Bottom six eyeing victories in National One
Rosslyn Park are one of the sides in the bottom six hoping to kick-start their season on Saturday
©Rosslyn Park
The spotlight has quite rightly been on Hartpury College this season, but in Round Eight, all eyes will be on the other end of the division as the bottom six go head-to-head.
Blaydon, Macclesfield, Rosslyn Park, Fylde, Esher and Hull Ionians take on one another this weekend all looking to pick up a crucial win which could be the catalyst for their season.
At the top, Hartpury College have a big test to maintain their perfect start to the campaign when they host Ampthill and District while Birmingham Moseley and Blackheath will be aiming to continue teir good recent form.
Elsewhere, Darlington Mowden Park travel to Loughborough Students with both sides looking to kick on up the division.
Hartpury College v Ampthill & District
With seven bonus point wins from seven, it couldn’t have gone any better for Hartpury College so far this season. They sit seven points clear at the top of National One at this early stage and are certainly in the driving seat for promotion this campaign.
Hartpury may look unstoppable at present, but this home fixture with Ampthill and District will be a test of College’s title credentials this weekend. The A’s are one of the stronger sides in this division and that was highlighted when they beat second placed Birmingham Moseley earlier this term so they may fancy their chances of upsetting the odds once again against John Barnes’ side on Saturday.
The Bedfordshire outfit will be looking for a response from their 31-17 home defeat to Blackheath six days ago in order to get their National One season back on track after five wins from their seven games so far.
Birmingham Moseley v Old Albanian
Birmingham Moseley host the Old Albanian this weekend with the visitors looking to turn their fortunes around quickly. After promotion into this division in May, the OA’s won three of their first four matches against Blaydon, Cambridge and Rosslyn Park. However, James Shanahan’s side now come into this fixture on the back of three straight losses so they will be focused on gaining a positive result at Billesley Common tomorrow.
For the home side, last weekend’s win against Rosslyn Park was another solid victory following their thrashing of Cambridge the week before. Moseley will be hoping to keep their unbeaten home record intact as they continue to hunt down Hartpury as they sit second in the table – seven points behind the league leaders. Moseley have won six of their first seven games and in that time they have shown some great attacking rugby so expect another high scoring affair this weekend in the Midlands.
Blackheath v Cambridge
Blackheath, like Moseley, have also won six of their first seven matches and head into this fixture at home to Cambridge in fine form. After losing to Hartpury on the opening day of the season, Club have won six games on the bounce and sit third in the table as things stand – level on points with Birmingham Moseley.
Ross Stewart’s Cambridge are the visitors to New Mills on Saturday and will be pleased to have picked up a hard fought 26-20 win over fellow newly-promoted side Macclesfield last weekend. The Blood and Sand have won three of their four matches this term, but only one of those triumphs has come away from Volac Park – Can Cambridge double their tally on the road this weekend?
Coventry v Plymouth Albion
Butts Park Arena will play host to Coventry and Plymouth Albion this weekend with both sides hoping to build on positive results from last Saturday.
Plymouth Albion, spearheaded by the boot of fly-half Kieran Hallet, bounced back from a narrow defeat to Fylde with an excellent 39-3 home win over Darlington Mowden Park last time out which put them fourth in the table. Albion have won five of their seven matches thus far compared to Coventry who have only tasted success three times this season.
Rowland Winter’s men produced a stunning second-half performance to see off Fylde six days ago and now come into this fixture looking for back to back wins for the first time this term and also their fourth straight victory at home. Cov currently lie eighth in the table and will certainly have aspirations of moving up this division, but that can only happen with a result this weekend.
Loughborough Students v Darlington Mowden Park
Loughborough Students are the third highest points scorers in the league and will be in a confident mood when they welcome Darlington Mowden Park to the Midlands this weekend.
Students are currently one place behind DMP in the table, but both sides are on identical points. Loughborough began the season with a defeat away at Coventry, but since then, they have suffered just two losses in the last six games. They head into this game on the back of an excellent 35-26 win over the Old Albanian and with fly-half Josh Sharp in great form; Students may fancy their chances this weekend.
As for DMP, they will be keen to get their season back on track after a mixed bag of results this season. Darlington have won four and lost three of their fixtures so far this term, but will be itching to get a reaction tomorrow after their heavy defeat to Plymouth Albion last time out. Injuries have been a problem in recent weeks for DMP, but they do have the quality in their ranks to gain a result on Saturday.
Fylde v Hull Ionians
Hull Ionians travel to Fylde this Saturday in search of their second away win of the season. Their sole victory on the road this campaign came against newly-promoted Macclesfield four weeks ago and since then, they have only managed to add another victory to their name overall.
The I’s travel to Lancashire currently sitting in 11th place having won three of their first four matches, but they must turn their fortunes around on their travels if they are to move themselves away from the danger zone at this early stage of the term.
In terms of Fylde, they have certainly shown shoots of recovery over the last few weeks after a torrid start to the season. Two wins in their last three outings highlights this and both of those victories have come at Woodlands. This is Fylde’s third home game in their last four matches and with their recent form in mind, Paul Arnold’s side will be confident of producing another positive display in front of their own supporters.
Esher v Blaydon
Esher haven’t had the best of starts to the National One season, but they may well fancy their chances of a home victory this weekend when winless Blaydon travel to Surrey. Esher lie 12th in the table with two wins to their name thus far, but their victory last time they were at Moseley Road against Coventry will certainly have increased their confidence of making it back to back home wins this weekend.
As for Blaydon, their struggles continued last Saturday. Following a positive draw with Macclesfield at the start of the month, the North-East outfit have shipped 106 points in the last two weeks and it is no surprise to see them bottom of the table at this early stage of the season. Blaydon are still without a win and are already eight points from safety, so they need to pick up a victory sooner rather than later otherwise they could find themselves in deep trouble.
Macclesfield v Rosslyn Park
Macclesfield host Rosslyn Park at Priory Park this Saturday and the Blues will be keen to get away from the bottom of the table as quickly as possible. The Cheshire side were promoted to this division in May after a superb championship winning season in National Two North, but they have struggled to adapt to life at this level so far.
Macc currently occupy 15th place as things stand and have only picked up one win so far this term – the coming against Fylde – so they will be hoping they can add to that this weekend.
In terms of Rosslyn Park, I think they would be the first to admit that they were performing below their expectations this season. After a second placed finish in 2015, they finished strongly to end the last campaign in the top half, but this term they have been nowhere near their best.
Currently, Park sit a place above, but level on points with Macclesfield as they prepare to head to the North-West this Saturday so the victory for both sides is crucial if they are to get kick-start their seasons.
