National League 1 - 2015-6 Wk 12

This Saturday Albion welcome Ampthill (& District) RFC. They're from the flatlands of the Home Counties, half way between Bedford and Luton, not a million miles from Shanners' stamping ground and an area which produces plenty of young talent. The club's aim is “to be the most ‘professional’ community rugby club in England” and “to broaden the life experience of our members and the local community, especially children, by developing their rugby skills through education, teamwork & competitive opportunity”. That's a pretty unequivocal statement of intent - they're obviously not a bunch of chancers in Nat 1 just for laughs... And I don't think players of the like of Gully (who joined after hard years at Coventry, Albion, Pirates and Bedford) is there for a couple of easy seasons before hanging up his boots. Forget the the Old Boy "curse" (E C-H and a clutch of Tongans are in the squad as well) - this is old-fashioned "hard graft, keep it tight" time. Don't focus on league position or form; just do the job from the off and reap the points at the end, lads!

They've been playing rugby in Ampthill since the 1880s. The club in it's current form was reformed after WW2 in 1950 and ten years later had it's own pitches. The present club house at Dillingham Park was built in the 80/90s. Over the past 10 years, Ampthill have steadily climbed the league pyramid, arriving in Nat 1 via the Nat 2N/S play-off at the end of last season. They have a player development programme in place with Saracens to allow Academy members competitive game time.

They are the best performing of the promoted sides, sitting in sixth place with six wins and a draw out of eleven. If the fixture list was kind to them early on, the tide has turned a bit of late as their last two games have pitched them against more established sides and they have suffered losses against Hartpury (37 - 10) and Richmond (10 - 46). There are whispers of an "injury crisis" at present which may be contributing to the dip in form. The online opinion favours us once more, but after the last home outing counts for squat...

If you thought DMP was bad, it will be just as windy today (40+ mph of gales), but without the drizzle. Just substitute rain. For the duration. Those boys out there are going to need some serious support - "Go Big or Go Home!" Jeremy Vine had a feature this week about people dodging big crowds due to the "terrorist" situation. You're gonna be safe and sound at Brickfields with a forecast like that. But every voice will count, no mistake. Do your stuff, Janner Gang!

Here's the full fixture list:

Sat 28 Nov

Blaydon v Rosslyn Park   14:00   Crow Trees

Hull Ionians v Blackheath   14:00   Brantingham Park

Hartpury College v Loughborough Students   14:30   College Stadium

Coventry v Henley   15:00   Butts Park Arena

Esher v Cinderford   15:00   Molesey Road

Fylde v Darlington Mowden Park   15:00   Woodside Avenue

Plymouth Albion v Ampthill   15:00   Brickfields

Richmond v Wharfedale   15:00   Richmond Athletic Ground

Ampthill factoid: In the 70/80s almost 500 US servicemen were introduced to rugby at Ampthill via the local RAF base.