Cornish Pirates coach Gavin Cattle 'realistic' about new Championship campaign

Cornish Pirates beat a youthful Exeter Chiefs side in their final preseason game last weekend

Cornish Pirates coach Gavin Cattle says he is 'realistic' about his side's prospects for the forthcoming season.

The Penzance-based club have brought in 14 new players with 12 leaving after a season that saw them finish third in the Championship.

They begin their campaign at home to Richmond on Friday before a trip to Nottingham a week on Sunday.

"It's pretty clear, we want to stay in touch with the top of the table for as long as we can," Cattle said.

"But we've got to be realistic with the group we've got and where they are in that development curve, we're at the beginning of that," he told the BBC Radio Cornwall.

"Having said that, I'm really confident in the boys we've got and that we're capable of beating any team on our day.

"Our challenge will be consistency and sticking in that fight and learning about each other.

"We'll take games in small blocks and not look too far ahead, and just concentrating on the big improvements to make straight away, and then you can look to the marginal gains after that."