Mike Rayer is demanding a reaction from his players when the Cornish Pirates come to town at the weekend.

The Blues were thumped 42-19 at Exeter on Saturday - the ridiculous following the sublime after the dismantling of Nottingham seven days previous - and Rayer won't stand for a repeat.

"I'm looking for a response," he said. "We turned up at Exeter without the right attitude, we weren't there physically and simply didn't grasp the size of the task.

"Bad days at the office happen, but it can't be from a lack of desire or effort.

"We might have got away with it against other sides, but not Exeter. We just weren't in the game at all."

And the fallout from the reverse could be a shuffling of the ranks.
Rayer continued: "The performance could cost players their places, it has to happen. There has to be some change after last week. Attitude should be a given and I want to see it at 3 o'clock on Saturday."

Brad Davies, Sacha Harding and Ian Davey are all doubts for the weekend while the trio of Mike Howard, James Knight and Chris Brightwell, the latter away with the England Sevens side, have all been ruled out.

Paul Tupai and Nick Walshe could come into the reckoning, as could Saracens loanee fly-half Jake Sharp who has trained with the Blues this week.

As for the Pirates, who are fourth in the Championship standings with 10 wins from 18 starts, Rayer reckons the narrow defeat down in the west country in November and the home defeat to the same opposition last season should provide more than enough in terms of motivation.

He continued: "In attack we weren't too bad last week, but defensively we were awful. We want to get some consistency in our performances and find the middle ground between being good and awful.

"The Pirates will have fresh memories of beating us here last year - probably the most disapponting performance since I've been here - and winning by a point down there. I don't really like using previous defeats as motivation, but it will be a good place to start.

"The players know what's expected and for starters we want to salvage some pride after the last performance."

>> Bedford Blues Colts will travel to Lichfield in the fifth round of the National Colts Cup after a 26-7 victory against Melton Mowbray. The tie is due to be played on February 14.