It could be Twickenham or
bust for Darlington Shield duo
While a place in the County
Championship final at Twickenham provides a huge incentive for winning teams
going into the decisive final regional matches of the competition on Saturday,
there is plenty of incentive for the sides who have not been all-conquering
thus far.
Just as the destiny of the
Zurich Premiership relegation race changed by the minute on the final day recently,
the final outcome of the County Championship Shield is very tightly balanced.
North Midlands are favourites
to get to the Twickenham final of the County Shield on Sunday week having won
both their games in the Northern group. They now visit Oxfordshire, who have
yet to record a victory.
But in addition to having
home advantage at Chinnor RFC, Oxfordshire can still escape the drop if they
can upset the form book and snatch a win.
If they manage that, the
complexion of the game at Darlington, where Durham entertain Cumbria, will change,
for that match may suddenly acquire a double-edged incentive, with victory a
possible route to Twickenham for the winners and relegation a possible outcome
for the losers.
Durham coach Phil Lancaster
is optimistic that Oxford have the tools to throw the division wide open. “They
have a very useful stand-off who kicks well and a pack that can rumble. I fancy
Oxfordshire to win the forward battle and they could win.
“We had the better
of North Midlands for long spells last week, but we are still struggling to
convert pressure into points.
“Last weekend we had
12 minutes in the North Mids 22 at the start of the second-half and came away
with nothing. They had one minute in our half and picked up three points.
“Our scrum was solid,
the lineout worked well and we had plenty of possession. If there had been a
chart showing the hot zones, it would have been all burgundy.
“Confidence is the
thing – and the fact that we haven’t played together much. But we’re
still looking for a 20-point win on Saturday and hoping that Oxfordshire can
do us a favour.”
“It’s all to play
for at Darlington.” agrees Cumbria Chairman of Selectors Roger Hackney.
“The winners might well go on to play in the final at Twickenham should
Oxford beat North Midlands, but even if North Midlands win, our game will decide
the second seeding position next season, which brings two home matches.
“We are without three
Kendal men. David Preston has a broken foot, Daniel Bowman has a broken collarbone
and Martin Armstrong is unavailable, so we’ve had to make a number of changes.
“Centres Howard Graham
and Armstrong are both unavailable and replaced by Gavin Young and Jonathan
Lowden, who played fly half last Saturday. A fit again Gavin Beasley returns
to play in that position. Conrad Jansen is gets his first call on the bench.
“In the pack, James
Lund is unavailable and Preston and Bowman are both injured, so Graeme Andrews
plays in the front row, while Paul Clark and Mark Bowman also move up from the
bench to start this Saturday.
“Neil Hilton, Ross
Dougherty, Gary Harrison and Kevin Walker are called into the squad. Hilton,
Walker, and Jansen could make their debuts.”
The threat of relegation
is the clear incentive when Cheshire entertain Northumberland at Macclesfield
RFC. Both sides have lost both their games, both have emerged with credit in
defeat and there appears to be plenty of reason for both sides to be optimistic.
Northumberland skipper Ed
Thorpe, the Otley No 8, was in no doubt that his team could have edged out Lancashire
last weekend. "The game was there for the taking and unfortunately a couple
of schoolboy errors cost us dearly." he said.
Coach Brian Juliff was equally
positive in looking ahead to this weekend. "We now face the challenge of
playing in a game we simply have to win. The spirit in the North camp is high
and I'm confident that a positive week’s training will play an enormous
role in gaining tangible reward for our season’s efforts."
While the outcome at Tynedale
RFC last weekend was disappointing for the hosts in terms of the result, there
was a very successful outcome on another front.
Proceeds from the game were
being donated by the Northumberland RFU to the Ali Johnson trust appeal and
£2,000 was raised for that cause.
Cheshire, meanwhile, have
troubled both Lancashire and Yorkshire when they have been able to release their
dangerous back division and the general feeling was that Yorkshire might not
have survived at Hull Ionians RFC last weekend had the game gone on for a few
more minutes.
The challenge facing Northumberland
is to make sure that Cheshire have neither enough ball nor enough space to operate;
the Cheshire pack will be hoping to generate more of both.
At the top end of the county
format, Lancashire make two changes for the Roses match. Oliver Viney from Orrell
moves from replacement to wing to replace Waterloo’s Jay Van De Ventor,
Fylde Richard Kenyon taking his pace on the replacements bench.
Alastair Livesey from Orrell
resumes on the bench as prop replacement.
Cumbria (v Durham at Darlington
RFC, Saturday, May 21, 3pm): S Helies (Penrith); G Thompson (Kirkby Lonsdale),
J Lowden (Manchester), G Young (Penrith), S Stoddart (Aspatria); G Beasley (Tynedale),
J Spires (Aspatria); G Andrews (Aspatria), M Armstrong (Manchester), R Harriman
(Kendal), T Dawson (Penrith), P Clark (Harrogate & RAF), M Bowman (Kendal),
P Skillen (Ebbw Vale), A Bateson (Kendal) capt. Replacements: S Davidson (Altrincham
Kersal), C Jansen (Penrith), G Harrison (Aspatria), N Hilton (Fylde), A Holmes
(Fylde), R Dougherty (Workington), K Walker (Penrith).
Lancashire (v Yorkshire
at Sedgley Park, Saturday, May 21, 3pm): W Spragg (Orrell); N Kerfoot (Waterloo),
F Payne (Waterloo), I Voortman (Sedgley Park), O Viney (Orrell); N Hunter (Waterloo),
D McCormack (Sedgley Park); M O’Keefe (Birmingham/Solihull), J Roddam (Orrell),
A Yates (Harlow), P Arnold (Orrell), E Lund (Sedgley Park), R Senior (Sedgley
Park) capt, Dave Wilks (Orrell), T Fourie (Sedgley Park). Replacements: C Tyms
(Waterloo), A Livesey (Orrell), N Flynn (Manchester), A Atkinson (Orrell), N
Tchakoute (Waterloo), J Broxson (Waterloo), R Kenyon (Fylde).
