Week 17 - round 17 national league 1 previews...

...Saturday 9th January 2016 including Hartpury College v Coventry Rugby.

Fixtures Week 17 Saturday 9th January 2016.

Ampthill & District                      v          Cinderford                      14.15

Blackheath                                    v         Henley Hawks

Darlington Mowden Park           v         Rosslyn Park

Hartpury College                          v         Coventry Rugby            14.30

Loughborough Students             v         Esher                              14.00

Plymouth Albion                          v         Hull Ionians

Richmond                                      v         Fylde

Wharfedale                                   v         Blaydon                         14.00

Week 17 sees the top three sides all at home and clear favourites to win, whilst in the danger zone it is the crunch clash between Wharfedale and Blaydon.

Leaders Richmond face a Fylde side which has not had the same impact this season as last. Yet on their day Fylde can be a match for any team. With the present heavy conditions they may find it difficult to impose themselves on a Richmond side growing in confidence and ambition.

In the unlikely scenario of Richmond dropping points 2nd placed Blackheath face a relegation threatened Henley Hawks side with them able to take advantage. With the home side only 3 points behind Richmond they will be overwhelming favourites to gain a bonus point win.

Third placed Hartpury College face potentially the most difficult of games, as they have Coventry Rugby as their visitors. Coventry have not always lived up to expectations this season but were only narrowly beaten by College earlier. Since then both sides have strengthened and this will be a difficult match to predict, although a close contest is expected. A full preview will follow.

Esher in 4th place meet a Loughborough Students side finding it difficult to escape from the wrong end of the table, as a large loss away to Coventry last Saturday left them only 7 points from the relegation zone. Esher despite being away should have enough forward power to win this one.

Form side Plymouth Albion on a run of 5 wins which has taken them up to 5th place meet Hull Ionians, whose recent loss of form has seen  them slip back to 11th place and only 9 points from the relegation zone. Albion, especially at home should be too strong and are on target to overtake Esher in 4th place.

One win behind both Esher and Plymouth Albion is 6th placed Ampthill & District, who face bottom side Cinderford. The Foresters are finding it difficult to get any sort of points and can’t fancy their chances against Ampthill. An easy home win should be in prospect thus leaving Cinderford in serious trouble.

There is an intriguing contest in prospect as Darlington Mowden Park face a Rosslyn Park side who have slumped to 7th place after their early season optimism evaporated. After a difficult start to the season DMP are now finding some form to match their ambitions and at home should be slight favourites to takeover 7th place from their visitors.

The final game sees the relegation battle between Wharfedale and their visitors Blaydon. Dale in 15th spot are only 2 points behind Blaydon in 13th and safety. Both sides are struggling to win even at home , and if the home side can negate the Blaydon pack and their rolling maul then home advantage might just swing it.

MATCH PREVIEW HARTPURY COLLEGE V COVENTRY RUGBY SATURDAY 9TH JANUARY 2016.

This coming Saturday 9th January sees Coventry Rugby visiting Hartpury College on their College campus ground for a 2.30pm kick off. Hartpury College, situated on the Gloucester-Ledbury road just outside Gloucester started off as an Agricultural College, which expanded into Elite Sports in 2000 including rugby. Hartpury RFC was founded in 2004 and is an open club and since then has moved steadily through the league pyramid being promoted to NL1 at the start of last season.

The College boasts of a number of pitches including a 3G one for training purposes  and  their continuing close links with Gloucester Premiership rugby and their Academy, who use the facilities has brought a number of dual registered and loan players. Experienced players have been signed from other clubs and recently players signed for Gloucester Premiership have been loaned back to Hartpury giving the side a balanced and experienced nucleus.

Under current Director of Rugby  Alan Martinovic Hartpury College finished a very credible 5th place last season and are currently in 3rd place  on 58 points , only 5 points behind leaders Richmond, having won 12 and lost only 4 games. Last season Coventry Rugby were involved in two very close games winning by 2 points away and losing by the same margin at home. This season Coventry lost their home match 21-23 so another close game is expected.

The four games Hartpury have lost this season have all been within a margin of 8 points or less, which suggests that they are very hard to beat. The four losses have been to Hull Ionians, Blackheath and Rosslyn Park away, and somewhat of a surprise 2 games ago losing at home to a resurgent Plymouth Albion side.

Being an open club Hartpury College have recruited well not only pre-season but as a continuing basis with lock Steve Pape coming in from Ealing Tfs, scrum-half Robbie Shaw and No 8 George Evans from local rivals Cinderford.

Not only are their close contacts with Gloucester Rugby but also from Bristol Academy with flanker Jake Polledri and hooker James Stephenson. Another hooker Nathan Taylor has come in from London Welsh and in the last few weeks centre Luke Eves, whose 2 tries last week against Fylde gave them the win.

Other new recruits include winger Mark Harrison and Lithuanian International Jonas Mikalcius, locks J Dancer and MacDonald add weight to the scrum  and in flanker Rhys Oakley they have a proven ball winner. At fly-half Lloyd Evans is looking assured with his added benefit of a successful goal-kicker with J Perry also able to act as No 10 or full-back.

A number of experienced players remain from last season with prop forwards Tim Brockett, Mike Flook and hooker Will Tanner, and flanker Will Safe. At full-back Gareth Thompson is still a game breaker both with his running from deep and his goal-kicking, backed up by centres  Steve Leonard and George Boulton.

The end of last season saw two key  and influential players, fly-half and full-back Matt Protheroe and scrum-half Ben Vellacott both sign for Gloucester Premiership Rugby. Both have been loaned back to Hartpury College at various times this season and currently Ben Vellacott is earning rave reviews for his performances, including a number of MOM, certainly one Coventry Rugby have to be aware of.

Another close contest between these two sides is expected  but Coventry Rugby will have to continue their progress shown in their comprehensive win over Loughborough Students last Saturday to get anything from this game, as Hartpury College have shown how difficult they are to beat.

Don’t forget for those supporters travelling to Hartpury that the kick-off is an 2.30 pm.

Tom Little

Coventry Rugby press office

5th January 2016.