National League 1 - 2015-6 Wk 2

Out of the frying pan and into the fire! Having more than competently avoided a first night pratfall against Richmond, we now face up to the big guns of their near neighbours Rosslyn Park - widely considered to be one of the early favourites for Nat 1 honours. If their ground is called The Rock, then we have to make sure Brickfields is The Hard Place this coming Saturday and thereafter. The SW London side missed out on promotion last year when Ealing beat them by a single point and were second the year before, as well. See a pattern emerging here?   

Our visitors had a comfortable pre-season racking up 150 points and reckon to have at least two contenders for every starting shirt. They started their Nat 1 campaign with a solid caning of new arrivals from Nat 2(S), Henley Hawks. (You can be pretty sure that that game will be analysed to death this  week.) Playing for the first time on a brand new £1 million "4G" pitch with forwards and backs firing on all eight (and seven!) respectively, they ran in 10 tries. Henley could only muster two in reply.

The artificial surface's "grim reaper" reputation was further maligned by an unfortunate accident to ex-Albion back Mark Kohler. Just four minutes into the new season, he crossed the line and promptly broke his ankle - ouch! This new pitch is designed to maximise revenue and team performance at all levels for a club that has a serious heritage (founded 1879 and RPFC, if you please...) and a serious commitment to M&Js and Youth rugby. (A pretty hardcore commitment to posh partying, too - their pre-season shindig was £80 a pop...!) Apparently the travelling support are already booking the early trains. We welcome them one and all - and their wallets. Please feel free to put a hefty dent in our overdraft, ladies and gents.

Albion will be hoping to have niggling injuries sorted this week to maximise options on team selection. Morale will be high after the Richmond result, but we can't afford an iota of complacency against opposition of this quality. Perhaps some focus is needed on the practise of refereeing in this division. According to one of the team, we were heading for a second YC late in the first half. Richmond's opting to kick an easy penalty in front of the sticks was a less costly alternative to a penalty try and/or another man off for ten... Last Sat's referee seemed to use his assistants quite freely even though they still missed a couple of instances of hands on the ground in the scrum. We can't quarrel with the quality, "sir " was off to Penzance on Sunday to run the line or touch the judge or whatever they do these days.

I would respectfully argue that full and possibly earlier use of fewer "rolling" subs is vital to ensure parity over the whole 80. The fitness levels under sustained pressure looked good, but saving substitutions until 80+ minutes seems (bonus) pointless to me... 

The sixteenth (wo)man done good as well - quantity and quality-wise. Don't forget to keep those vocal chords well lubed, folks. This weekend, there won't be the distraction of RWC warm-ups and surely the buzz is out that a splendid afternoon was missed. One word about early arrival. The excellent programme (named squad mugshots, Nile Dacres interview and loads of news) only has a limited print run and they were all gone by the time stonehousecomelately rocked up to the gate. Luckily, there were a good few kicking around the corporate tables as the entertainment played on into the evening, so I snaffled one then. The rest may have made their way to the Office... One of my companions misheard an enquiry about price and thought that "three" quid was a bit steep, what with the ticket prices an' all. It was "FREE", Roger!

Here are the fixtures:

Sat 12 Sep

Loughborough Students v Coventry 14:00 Loughborough University Stadium

Ampthill v Blaydon 14:30 Dillingham Park

Hartpury College v Fylde 14:30 College Stadium

Blackheath v Cinderford 15:00 Rectory Field

Darlington Mowden Park v Henley 15:00 Northern Echo Arena

Plymouth Albion v Rosslyn Park 15:00 Brickfields

Richmond v Hull Ionians 15:00 Richmond Athletic Ground

Wharfedale v Esher 15:00 The Avenue, Threshfield

By pure coincidence, PARFC Ladies welcome their counterparks, the "Slingbacks" (now that's classy...) on Sunday afternoon.

(Interesting factoid: RPFC origninated in NW London and are named after Rosslyn Hill and Belsize Park)