LOCK Josh King will make his 50th Cornish Pirates appearance tomorrow night when they welcome Premiership outfit Exeter Chiefs in their third and final pre-season outing (7.30pm).

While it remains to be seen what sort of side Exeter will bring down due to the Chiefs also taking on Gloucester tomorrow night in the first group game of this year’s Premiership Rugby Cup, they will still provide a serious test.

For the Pirates, it is all about getting minutes in the legs ahead of their Champ Rugby opener at home to Hartpury on Saturday, October 4 (2.30pm).

As ever for a cross-Tamar battle a large crowd is expected.

The Pirates will be led out by flanker Alex Everett who has returned from a short-term loan spell at Harlequins, while two guest players named on the bench are fly-half Rory O’Kane and full-back Marcus Kershaw.

Commenting ahead of tomorrow night’s game, Cornish Pirates’ coach Joe Walsh said:

“We are looking forward to a bumper crowd for what should be a worthy and enjoyable evening for all.

“The new guys will be able to soak up a heightened atmosphere at the Mennaye after they emerge from the tunnel, and we are excited to get the best possible team out there we can and cast a last eye at the players in a match situation before we go into the first block of league fixtures.”

The Cornish Pirates team is as follows: 15 Arthur Relton 14 Ben Cambriani 13 Chester Ribbons 12 Joe Elderkin 11 Matty Ward; 10 Arwel Robson 9 Dan Hiscocks; 1 Billy Young 2 Morgan Nelson 3 Alfie Petch; 4 Josh King 5 Charlie Rice; 6 Matt Cannon 7 Alex Everett (captain) 8 Tomi Agbongbon. Replacements: 16 Matt Pritchard 17 Alessandro Heaney 18 Ollie Andrews 19 Milo Hallam 20 Barney Elderkin 21 Will Rigelsford 22 Iwan Price-Thomas 23 Rory O’Kane 24 Marcus Kershaw.

Once the Exeter friendly is over, attention soon turns to the Hartpury game.

To get tickets and find out more about the club, visit www.cornish-pirates.com