Week 17 national league 1rugby previews Saturday 3rd January

...including Old Albanian v Coventry Rugby.

Fixtures week 17 - Saturday 3^rd January 2015.

Blaydon                                    v      Ealing Trailfinders

Cinderford                               v      Darlington Mowden Park

Loughborough Students       v      Blackheath

Macclesfield                           v       Esher

Old Albanian                          v       Coventry Rugby

Richmond                               v        Hartpury College

Rosslyn Park                          v         Fylde

Wharfedale                           v         Tynedale

This first set of games in the New Year sees an intriguing series of matches involving the top four sides, with leaders Ealing and 2^nd placed Coventry Rugby facing potentially difficult away matches, whilst the other game sees Rosslyn Park entertaining Fylde, a game Fylde needs to win to remain in touch with the top three. The other end of the table sees Cinderford meet Darlington Mowden Park, another defeat for the Foresters would see them surely favourite to make up one of the relegation places.

Leaders Ealing Trailfinders make the bleak mid-winter trip to the north-east as they face Blaydon. Whether the expected wind chill factor will dent the leaders title aspirations remains to be seen, but Blaydon can be a difficult place to visit, as Coventry have found to their cost this season. Blaydon, whose form this season has varied from dire to brilliant, with all shades of grey in between, could cause a surprise. With both sides having well matched packs it may be left to Ealing’s incisive backs to provide the catalyst for a win.

Hoping for such a slip up by Ealing will be Coventry Rugby who make the relatively shorter journey to St.Albans to face Old Albanian. There will be no danger of complacency as Coventry look for their 13^th successive win as they have yet to win at the Woollams. A full match preview will follow.

Third against fourth  as Rosslyn Park are at home to Fylde, as both sides are hoping for a slip up by the top two. Fylde have an unbeaten home record but only a 50% one away from home, whilst Rosslyn Park have only lost once at home but have suffered two successive losses. With Park now playing a more expansive game this season they feel they can match Fylde’s finishing prowess but have the pack to come out on top. A close game is expected to go narrowly to Rosslyn Park, as they need to maintain pressure on the top two.

Cinderford’s fragile recovery already appears to have petered out as they face Darlington Mowden Park at home. Park themselves have had their own tribulations in not finishing games off, perhaps due to a lack of experience at this level. A close game which will come down to confidence and possibly home advantage. A win for the home side could see them out of the bottom three but leave Park there.

The northern clash between  Wharfedale and Tynedale may still be a step too far for an injury set Tynedale side looking to avoid a 7^th straight loss. This is indeed relegation form as Tynedale have slipped into the final relegation spot. Wharfedale, with Dan Solomi making his annual and hat-trick appearance on Week 16 the home side should be too strong taking them clear of the danger zone, but leaving Tynedale in serious trouble.

Another side desperately needing a win is Loughborough Students, who despite scoring a high number of tries are only three points above danger, have Blackheath as their visitors. Blackheath in 6^th place can be an enigma as in their last three games they lost heavily to Coventry, beat Rosslyn Park and would have beaten Ealing if they had a goal-kicker. In what is expected to be a high scoring game the result could go either way but if the Blackheath pack could take control that might just give them the edge.

Two mid table sides clash at Richmond as Hartpury College are the visitors. Newcomers Hartpury have surprised many with how they have settled into this league and with their fast direct runners can trouble most defences. Some indifferent form by Richmond was recently sorted with an away win at Esher and will be looking for another win to consolidate their 5th place.

The final game has bottom side Macclesfield with 7th placed Esher as their visitors. Despite a poor season so far by their standards surely this is a game Esher can’t lose. The only solace for Macclesfield is to keep the score within 50 points.

Old Albanian v Coventry Rugby match preview.

The start of the New Year sees Coventry Rugby travel to St.Albans to face Old Albanian at their Woollams Ground with kick off at 3pm. Coventry Rugby will not only be looking for their 13^th win on the bounce but also their first ever win at Old Albanian, as well as their second winning double of the season. If that wasn’t enough a bonus point win coupled with a loss by Ealing, could see both sides equal on points at the top of the league.

Founded in St.Albans between 1924-1930 Old Albanian had made steady progress through the leagues reaching the current National League 1 in season 2012/3 finishing 5th.Last season  they finished in 10^th place and so far this season are in  12^th place on  30 points with 10 losses and 6 wins.  Head Coach Andy Holloway has seen Old Albanian making a catastrophic start to this season losing their first 8 games. However a rally followed with 5 straight wins with home wins over Wharfedale, Richmond and Esher, together with away victories over Cinderford and Macclesfield. Since then their last three games has seen a home victory over Darlington MP, a narrow away loss at Hartpury College, and a rather bigger loss away at leaders Ealing.

Their record against Coventry Rugby is impressive at home beating Coventry 20-3 two season s ago and 25-13 last season, although the corresponding home games went Coventry’s way including the September   BPA  win by 37-16.

Experienced half-backs Stefan Liebenberg and Lawrence Rayner have moved on since last season as indeed have forwards Sam Staff and Matt Chambers. However a nucleus of experienced players do remain together with a sprinkling of Saracens Academy Players with whom OA have a close relationship.

From last year hooker Brett McNamee , locks Ross Hamilton and Lloyd Bickle remain, as do prop forwards Andy Berry and George Warner More experience is found in the back row with Nick Stevens, Ollie Cooper-Miller and Billy Johnson. Key backs remaining include full-back Ollie Marchon, centres Jimmy Speirs and Johannes Lombaard. Leading goal-kicker  Richard Gregg playing either at full-back or fly-half has caused Coventry Rugby problems in the past, and although was unavailable against Ealing, which necessitated the temporary loan of  OA’s previous DOR  James Shanahan back from Plymouth Albion, at the time of writing it is expected that this was a one off.

New players in include fly-half Elliott Reeder from Oaklands, and experienced scrum half Jordi Pasqualin, centre Will Magie from Ealing, and impressive wingers George Perkins and Chris May. Other new backs are centres Dan Watts and Max Wilkins, with wingers Jack Daly from Cambridge and Mike Allan and full-back Nick Foster from Nottingham University.

Old Albanian do have the ability to play an expansive wide game and despite their heavy loss at Ealing gave a much better account of themselves than the score suggests. Certainly this is a game Coventry Rugby cannot be too complacent about in view of their past record away against OA, and the important factor in keeping their winning run going to maintain pressure on Ealing.

Another large Coventry away contingent is expected-such support is much appreciated by the Coventry Rugby squad.

Tom Little

Coventry Rugby press office

2^nd January 2015.