Last week ended in bitter disappointment for the lads who travelled to East Lancashire, when we fell to a 22-18 defeat at the hands of Burnley. There was promise to take from this narrow defeat, Tom Cockcroft continuing his excellent form & a solid defensive performance despite the 22 points are just two of the positives taken from the review.

This weekend sees us back in action at Home to good friends, Didsbury Toc H. Over the last couple of years, there has been a good bond built between us & Dids, a few old TC regulars now ply their trade there, most notably ex-1st XV Skipper, Dale Beardsall. Relations are superb off the pitch & on it there is always some great rugby played. Unfortunately, it has resulted in Dids winning all three of their encounters with us, time to change that I hope... Didsbury are one of the better teams in this league, despite not being table toppers. They play good rugby & their strengths lie all over the field & not just in one area. If you like seeing wide, expansive, attacking rugby then tomorrow should be the day for it.

There are a number of changes to the TC line up that travelled to Burnley. Neil Wright keeps hold of the 1 shirt despite only lasting 7 mins last week before getting knocked out. James Gorrie also remains in position at Prop. Mark Hanson returns this weekend & will take over the Hooker slot from Callum Holland, who performed heroically there last week, Callum moves in to the Second Row. I shall be joining him in there where I will be leading the boys. The work rate & the positive play provided by last weekend's Back Row sees them unchanged for this week, Hoddinott 6, Holder -Williams 7, Tom Cockcroft 8. Cockcroft really has burst back on to the scene since recovering from his injury & has been showing everyone what they've been missing without him.

Clapp stays at Scrum Half with Orwin outside him at 10. Pete Macauley had an excellent game last weekend at 12 & gives us no choice but to keep him there this week despite a number of strong contenders for the shirt. Wolstencroft will partner him in the middle, one of the other players to leave with his head held high last week. Will Gardner returns from his Shandy Drinking Tour of the South to start on the Wing. On the other side is the returning Rob Meekins. Usually flyer, Ross Mellor-Clark, moves to 15 after showing what he can do there in a short stint at Burnley.

The bench is strong with Dave Jones covering the Front Row, Tom Bailey covering the tight back 5, & David 'Speedy' Beardsall providing the gas from the bench.

This is a strong TC squad & an extremely hard one for the rugby committee to select. Over 50 players had made themselves available for this weekend, so naturally some players will be disappointed to miss out on the Didsbury clash but I am sure they will go & show us what we have missed out on away at Fylde.

Kick offs have now moved back to 3pm so that gives the students & the student wannabes an extra hour in the pit tomorrow. Please get yourselves down to support us & join us for what we hope are celebratory beers afterwards.

Brannigan