THE Cornish Pirates have been dealt an untimely blow ahead of their latest Premiership Rugby Cup fixture with Exeter Chiefs with the news that Hugh Bokenham is set for a spell on the sidelines.

The powerhouse Australian forward, who has been in stellar form for the Championship outfit this season, will miss Sunday’s clash with the Chiefs at Sandy Park (3pm), as well as the upcoming visit of Hartpury, as he is due to undergoing knee surgery.

Bokenham produced a man-of-the-match performance in his side’s narrow 26-19 loss to Gloucester last time out - and his absence will certainly be felt by the visitors, who know they face a stiff challenge against Rob Baxter’s side, who have yet to drop a point in Pool E this campaign.

His place at the base of the Pirates scrum will be filled by Tomi Agbongbon, while in front of them a new-look front-row is made up of Oisin Michel and James French at props with former Chiefs hooker, Harry Hocking, coming in for Sol Moody.

Behind the scrum, Harry Yates gets the nod at centre in place of Joe Elderkin, while Bruce Houston takes on the full-back role ahead of Iwan Price-Thomas.

Looking ahead to the game, Pirates joint head coach, Alan Paver, said: “When we hit that field we’ve got to be right on it. Physically it’s going to be a massive challenge for us, they will go strong, and we are expecting there are some areas that we will be out-matched.

“That said, I know our guys will go for the full 80 minutes and every time we come away from Sandy Park we learn a little bit more about ourselves, both as players and coaches. Look, we’re looking forward to it and I know it will be a special occasion.”

Certainly the Pirates can take plenty of heart from this display against Gloucester, where they caused more than a few issues for the Premiership outfit in a hard-fought encounter at the Mennaye Field.

“Having played well at home against Gloucester last week, who we pushed very close and made a good fist of it, our players have another opportunity on Sunday to pit themselves against what we know will be another strong Premiership team in Exeter,” added Pirates joint head coach, Gavin Cattle.

“Credit has to go to our recent new faces, some of whom have had to learn quickly to enable us to put our best foot forward. Yes, we’ve been disrupted, but we have kept a focus, and the attitude of all the players involved has been terrific.”

Cornish Pirates: Bruce Houston; Arthur Relton, Tom Georgiou, Harry Yates, Will Trewin; Iwan Jenkins, Dan Hiscocks; Oisin Michel, Harry Hocking, James French; Alfie Bell, Josh King (capt); Matt Cannon, Lucas Dorrell, Tomi Agbongbon. Replacements: Sol Moody, Billy Young, Tom Connolly, Fintan Coleman, Chris Mills, Cam Jones, Joe Elderkin, Iwan Price-Thomas.