Gavin Cattle says the influx of Cornish youth has brought increased enthusiasm at Pirates which he describes as a ‘pleasure to coach.'
Joint head coaches Cattle and Alan Paver have welcomed young graduates from BUCS Super Rugby, as well as players on loan from local Premiership team Exeter Chiefs into their arsenal.
Cattle, whose Cornish Pirates side have an average age of just 23, is fully behind the dual registrations Championship teams have with Premiership outfits which provide young top flight players with regular second tier minutes. Ampthill have a partnership with Saracens, London Scottish with Harlequins, Northampton with Bedford and Leicester are linked with Nottingham.
Cattle told The Rugby Paper: “Naturally the age demographic has got younger which brings in a lack of experience but what I've seen is an increased enthusiasm. When you've got enthusiastic players it's a pleasure to coach and I think you've seen some really good rugby in the Championship this year. Some of these young boys are here to build a reputation and we've certainly seen the positives of that.
“I think the likes of Ealing have got more of an experienced squad, as have Bedford so their average age would be higher but across the board it seems teams are putting out younger starting XVs like us. It's great because you're getting the best youngsters within the area. Some of them are Cornish as well which is good for your identity.
“The pathway for those boys is to go on and play Premiership rugby but to come back to their home club in the Championship is not only grounding but it also means an awful lot to them as well.”
Cornish Pirates are playing catch up on the sides in the top third of the table after last week's match against league leaders Ealing Trailfinders was abandoned due to a serious head injury suffered by back row Ben Grubb after a high tackle by Ealing prop Kyle Whyte in the second half.
“Ben's doing well, surprisingly better than we thought,” said Cattle. “He's gone through a series of scans to make sure but in himself he seems a lot better thankfully.”
A disciplinary decision will be made on Whyte's high shot and the match has been rearranged for February meaning Cattle's side have one game in hand on most teams, and two on others.
He said: “Everyone's jumping on the bandwagon around high tackles, I don't think the Ealing player ever thought ‘I'm going to go and go take his head off ', it was just a high shot where he got it wrong.
“This is quite a young group and with all the enforced breaks due to Jersey going by the wayside we're seeing improvements in training but we need to see that transferred onto the pitch in the new year.”
Pirates won three out of their opening five games this season, with hooker Morgan Nelson scoring six tries, and Cattle says his side – who have been boosted by the return of injured players – are ready to compete against the top teams in the division.
He said: “Our forwards coach Louie (Tonkin) does a great job with the driving lineout, so having that as a weapon creates space elsewhere and hopefully that continues.
“You need a bit of luck in terms of injuries but we've got the likes of Will Britton (lock) and John Stevens (back row) coming back so getting the squad fit and healthy will be key to our success.
“We can compete with teams around the top four, we showed it in spells against Doncaster, certainly spells against Ealing last week and against Bedford, so we just need to keep improving.”
