Hartpury College and Birmingham Moseley primed for Round Four

The top two sides in National One will be hoping to head into October with their 100 per cent records intact after what has been a perfect start to the season for Hartpury and Birmingham Moseley.

In fact, Hartpury have picked up maximum points from their first three games meaning they have the outright lead at this early stage of the season and with the top two both at home this weekend, they will keen to extend their unbeaten starts.

Elsewhere this Saturday, Coventry go in search of their first win on the road under Roland Winter, the Old Albanian aim to continue their great start to life back in the fourth tier while Macclesfield and Hull Ionians look to return winning ways.

Hartpury College v Fylde

Hartpury College have made a flying start to the new campaign. After missing out on promotion to the Championship last season, College have dusted themselves down and responded magnificently with three bonus-point wins from three to begin this term.

College have beaten Blackheath, Plymouth Albion and Esher so far and may well fancy their chances of making it four straight wins when winless Fylde take the 173 mile trip to Hartpury this weekend.

It has been a tough start for Paul Arnold’s Fylde side. A strong performance in defeat against Birmingham Moseley was followed up by a disappointing loss away at newly-promoted Macclesfield and a narrow defeat to Blackheath last weekend.

There are certainly positives to take from the first three rounds of action for Fylde, but this trip to Hartpury on Saturday will arguably be the toughest test they have had so far this term. Fylde won just four of their 15 matches on the road last season.

Birmingham Moseley v Blaydon

Along with Hartpury College, Birmingham Moseley are the only other side in the division who are unbeaten thus far. Following relegation from the Championship in May, Kevin Maggs’ side have reacted well to life in the third tier of English rugby.

Wins against Fylde, Coventry and Plymouth Albion do highlight Birmingham Moseley’s ambitions as they aim for an immediate return to the Championship. They will have to warn against complacency this weekend when they welcome Blaydon to the Midlands.

Blaydon are one of three teams without a win so far this season. In fact, the North-East side sit bottom of the table as this stage but are certainly showing signs of what they are capable of.

Putting their opening day defeat to the Old Albanian aside, they narrowly lost to Darlington Mowden Park after an impressive 60 minutes of rugby and did run in six tries in their defeat to Loughborough Students last weekend. There are shoots of recovery there for Blaydon, but they now need to deliver a solid performance to clinch their maiden win of the new term.

Blackheath v Coventry

Blackheath seemed to have hit their stride in the last couple of weeks. An opening day loss to Hartpury College was not the perfect way to begin the new season, but back to back wins over Esher and Fylde leave Club satisfied with their start to the new campaign.

Club left it late against Esher, but showed good game management against Fylde last week and now back at their new home; they will be looking to make it three on the bounce when they host Coventry on Saturday.

Coventry went through a number of changes in the summer with new personnel arriving at the club and it seems like it is working so far. New Director of Rugby Roland Winter has moved to the Midlands to try and improve on Coventry’s ninth place finish from last term and they have started brightly.

A thrashing of Loughborough Students on the opening day was followed by a narrow defeat to Birmingham Moseley but last weekend Coventry were in a rampant mood once again as they ran in nine tries on their way to victory over Macclesfield. Now the men from the Butts Park Arena will be searching for their first away win of the season tomorrow.

Old Albanian v Rosslyn Park

It has been a great start to life back in National One for the Old Albanian. Relegated from this division two years ago, they made an immediate return via the National Two play-off in May and have begun this season rather well.

Wins away at Blaydon and Cambridge leave the OA’s sitting in fourth position as things stand at this early stage, but they will be itching to get their first win at Woolmans this Saturday, especially as they won 14 of their 15 games at home on their way to promotion last year.

As for Rosslyn Park, they have had a disappointing start to the season. No wins from the first three matches is not what the doctor order for Park who may have harboured a shot a promotion this season after  a slow start to the campaign last year.

They now need to pick themselves up and go again this weekend as they aim to claim their first victory of new term following defeats to Ampthill & District, Cambridge and Plymouth Albion.

Darlington Mowden Park v Cambridge

Darlington Mowden Park seem back in the groove after an opening day defeat to Hull Ionians at Brantingham Park. Danny Brown’s side lost that game 20-16, but have responded well with a derby day win over Blaydon and a superb victory last weekend against promotion candidates Ampthill & District.

DMP will be keen to follow that up this weekend when they host Cambridge on Saturday. Darlington have won 13 of their last 16 matches on home soil.

That is the challenge that awaits Ross Stewart’s Cambridge this weekend when they head up the A1 to the Darlington Arena. With Rowland Winter departing for Coventry, Stewart has overseen the start of Cambridge’s first season back in National One for two years.

The National Two South champions have picked up one victory from their first three games of the campaign and that came away at Rosslyn Park. Can the Blood and Sand make it back to back away wins tomorrow?

Loughborough Students v Ampthill and District

Loughborough Students were involved in arguably one of the best games this season may produce. Students ran in nine tries on their way to a 66-38 victory over Blaydon away from home last weekend and they will be heading into this game with Ampthill full of confidence.

Loughborough began the season with a humbling defeat away at Coventry, but reacted well with victory over Hull Ionians. Ciaran Beattie and Dave Morris will now be hoping their side can make it three wins on the spin this Saturday.

Ampthill will have been working hard in training this week to bounce back from a surprise home defeat to Darlington Mowden Park last weekend. That was just their third defeat in 32 matches at Dillingham Park, but now all attention for the Bedfordshire side is on this encounter with Loughborough.

The A’s beat the Old Albanian in their last away outing have won nine of their last 16 matches on the road. Ampthill will be keen to respond this weekend if they are to keep pace with the early front runners in National One.

Esher v Plymouth Albion

It has not been the start to the season Esher would’ve liked. They opened the new campaign with a narrow win over Macclesfield but since then they have failed to build on that.

Defeats to Blackheath and Hartpury College leave Esher 13^th in the table at this stage and they will be hoping to turn their fortunes around this weekend. They have won 11 of their last 17 matches at home and will be keen to add to that when Plymouth Albion visit Surrey.

Plymouth Albion look as though they are slowly finding their feet under new boss Dan Parkes. A defeat to league leaders Hartpury College is sandwiched in between two hard-fought victories over Cambridge and Rosslyn Park leaving the men from Brickfields in a decent positon.

Albion will be eager to end September with another victory under their belt and all the signs are there that they are more than capable of doing just that when they take the trip to Esher this weekend.

Macclesfield v Hull Ionians

Macclesfield would’ve been in a positive mood heading to Coventry last weekend following an excellent display against Fylde the previous week, but all of that confidence was knocked out of them inside 40 minutes at the Butts Park Arena six days ago,

The Blues were blown away by Coventry as they conceded eight tries in the first half and now the Cheshire side have to pick up the pieces from that and go again this weekend when they welcome Hull Ionians to Priory Park as Macc go for their 16^th home win from their last 17 matches.

It will be a tough test for Hull Ionians this weekend, who like Macclesfield, have won one of their opening three games of the season. The I’s got the new campaign off to a victorious start with a good home win over Loughborough, but since then it has been tough for the Yorkshire outfit.

Defeats to table topping Hartpury College and unbeaten Birmingham Moseley have followed that opening day win and now they must regroup and go to Cheshire as they aim to return to winning ways.