Chris Stirling signs three-year term with Cornish Pirates

The Cornish Pirates can confirm the appointment of Chris Stirling as their Director of Rugby for a three-year term, commencing on the 1st May.

Kiwi Chris joins from Yorkshire Carnegie, where he became their Director of Rugby in March last year.

Now aged 56, Chris first visited Cornwall for a seven weeks spell in the autumn of 2008, giving the Pirates advice on how the game had changed and was being played in the southern hemisphere under the ELVs.

With Chris at the helm the Pirates became the first ever winners of the British & Irish Cup in 2010, whilst he also in 2011 led them to a two-legged RFU Championship final against Worcester Warriors, which was lost by an aggregate score of 46-32.

Reluctantly departing the Pirates in April 2012, due to there being a lack of clarity at that time reference plans for the Stadium for Cornwall, Chris returned to New Zealand to take up a role as High Performance Talent Identification Manager for the New Zealand RFU. He later became General Manager High Performance at the Hurricanes before his move to Yorkshire Carnegie.