Match Preview

The equation is quite simple. We currently sit in 10th place – Ilkley and 7th place is gone, but a bonus point of any kind this weekend and we will go above Wirral into 9th place on points’ difference. Due to their superior points difference, it will need both a win, and a bonus point, to go above Kirkby into 8th.

What is far from simple is the task ahead of the team to achieve either of these. In their last home game Billingham became only the second team this season to defeat the Grasshoppers– and unlike at Kirkby it will not have been the pitch. On a more positive note they were well beaten last weekend, away at Harrogate, a team we have run close this season

Only four losses at home this season, and three of those were by a single point, with only Hull have kept them under 20 points at home, Hull, Harrogate and Hoppers are the only teams to have stopped them getting a try scoring bonus point at home.

At Mintbridge earlier in the season, they won well, with a performance built on a solid defence in the second half which gave the team few chances, after the scores being even at half-time.

TEAM : A few changes from last week. Dini Noyo returns on one wing, with Dan Wilson on the other. Kris Bratton moves into the centre, with Mike Fearon going to outside half. Glen Weightman missing a game for the first time since his debut in September 2014.
In the pack a whole new second row, with Ben Leacock returning after turning out for the victorious Development side last weekend, with Ross McKay returning from the back row, with Jacob Sutton coming in in his place. Nathan Wooff takes Dan Wilson’s place on the bench

WEATHER : Cloudy but dry – no sign of snow this time.