Match Preview

The first order of business for this match preview is to apologise for last week’s lack of one; the weather meaning the games almost inevitable cancellation and presence of actual work for once on a Friday stopped me from writing one. Whilst this may have pleased one or two members of the Northern hierarchy who have described this section as “pseudo journalism”, I hope that for my devout and loyal readership (Chris Jayne and Kristian Anderson) this goes some distance to make up for it.

Saturday brings the important matter of our home match against Trinity Academicals, coupled with the Scotland-England Six Nations fixture at Murrayfield. As such, the kick-off has been moved to 11.30 a.m. An additional note for those wishing to attend, for the first time since November 2015, we will be playing at Inverleith Park after its recovery from the abhorrent weather we experienced at the start of this year.

The visit of Trinity is always a good occasion; a large travelling support should be present and the games are always played in a positive spirit. The Bangholm side currently sit below Northern in the table on 22 points in 6th place, and a loss on Saturday would see them most probably slip out of promotion contention so we expect them to have a point to prove.

It was not always thus for the side from Newhaven this season; a strong start saw them beat Broughton, Langholm and Inverleith in quick succession, but they have remained winless since November 7 when they beat Portobello 41-20. The last three fixtures have seen them beaten by Leith, draw a scrappy encounter in the wet (by all accounts) with forward heavy Liberton and then lose at home to runaway league leaders Penicuik 21-13.

As for Trinity and Northern encounters in recent history, the side from north of Ferry Road have fared slightly better. It was only two seasons ago that Northern recorded their first victory over Trinity (according to Northern Historian Neil Leitch, who searched extensively in the club annals to prove it!), with two penalties by retired captain Chris Aiken helping Northern to sneak victory in a 6-5 triumph on a soaking December day at Inverleith Park. The victory was even sweeter given Trinity’s 72-15 drubbing of Northern at Bangholm in October of 2013. Sadly the third fixture in that season (a consequence of the ill-fated group stage of the cup) saw Northern lose 19-13, with late tries by Colin McGregor and Jake Letham almost snatching victory. Last season was no different as Northern narrowly won 16-13 at home thanks to a late Spiller penalty, before an understandably distracted Northern went down 39-17 on the Broughton High School pitch in January last year, with tries coming from Rory Pounds, Lachlan Bursle and Jake Letham.

Which leads onto this Saturday; will it follow the trend and be a close, nervy affair or will the flowing style and creative attacking Northern have shown this season see a bonus point win for the home side?

Fronting up in old gold and navy is the unchanged front-row partnership of Captain John Leatham, hooker Dean Hogan and John Walsh. This will be their 9th appearance as a trio this season and following their whole scale destruction of the Inverleith front-row two weeks ago, it will be a delight to see what they can, if possibly, improve on! In the second row, Callum Harper and Paul Holland play at 4 and 5, and have decided this week to celebrate this almost continuous unison in the engine room by moving in with each other. It is also (finally) the latter’s 50th appearance for the club, something which has been noted and will be recognised following full-time in the bar with a short presentation. In the back-row, unavailable Neil Hardman drops out, with Dr. Dominic Harrison returning to the 6 berth. Former captain Jason Thompson starts at 7 as per, whilst Chris Jayne, the solitary member of the ENRFC James Haskell Supporters Club and apparently proud owner of Northern biggest thighs starts at 8 following a strong performance against Inverleith.

In the backline, newly expectant father Andrew Spiller starts at scrum-half, returning we assume with excitement to the position and jersey he has played in for the majority of his career at Northern. Dr. Tom Craven starts at fly-half, whilst Colin Bryans and Jake Letham are at 12 and 13 respectively. The latter is looking to make up for lost time this season and the work effort of the Borders man is something that will be a huge asset to the Northern attack. In the back three, a fervently nationalistic Crawford Leslie will start on the wing, partnered by Northern very own Liam Neeson, Simon Trotter. Roy Coughlan is named at 15.

On the bench, physical monolith Kristian Anderson covers the pack, whilst Doug Wilman will cover both half-backs and wing. Finn Pritchard, fresh from his six week stint down under covers the centres, whilst debutant Patrick “Paddy” Gray will make his appearance for the club.

Meet time is 10.15 a.m, with KO at 11.30 a.m. We look forward to seeing you there and then afterwards in the Bunker to watch Scotland beat the English.

ENRFC 1XV:
Coughlan, Trotter, Letham, Bryans, Leslie, Dr. Craven, Spiller, Leatham (C), Hogan, Walsh, Harper, Holland, Harrison, Thompson, Jayne Subs: Anderson, Wilman, Pritchard, Gray.