Cornish Pirates hope to keep most of playing squad for 2022-23 season

Cornish Pirates ended the season with a bonus-point draw at home to Ampthill

Cornish Pirates coach Gavin Cattle hopes the club can keep the majority of the squad that took them to third place in the Championship this season.

The club ended their campaign with a 28-28 draw with Ampthill which ensured a first-ever unbeaten record at home.

Had they beaten top-of-the-table Ealing the week before they could have won the title with a victory on Saturday.

"Retention's massive, because that holds your game," Cattle told BBC Radio Cornwall when asked about squad plans.

"There's a lot of boys there who have 100-plus appearances, there's going to be change naturally, but again it's trying to build on that.

"We know what our identity is, its now recruiting in and around that and the next few weeks you'll see some news about that, but retention's massive.

"We've put all of our contract to existing players, there's a lot of players on the market just with the nature of where rugby is at the minute.

"But what's critical is they've got to fit within our environment, and I think that's where our cohesion and our sense of our identity is why we bat above the average, and it's important that we don't let go of that, so that will be a key focus for us."

The Pirates will stay professional next season after long-time benefactor Dicky Evans announced last month that he will fund the side for three more years as the club looks for new investment.

They are still hoping work will start on the planned Stadium for Cornwall in Truro which would give the club the chance to meet the minimum ground standards for promotion to the Premiership.

On the field in their final league game Pirates went into a 14-0 lead after 15 minutes against Ampthill thanks to tries from Antonio Kiri Kiri and Tommy Wyatt with Tom Channon's score seeing them go 21-7 in front at half-time.

But Ben Cambriani's second try and a score for Will Harding early in the second half pulled Ampthill level before Syd Blackmore got a bonus-point try for the Pirates.

But in the final minute, Harding got A second try to secure a draw for Ampthill.

"It was a bizarre game. We did achieve the unbeaten record, but in the manner we wanted to," said Cattle, who saw John Stevens sent off for a high tackle shortly before Ampthill's final try.

"Ampthill are a niggly side. They were very competitive at the break down, made that a mess, which then was turnover ball after turnover ball and it was a pretty fronted game to be fair."