LAUNCESTON winger Dan Pearce will make his first appearance since January when the All Blacks welcome Royal Wootton Bassett tomorrow in Regional One South West (3pm).

The former Bude and St Austell flyer suffered a serious knee injury against Matson in the first game back after Christmas, but is now fit enough to line up in his customary position on the left wing against their promoted visitors who arrive from Wiltshire with four wins and as many defeats from their eight outings.

His return comes with the hosts facing a bit of a problem in the back-line with three key absentees.

Winger Ollie Bebbington, so impressive in the opening weeks, is in Australia until the end of the month, skipper Tom Sandercock is out with a broken finger and Argentinian full-back Jose Luis Juarez hurt his ankle at Sidmouth last weekend and misses out.

Fortunately for joint head coaches Ian Goldsmith and Ryan Westren, Pearce is fit and lines up on the flank in place of Kuda Chisango, while Ben Bryant is back from university for the weekend and starts at full-back.

Richard Jasper, who came on early in the shock 38-19 defeat in East Devon, drops down to the seconds along with Chisango.

There is also a change in the forwards as former captain Lloyd Duke has also failed to recover from a knock at Sidmouth.

That means Leion Cole makes his first start of the season alongside Dan Goldsmith, with Tom Bottoms dropping back to six, and Dom Ellery switching to the openside.

Number eight Brandon Rowley will once again captain the team in Sandercock’s absence.

Seb Cox, Tom Anderton and Pete Bebbington come on to the bench as Oli Martin, Chisango and Jasper drop out.

Launceston sit third in the standings following last week’s result, which was the first time they had failed to secure any points having won seven of their first eight games and picked up a bonus point in defeat to Exmouth.

Despite the setback, they still sit third in the table with 31 points from a possible 40, and are just four points adrift of Exmouth in top spot and two behind Barnstaple.

LAUNCESTON v Royal Wootton Bassett: Ben Bryant, Zerran Hammond, Billy Martin, Cam Fogden, Dan Pearce, James Tucker, George Hillson; Mitch Hawken, Levent Bulut, Alex Bartlett, Dan Goldsmith, Leion Cole, Tom Bottoms, Dom Ellery, Brandon Rowley (capt). Replacements: Seb Cox, Pete Bebbington, Tom Anderton.

LAUNCESTON Seconds have had little game time recently due to walkovers, and they are due to visit strugglers Redruth Albany tomorrow (2.30pm).

With the first team squad stretched, the Castles travel with just 17 but name a side that should still be more than good enough to bring five points back up the A30.

LAUNCESTON CASTLES: Mitch Acres, Dale Johnson, Mark Knight, Richard Jasper, Kuda Chisango, Adam Collings; Ollie Tomkies; Walter Tucker, Nathan Ferrett, Harvey Basford, Ben Greene, Tom Walton, Tyler Westlake, Chris Hall, Ollie Martin (capt). Replacements: Cody Smith, Harvey Fry.

The ladies are without a game following their 29-5 success over Hornets last Sunday in Women’s NC 1 South West (West), while the Colts will look to bounce back from their defeat at Bude last weekend when they welcome Helston at 1pm.