The 2012–13 season was the Cornish Pirates tenth season in the second tier of the English rugby union league system, the RFU Championship and their fourth in the British and Irish Cup. Pre–season friendlies RFU Championship Stage one consists of twelve teams playing each of the other teams twice, once at home and once away, making a total of 22 games for each team. The league programme starts on Saturday, 1 September 2012 and will be completed by Saturday, 20 April 2013. The top four teams qualify for the two–legged semi–finals whilst the bottom team will be relegated to National League 1. Stage one fixtures Stage one league table British and Irish Cup The 2012–13 British and Irish Cup is the fourth season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional and professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. First round matches began on the weekend of 13 October 2012 and the final will be on the weekend of 17 May 2013. The competition consists of eight groups of four teams playing each other twice to give each team six matches. The top team in each group qualifies for the quarter–finals and the final will be played at a venue to be decided when the finalists are known. The Pirates are in Pool 3. Group stage Quarter–final The quarter–finals were played on the weekend of 6 April and was decided by how well each group winner performed in the group matches. This is the third time in four seasons that the two teams have met with the Pirates winning the two previous encounters. Details of the full draw can be found at 2012–13 British and Irish Cup. Squad 2012–13 Dual registration David Ewers (Exeter Chiefs) Lloyd Fairbrother (Exeter Chiefs) Sam Hill (Exeter Chiefs) Charles Walker–Blair (Exeter Chiefs) Rob Cook (Gloucester) Jack Yeandle (Exeter Chiefs) Lewis Vinnicombe (Redruth) Owen Hambly (Redruth) Tom Duncan (Redruth) Ashley Smith (London Welsh) Jack Nowell Transfers 2012–13 Players in Tom Bedford (from Newcastle Falcons) Darren Berry (rugby player) (from Bristol) Alex Cheeseman (from London Wasps) Adam Clayton (from Birmingham & Solihull Bees) Alaifatu Junior Fatialofa (from Bristol) Kieran Hallett (from Nottingham) Gary Johnson (from London Welsh) David Lyons (from Moseley) Kyle Moyle (from St Ives) Ben Prescott (from Northampton Saints and Nottingham) Tom Riley from ( Newport Gwent Dragons) Darren Semmems (from Cornish All Blacks) Peter Joyce (from Redruth) Ben Mercer (unregistered) Players out Rudi