Stirling joined the Pirates in January 2009

Cornish Pirates boss Chris Stirling has challenged his players to build on the momentum of their early season form.

The Pirates have recorded home wins over London Welsh and Doncaster so far, with Moseley their next opponents.

Stirling told BBC Cornwall: "Moseley could be a banana skin for us, so it'll be a test of if the Pirates are going to be a consistent team this year.

"Consistency is what we're after, we can't afford to lower and standards and we've got to take small steps forward."

He added: "I wouldn't expect us to put a lot of points on Moseley, but I would expect us to be really competitive and the result will take care of itself."

We use a different system in defence to most of the teams in the league Chris Stirling

During the close season, Stirling was able to retain the core of last season's British & Irish Cup winning squad for the current campaign, a fact which he attributes to their strong start.

He said: "There's a lot of competition for places in the squad and when you've got guys who are bitterly disappointed at not being selected in the 22, you know that something's right."

One of the key areas in which Stirling wants his side to improve over the course of the Championship season is defence.

He said: "We use a different system in defence to most of the teams in the league and I think the boys are just starting to understand how it works and the benefits of it.

"It means you get guys like props or locks in the wider channels, and they're comfortable defending in the system that we're in."

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