2012–13 Cornish Pirates RFC season

The 2012–13 season was the Cornish Pirates tenth season in the second tier of the English rugby union league system, the RFU Championship and their fourth in the British and Irish Cup.

RFU Championship
Stage one consists of twelve teams playing each of the other teams twice, once at home and once away, making a total of 22 games for each team. The league programme starts on Saturday, 1 September 2012 and will be completed by Saturday, 20 April 2013. The top four teams qualify for the two–legged semi–finals whilst the bottom team will be relegated to National League 1.

British and Irish Cup
The 2012–13 British and Irish Cup is the fourth season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional and professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. First round matches began on the weekend of 13 October 2012 and the final will be on the weekend of 17 May 2013. The competition consists of eight groups of four teams playing each other twice to give each team six matches. The top team in each group qualifies for the quarter–finals and the final will be played at a venue to be decided when the finalists are known. The Pirates are in Pool 3.

Quarter–final
The quarter–finals were played on the weekend of 6 April and was decided by how well each group winner performed in the group matches. This is the third time in four seasons that the two teams have met with the Pirates winning the two previous encounters. Details of the full draw can be found at 2012–13 British and Irish Cup.

Dual registration

 * David Ewers (Exeter Chiefs)
 * Lloyd Fairbrother (Exeter Chiefs)
 * Sam Hill (Exeter Chiefs)
 * Charles Walker–Blair (Exeter Chiefs)
 * Rob Cook (Gloucester)
 * Jack Yeandle (Exeter Chiefs)
 * Lewis Vinnicombe (Redruth)
 * Owen Hambly (Redruth)
 * Tom Duncan (Redruth)
 * Ashley Smith (London Welsh)
 * Jack Nowell

Players in

 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tom Bedford (from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Newcastle Falcons)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Darren Berry (from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bristol)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alex Cheeseman (from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London Wasps)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Adam Clayton (from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Birmingham & Solihull Bees)
 * 🇳🇿 Alaifatu Junior Fatialofa (from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bristol)
 * Kieran Hallett (from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nottingham)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Gary Johnson (from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London Welsh)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 David Lyons (from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Moseley)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Kyle Moyle (from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 St Ives)
 * Ben Prescott (from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Northampton Saints and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nottingham)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Tom Riley from (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Newport Gwent Dragons)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Darren Semmems (from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Cornish All Blacks)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Peter Joyce (from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Redruth)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ben Mercer (unregistered)

Players out

 * Rudi Brits (released)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rob Cook (to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Gloucester) (dual registration from 7 September)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tom Cooper (to Jersey)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tom Cowan–Dickie (to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Plymouth Albion and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Exeter Chiefs, dual registration)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Darren Daniel (released from contract in March 2012)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 David Doherty (to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Leeds Carnegie)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 James Doherty (to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Leeds Carnegie)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Drew Locke (to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Gloucester)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Rhodri McAtee (released and moving to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Plymouth Albion)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mike Myerscough (to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Leeds Carnegie)
 * Ian Nimmo (to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Newport Gwent Dragons)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Carl Rimmer (to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Exeter Chiefs)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Matt Smith (to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Leeds Carnegie)
 * 🇺🇸 Andrew Suniula (released)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Ceiron Thomas (released and moving to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 St Ives RFC)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dave Ward (to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Harlequins)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ryan Westren

Coaching staff

 * Ian Davies (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿) (Head Coach) from April 2012. Previously Forwards Coach appointed in April 2009.
 * Harvey Biljon (Backs Coach) appointed in April 2009.
 * Simon Raynes (🇳🇿) (Strength and Conditioning Coach) since summer 2005.