Everett set for Cornish Pirates return after injury

Alex Everett has spent the past three seasons wit the Cornish Pirates

Cornish Pirates coach Joe Walsh says the club are thrilled to have experienced forward Alex Everett fit again.

The 28-year-old has missed 10 games this season after first suffering a rib injury in September before hurting his knee on his return in October.

His absence, along with the season-ending knee injury to skipper John Stevens, left a big hole in the Pirates back row.

"He's been working incredibly diligently doing his rehab alongside the field sessions all the way through that process," Walsh told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"He's come back in what looks like phenomenal shape and he's back to his usual leading from the front.

"As a staff and as a playing group we're all really excited to see how he goes on the weekend because he is a player with such high impact moments and such value to the team."

Everett is set to return to action as the pirates travel to Hartpury.

Having lost seven of their first eight league and cup matches, the Penzance-based side have won their last five matches to leave them fifth in the Championship after 10 matches.

"It's good to have to have Alex back, we do still have quite a number of injured and unavailable," added Walsh.

"Obviously our loan and our dual registrations, we're obviously very lucky to have them, but they can be transient at times, especially with the Premiership Rugby Cup coming up.

"We're putting a lot of time into making sure that we get the most out of what we have available and not dwell too much on what's unavailable.

"But to have someone like Alex is a massive leadership figure for us and we just want to see him go really well on the weekend to springboard him into the next five rounds."