Cornish Pirates 'made too many changes' in Nottingham Championship Cup loss

Cornish Pirates have 11 points, six off pool leaders London Scottish, with two group games to go

Cornish Pirates coach Alan Paver admitted a shake-up of the side backfired after they lost 29-20 at home to Nottingham in the Championship Cup.

The Pirates made 10 changes from the side which lost by a point to London Scottish two weeks earlier.

Pirates did lead 20-14 early in the second half before conceding two tries as Nottingham drew level with them in second place in their pool.

"We've got to say, coaches-wise, we made too many changes," Paver said.

"We were trying to flirt with the idea of how do we win this game and get all of these players up to speed with what we're doing.

"Yes the players have to take some responsibility for energy levels, but maybe we made a change too many in a couple of key positions and when that happens you can create a little bit of uncertainty."

He told BBC Radio Cornwall: "It wasn't reflected in the week though, I would say this was one of our best training weeks that we've had for a long time and we'd thought we'd come out onto this pitch and energy levels would be high and we'd get something out of the game.

"Maybe we could have put a bit more of a stable side out, and maybe we should have, and that's what we've got to talk about upstairs, did we get our bits right as coaching staff?"