Mike Rayer has declared himself relatively happy with where his Bedford Blues side are currently at.

The Blues are lying fourth in the Championship table with five wins from their nine outings and face a tricky trip to face the Cornish Pirates, who are just three points behind the Blues in fifth, on Sunday.

Narrow defeats at Nottingham and at home to Exeter last weekend have not left Rayer too downcast and his focus is purely directed at coming away from the West Country with a victory.

He said: "We want to win every game, but I'm not too displeased.
"There has been a lot of effort from the lads and the frustrating part is that it's our errors which are costing us.

"The spirit is fantastic, we're hanging in there and this will stand us in good stead in the second half of the season.

"We've not got that big a suad so we can't rest players, but when those that are injured are back hopefully that can change."

"It's about winning the next game. We need to pull together to face the Pirates."

In Cornwall, the Blues will come up against a Pirates side whose season has followed a similar path to that of the visitors with a decent start being negated, to a certain degree, by a dip in results.

For that reason, Rayer expects a tough afternoon, saying: "Any win in the West Country is to be treasured and we're working towards that.

"Like us, they'll try and play some rugby and will want to get some front foot ball so they can go forward. Often it comes down to the two packs and whether they can get on top and this should be no different."

One area that Rayer is keen to see improve is the number of errors committed by his players.

Against Exeter, the Blues made too many basic mistakes and Rayer knows this has to be amended.

He added: "Seventy to 80 per cent of what we're doing is good, but the other 20-30 per cent is awful.

"We will make errors the way we want to play, but the ones we are making are soft. We need to be more focused, especially in the attacking areas, and more ruthless in our skills.

"If we do that on Sunday, then we've got every chance."

In Cornwall, Dan Seal could be given a start in the front row and with James Pritchard due to leave for international duty on Monday, Luke Fielden could slot in at full-back.

The injured trio of Brendan Burke, Gregor Gillnaders and Chris Goodman are nearing a return with the pair of Burke and Goodman possibly as close as a week away.

>> The Cornish Pirates game will be shown via live streaming in the Goldington Road Scrum Bar on Sunday afternoon. The game kicks off at 2pm.

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>> Movember – the month formerly known as November – is a charity event held each year and will once again be supported by Bedford Blues Rugby Club.

At the start of Movember men across the world register with a clean shaven face before joining up with fellow 'Mo Bros' in trying to grow and groom their moustache for a month while raising as much money and awareness about male health issues as possible.

As an added incentive to get involved the Blues will be running a special 'Mo Night' on Friday November 13, when they take on Moseley at Goldington Road.