Catch up with all the latest news ahead of the weekends fixtures.
Blaydon v Halifax
Big game of the weekend in National Three North with the top two meeting at Crow Trees as Halifax look to stay top of the table whilst Blaydon with a win can move to the top of the table.
This is a tough challenge for Halifax who although they are top of the table they have had a couple of close calls and if they come out of this one unscathed we will have to mark them down as serious challengers. Blaydon are looking for a third straight home win with victories over Fylde and New Brighton under their belts. This is the visitors toughest road trip to date this season so far with wins this season coming at Macclesfield and Kendal.
Both sides are in double figures in the try scoring stakes with Halifax 17 – 13 ahead. Defensively Blaydon come out on top conceding just eight tries against 12 by Halifax.
Last season saw Halifax do the double over Blaydon late in the season, the match at Crow Trees was a thrilling 38-37 win for the visitors whilst at home Halifax were convincing 49-10 victors.
Team news:
Craig Emmerson comes in on the right wing for Gareth Greenwood whilst ther forwards are unchanged.
D McGee, C Emmerson, J Marsden, J Bloem, A Canning, D Sanft, J Bartlett, R Peterson, A Ledger, S Dykes, D Jessiman, M Smith, R Szabo, C Mortimer, G Richardson. Reps: M Faulkner, A Irvine, N Cooper, R Hill.
Prediction: Home win by less than seven.
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Darlington MP v Longton
6th Darlington MP are looking for their third league win of the season against a Longton side that have suffered five straight defeats in their introduction to National League rugby.
At home DMP have already registered a couple of wins after losing their opener to North East rivals Blaydon.
Longton have lost both their away matches this season at Preston and Tynedale.
Bottom of the table Longton have the worst scoring record with just 65 points conceded but defensively there are three sides who have conceded more than the 127 points that Longton have shipped to date this season.
Longton have scored eight tries which in the second lowest in the division behind Kendal who have managed just seven. Amazingly Longton have conceded just 10 tries so far this season a record that is only bettered by second placed Blaydon.
This will be the first ever league meeting between the two sides.
Team news:
Longton have Captain Tim Wood back in the side at no. 8 having shaken off a knee ligament strain but winger Andy Whalley is out with an injured calf muscle and second row Dave Bennion is still rested after his knock on the head against Tynedale. Jez Moss, Neil Smith and Dave Viles are rotated into the 2's to maintain their fitness levels, Rich Kelly steps up to the subs bench.
1. Tim Wareham, 2. Craig Wilson, 3. Rianes De Klerk, 4. Gary Turner, 5. Gareth Rawlings, 6. Rob Scragg, 7. Paul Sheldon, 8. Tim Wood, 9. James Gabriel. 10. Tony Wheat, 11. Carl Howson, 12. Simon Price, 13. Paul Green, 14. Andy Green, 15. Rob Wheat. Replacements: Marshall Gadd, Angelo Mousikou, Rich Kelly, Scott Rawlings
Prediction: Home win by 15.
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Fylde v New Brighton
This is an interesting match as 7th placed Fylde entertain 5th placed New Brighton.
Fylde have played twice at Woodlands this season and after a narrow one point defeat against Tynedale they recorded a win against Darlington MP, last week they went to Liverpool St Helens and came away with the points with a second half comeback.
Although New Brighton are up to fourth they are yet to show the form, which took them to, the Play offs last season. This season on the road they have lost both matches, narrowly, going down at Blaydon and Kendal by a point and four points respectively.
This is the first ever league meeting between the two sides.
Both sides had not been amongst the front runners in the try scoring stakes, Fylde are bottom of the list win seven tries whilst New Brighton have managed just three more and played a game more.
Team news:
Fylde's starting line-up is unchanged from last week, with fly-half Mike
Scott continuing to captain the side.
Fylde welcome back ex-Irish international and Club skipper Dylan O'Grady
he suffered a knee injury in the Powergen Cup game against Nottingham and has missed the last four matches. He is named amongst the replacements in place of Emmett Wallace who is still troubled by a groin strain.
