Sedgie 1st XV are back in action on Saturday after a run of home games we make the short hop to Bishop Auckland for a DN2 derby day against one of our closest neighbours.

The Saxons are at home!!! Believe it or not this is the first taste of home rugby the Saxons have had all season, they take on Richmondshire in the TVSL - Amazing to see the Saxons going again after a tough season availability wise - They might even have some subs this week!

Bishop will represent a very tough challenge, they sit in 5th place in the league but have games in hand over the teams immediately above them, originally we though 4 teams would be going up in the restructure but there is a bit of chaos at the moment and no one really knows. Im sure Bishop will want to finish as high as possible in the hope of gaining a promotion.

Last time the sides met, Bishop edged a tense game 24 - 31 on the wok with the result in doubt until the final kick.

Sedgies form has been much improved since Xmas and we have picked up 3 decent wins to sit on 25 points in 10th place, we will need to pick up our game again if we are to get a result out of Bishop but we did just that last time we played at Bishop where we picked up a win.

The Saxons welcome Richmondhsire to the Wok, having finally picked up some rugby in what has been a tough season, frustrating not to be able to field a side too often due to injuries and unavailability. Richmondshire will be tough having only withdrawn from DN3 this season so definitely a challenge for our boys.

Team News

Sedgie suffered a real hammer blow with the loss of Pedro Gray to a hamstring injury, Feel bad for Pedro because this is a big game for him against his former club, Also missing Jamie Allison and Dan Martin from the pack, while Tom Flatters and Terry Cook are also missing from our back line.

Prop wise we are unchanged with Graham Brennan and Tom Ducker continuing, James Watson returns to the front row at hooker. Its all change in the 2nd row with Bobby Blackburn coming in alongside New signing Rob Wade who get a chance with Pedro injured and Dan Martin away. Mitch Corney returns from skiiing to take the blindside shirt with Dom Ryan also returning to openside. Massimo Impagliazzo is retained at number 8 after his brace last week.

Gaz Pratt moves to number 9 with Tom Flatters and Nathan Waterhouse working and injured and Phil Greenbank gets the nod at number 10. In the centres, Will Johnson partners Lawrence Oliver and we again name an unchanged back 3 of Ryan Towler, Andy Shepherd and Andy Fife after they have been in impressive form.

The finisher are strong and a bit of a bomb squad, Jonny Castling, Kyle Sutcliffe and Phil Dawson will all be looking to make an impact later in the game.

The saxons are strongest they have been this season.. Micheal Bishop, Neil Hetherington and Stu Walton are a poweful front row. Andy Broere captains the side from the second row alongside Dougie Wardle. Ian Storey and Stephen Portlock flank with player coach Paul Wilkinson at number 8.
Lee Keillor is at number 9 and Owen Robinson is at stand off after just unluckily missing out on 1st XV this week. John Pope is given a run at 12 with Ollie Barker given some freedom to play alongside him. Out wide Jordan Portlock and Alex Skuse have some pretty serious gas and Lewis White is at full back (He is pretty quick as well!)

On the bench(!)

Thomas Cramp, Steven Clark and Jamie Wilson... We are also hopeful of a showing from Dan Heslop and Paul Soakell.

Its amazing to have 2 sides and some proper selection headaches this week seeing a fair number of lads very unlucky not to be in the 1st team squad this week. Hopefully this can be a sign of things to come!

Good luck to both sides this Saturday!

#upthesedge