A significant weekend for the three teams desperately seeking safety. Vale and Lymm meet in Lancaster, so one (possibly both) of our rivals will come away with something. As ever there are many permutations due to the bonus points, but if we come away with nothing, a Lymm bonus point win would give them a nine point cushion over us. However a Kendal bonus point win (don’t laugh - we did get one in the away game, despite being well beaten), could see us leapfrog Lymm, if they come away from Vale without a point. Whilst a Vale bonus point win could see them go above us, and cut the gap to Lymm to a point, if neither of us pick up anything.
There is nothing we can do about results elsewhere, but this is yet another BIG one at Mintbridge. After the disappointing (if not unexpected) result last weekend, the team need to build on the important win at Mintbridge three weeks ago.
Sandal sit in eighth position with eight wins from their nineteen games, but seven of their eleven losses have been by seven or less points, and they also have ten try scoring bonus points. We led by a point at half time in the away match, but they then ran riot and won the second half 21v0. They only have two wins away from home at Wilmslow and Rossendale where they got maximum points, and their only other try scoring bonus away from home was at Billingham, in one of four games on the road, where they have picked up a losing bonus point. After us and Vale in three weeks, they have Hull and Harrogate in their final away games, so they will be keen to improve their away record this weekend.
TEAM : Still no team anounced. There were a few injuries last weekend so there may be some late decisions to be made on fitness, and possible replacements. Mattie Kaye, Nick Carlton, Rob Weightman and Josh Chaplow (possible replacements for those who went off last weekend) are all named in the Development team
WEATHER : Whisper it quietly, but the forecast for this weekend does not look too bad - Umbrellas may not even be required at least during the game (I still plan to bring mine !)
All the more reason to get down to Mintbridge to give the team some extra support. There is no Six Nations action this weekend, a free weekend next, then the daunting prospect of a visit to Billingham a week later, so take the opportunity to get down to the club this weekend.
However if you really can’t get there, the early report should be back this weekend (disasters permitting), to tell how well – or not – the team have done – plus news from the rest of the table.