The Cornish Pirates begin life without Ben Gulliver on Sunday when much-fancied London Welsh head down to the Mennaye Field (3pm).

The Pirates agreed to loan their influential lock Gulliver to Premiership side Leicester Tigers this week on a three-month loan deal.

However, Pirates high performance manager Chris Stirling expects those left behind to rise to the Championship challenge on Sunday.

He said: "We'll miss his presence and experience at line-out time but we'll be fine. We've got quality locks in Ian Nimmo, Mike Myerscough and Laurie McGlone who can all do a fantastic job. We played a lot last season without Ben so it's not a completely abnormal thing for us to be without him."

The club will be compensated financially and have used the opportunity to forge a strong link with one of the country's top rugby clubs.

Stirling said: "Obviously it won't be at a financial loss to the club and there's also the knowledge that Ben will come back as well as the opportunity to build a link with a top Premiership club.

"It's the right thing to do for everybody involved. We're all about player development here, I think when players get opportunities to play at the highest level for the top club in the Premiership, it is the right thing to do.

"It is going to affect us and we will miss Ben for the three months that he is away but I'm extremely happy for him and I know he will make the most of the opportunity."

The remaining Pirates have an equally challenging time ahead when Welsh arrive in West Cornwall on Sunday. The visitors got their Championship season off to an impressive start, travelling to Nottingham to claim a 27-21 victory.

"It'll be a huge challenge for us," said Stirling. "There's a lot of people out there thinking Worcester will be the team to beat with London Welsh in the top two or three."

"They will come down here and they will be confident they can come away with four Championship points, if not more. It's up to us to put on a big effort to stop them achieving that."

The Pirates' own Championship opener against Doncaster Knights brought ample reward in terms of league points but their 30-14 bonus-point success was perhaps a little more hard-fought than it needed to be.

The Cornishmen stormed to a 20-point lead in the opening half-hour but struggled to maintain momentum after the half-time break.

While Stirling was keen to credit the Knights' resilience after the final whistle, he admits his side nearly caused their own downfall. He said: "I was pretty angry after the game and I was still angry the next day. Aspects of it were disappointing.

"To give a brief and crude summary, I think I'd say the first half was very good and the second half was just OK. The players were as disappointed as I was so that was pleasing."

Centre Steve Winn is expected to come through a late fitness test but there are doubts over full-back Grant Pointer and prop Carl Rimmer who are both suffering with shin splints.

Cornish Pirates (from): Paver, Ward, Brits, McGlone, Myerscough, Morgan, Burgess, Cowan, Rimmer, Elloway, Andrew, Betty, Nimmo; Cattle, Bentley, Winn, Hopper,McAtee, Jackson, Cook, Pointer, Luke.