker.

REPS: 16 Dean Brooker, 17 Jack Andrew, 18 Marcus Garratt, 19 Chris Morgan, 20 Gavin Cattle, 21 Bertie Hopkin, 22 Luke Jones.