Pirates were one hell of a club to be at for so long

BEATING Saracens when we hadn't played for almost a year was probably the most memorable moment of my Pirates career, which has now come to an end after nearly 200 appearances for the club.

- MARLEN WALKER

It's such a shame that we had to play the game behind closed doors because of Covid restrictions because it would have been one hell of a party. But even so, it was an iconic day for Cornish rugby and for all of us involved. On a personal level. I was up against World Cup winner Vincent Koch that day. Whenever we won a scrum penalty, and there were quite a few, the euphoria was off the scale. As a forward pack, we had a good day and never relaxed for one minute. We knew we couldn't go off-task and risk letting a big victory slip from the palm of our hands so, although we were all knackered about 60 minutes in, we managed to dig deep and get the result we, and I think the Championship as a whole, wanted. Personally, I think they under-estimated us a little bit.

As a Rugby League fan growing up the things I loved about rugby was running hard and hitting people hard. The set-piece side of the game was only really a focus when I moved to the UK. I went to Mount Albert Grammar School in Auckland, which I think is one of the top five schools for producing All Blacks. Sonny Bill Williams and Steven Luatua are two of the most high-profile examples. Sadly, we were always the bridesmaid and never the bride having finished runners-up in the three main competitions without actually winning one. The year we played an Australian Schools team featuring Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale was the year I was converted from the back row to prop. I think my diet changed my position for me! My nickname from all the boys is Tucky, which is short for Kentucky Fried Chicken. It's a guilty pleasure of Islands or, in my case, Maori Hawaiians.