MIKE Myerscough was one member of the Cornish Pirates squad who wasn't too downhearted when the news broke that last Saturday's game at Rotherham had been postponed.

The 25-year-old former Bath and Launceston lock was due to miss the trip with a minor injury picked up the week before against London Welsh. But after returning to the side in mid-December, after spending several weeks sidelined with an ankle problem, he admitted that he just wants to play now.

He said: "It wasn't too disappointing for me because I was out with a niggly abdominal strain but hopefully I will now be included for the re-match.

"The coaches wanted the game to go ahead so that the boys could have a week off this week, but secretly I was hoping it would be played this weekend on a personal level!

"It was a shame to miss seven weeks with my ankle problem but that is all sorted out now. I'm fit again, hungry for rugby and I just want to get out there and win some ball, carry it, and put some points on the board for the Pirates."

Myerscough joined the Pirates from the Cornish All Blacks in the summer of 2009, making his debut in the British & Irish Cup win at Plymouth Albion. And he believes that with the Championship play-offs just a month away the team, and especially the pack, is beginning to peak at the right time.

He said: "Our game plan going into matches is much better now. The scrum is going well, the front row are all fighting for places, the line-out is being run well and defensively everything is going smoothly.

"We've got four on the trot now and with both Bristol and London Welsh losing games ahead of the play-offs we are creating our own purple patch. Hopefully we can take that forward into the next three games and perform well."

He added: "Rotherham will require a huge display up front followed by the same again against Bristol and then Moseley which will also be tough. If we can win all of those games then we take a seven game unbeaten run into the play-offs."

A trip to Wales to face Cross Keys in the semi-final of the cup awaits at the beginning of April too and with the very real prospect of silverware in that competition for the Cornish side, Myerscough is quietly confident.

"It's exciting times," he said. "It will be a hard place to go to but we put points on them here. We need the same attitude as before and it's only a bit of grass (at Pandy Park) and then hopefully we will get into the final."

And he dismissed the notion that the delay to the Stadium for Cornwall project just before Christmas had an adverse effect on the club's form, culminating in a disappointing defeat at Bedford on New Year's Day.

He said: "I don't think there was ever a disappointment. It was never guaranteed at the start and now it's all about playing to get first in the league.

"Last season was the same; we wanted to be the champions then and this year we want to be the champions too."