COMEBACK man Craig Boyce shrugged off a severe case of pre-meeting nerves to lead Pirates to a 51-40 in Cornwall last night.

The 35-year-old Australian marked his first full appearance for Poole since 1998 by scorching to three heat wins and a second place as Poole Pirates got their British League Cup campaign off to a winning start at Trelawny.

Poole host Belle Vue in the Elite League tonight and Eastbourne on Good Friday (11am) in the KO Cup. The return takes place at Eastbourne that evening.

Trelawny: 1 Emiliano Sanchez (2*-2-0-0) 4+1; 2 Pavel Ondrasik (3-1*-1*-1) 6+2; 3 Matej Zagar (1-1-3-ef-2-2) 9; 4 Steve Masters (0-ret-2*-2) 4+1; 5 Chris Harris (fell exc-3-4-fell exc-3-1*) 11+-1; 6 Jason Prynne (3-0-1*) 4+1; 7 Tom Brown (0-1-1*) 2+1.

Pirates: 1 Craig Boyce (ret-3-3-2-3) 11; 2 Davey Watt (1-2*-3-2*) 8+2; 3 Lukas Dryml (2*-2-3-ret) 7+1; 4 David Ruud (3-1*-2*-3-0) 9+2; 5 Bjarne Pedersen (3-3-1-1*) 8+1; 6 Tony Primmer (1*-0-0-3) 4+1; 7 Scott Courtney (2-2*-0-0) 4+1.