15 Godfrey; 14 Wiseman, 13 Long, 12 Reeves, 11 Evans; 10 Scott(Mike,
captain), 9 Condon; 1 Ellis, 2 McIntyre, 3 Webster, 4 Taylor, 5 Johnson,
6 Banks, 7 Bamber, 8 Rameka.
Replacements: 16 Filipo, 17 Scott (Martin), 18 Wallwork, 19 O'Grady
Captain Jon Sewell is still sidelined with a mandatory ban after incurring a slight concussion during the Blaydon game twelve days ago and James Edwards was also unable to train this evening with a bruised heel. Richard Bradshaw has a slight hamstring problem which will be subjected to a late fitness test. Jay Stirrett is standing by.
Loa Tupou has moved to the wing as replacement for James Edwards where the power of the big Tongan will be most effective and Wayne Clayton has earned a start on the open side with Adam Kettle at No 6. Ian Grainey is unavailable for business commitments.
Team Sheet. 1. Damian Penisini, 2. Phil Buckley, 3. Ian Davies, 4. Richard Bradshaw, 5. Tom Blackwell, 6. Adam Kettle, 7. Wayne Clayton, 8. Steve Bellis, 9. Dave Wood,10. Antony Birley, 11. Ian Murray,12. Tom Mapp, 13. Dan Naylor,14. Loa Tupou, 15. Steve O'Connor.
Substitutes. 16.Steve Kelly, 17. Mark Dorrington, 18.Ian Wynn, 19. Stephen Dean.
Prediction: Narrow home win by less than seven.
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Kendal v Dudley Kingswinford
8th placed Dudley Kingswinford travel to 10th placed Kendal looking for a second home win from four road trips this season. The win came at Darlington early in the season since then they have lost both “road” matches going down at Halifax and Macclesfield.
Kendal won their opening league match at Mint Bridge this season with a four point win over New Brighton but second time out they went down by two points to top of the table Halifax.
Whilst DK are the fifth best points scorers in the division they have the worst defensive record in the league. They have also conceded 22 tries with only Macclesfield conceding more, 23, but they have played Waterloo, which has a bearing on this statistic.
This is the first ever league meeting between these two sides.
Team news: DK are unchanged with McKenzie recovering from his injury which forced him off last week.
E Smith, A McLellan, W Port, G Davies, I Gowland, M McKenzie, A Mitchell: S Homer, M Davies, M Ferguson, R Maclachlan, O Shakespeare, L Wilkinson, R Port, B Connett.
Prediction: Kendal by less than seven points.
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Liverpool St Helens v Darlington
11th placed Liverpool St Helens are at home to 13th placed Darlington as they look to get last weeks home loss against Fylde out of their system.
Darlington have had a good/bad week, on Saturday they recorded their first league win of the season but then on Monday lost their appeal over losing two points for failing to fulfil the fixture against Fylde a few weeks back.
Last weekend they were 22-6 victors at home to Macclesfield and will be pleased to have stopped the visitors crossing the try line confining them to just a couple of penalties.
LSH have not won since their opening day of the season win at Moss Road against Kendal, they did manage a draw against second placed Blaydon in a game they should have won.
In the try scoring stakes Darlington have scored a try more than LSH despite having played a game less, 14-13. Defensively though Darlington have let in 17 compared to LSH who have conceded 13 but played a less.
This will be the first ever league meeting between the two sides.
Team news:
Prediction: Home win by 14 points.
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Preston v Macclesfield
12th placed Preston will be going into this match looking for a second home win of the season after a story of narrow misses on the road. They have played three times on the road this season and lost all three matches but two of the three matches were by two points and the other match by just four points.
Macclesfield have picked up a couple of wins this season and already have an away win behind them, they were 28-6 winners at Longton. Last week though they came unstuck at Darlington but are still in 9th place in the league table.
Despite winning just the one match this season Hoppers have a positive points difference of 10, which is bettered by just four sides in the division.
In the try scoring stakes Hoppers have scored 14 in their four matches compared to 10 for the visitors who have played a game more. Whilst defensively Hoppers have the second best record after Blaydon, eight compared to 10.
First ever league match between these two sides.
Team news:
Prediction: Preston by more than 10 points.
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Tynedale v Waterloo
This match has been re arranged with Waterloo still in the Powergen Cup. |
