PIRATES chief Matt Ford hopes Darcy Ward will not significantly beef up his average while on loan at Swindon.

Ford is keen to consider Ward for his 2016 team but admits Pirates could run into problems if the Aussie performs well for the Blunsdon side.

Ward joined the Robins on an 8.70 average and hit double figures in his opening two meetings against Leicester and parent club Poole.

He is due to face his parent club at Wimborne Road on Wednesday (7.30pm).

Ford told the Daily Echo: “I hope Darcy has a reasonable last couple of months of the year and doesn’t increase his average too much to make it difficult for us next year.

“But it may work in our favour – he may not hit the heights he hit before and his average may drop a bit.

“I’d like to say that Darcy will be here for countless years and my thoughts are that that will be the case. Nevertheless, you are never quite sure what an AGM is going to bring up.

“It’s often the case that the rules are looked at for the clubs that are struggling rather than the clubs that are at the top end, so I can never tell what next year will bring. Let’s just hope that everyone is sensible."