A long trip ahead for out 1st & 2nd teams as they head North to Alnwick RUFC, 4th team Host Goole 3rds, on Sunday the ladies face Manchester Ladies at Kelleythorpe.
Another big weekend for the 1st team. A tough trip to Alnwick who are un-beaten at home so far this season. It has been a while since we have played each other, last time was back in 2017/18 season. We won at Kelleythorpe 10-9, whilst losing at Alnwick 28-8. The season before that 2016/17, we won at Alnwick 29-32, then lost at home 19-27. We have won twice when travelling to Alnwick.
Alnwick are in 4th place in the league, 1 point behind us. they have the same record P8, W6, L2 as us, but have 1 less Bonus point. Thier loses came at Sandal 27-15 & at Paviors 35-32. They beat Billingham 23-20 at Alnwick back in week 3, last weekend they won 23-3 at Scunthorpe.
No doubt this will be one of our hardest fixtures of the season, having said that there at not many that you would class as easy. I’m sure the squad are up for the challenge ahead.
Driffield played very well last time out defeating Doncaster Phoenix 27-15. We kept the scoreboard ticking over through Watts 5 penalty kicks and then capitalized when we had chance to score the 2 trys that won the game. As with previous weeks Phoenix looked a big strong squad and had chances to keep the game close, but Driffield managed to keep them at arm’s length and didn’t really look like losing.
In the squad, Falkingham returns from Injury to start at 6, alongside Jenkinson & Brankley, Turner picked up an injury against Phoenix. Rotation in the front row sees Thundercliffe & Mckinnon starting with Pettinger on the bench. Gleeson & Grant make up the second row. In the backs Watts starts at 10, Robinson at 9, Dinsdale & Sowersby in the centers with Stephenson, Short & Blacker bringing the speed. Murray Ry & Hughes ake up the bench.
Driffield RUFC 1st XV v Alnwick RUFC 1st XV, 2.15 KO
1 Mckinnon, 2 Ramsden, 3 Thundercliffe
4 Gleeson, 5 Grant
6 Falkingham, 7 Jenkinson (c), 8 Brankley
9 Robinson, 10 Watts
12 Sowersby, 13 Dinsdale
11 Short, 14 Stephenson, 15 Blacker
16 Murray Ry, 17 Pettinger, 18 Hughes.
2nd team travel with the firsts to Alnwick, 2nds had a good win last weekend against Phoenix 2nds and will be looking to carry on thier great form at Alnwick. Club captain Rob Mewburn is hopefully making his playing return following shoulder surgery in the off season.
4th team are at Kelleythorpe against Goole 3rds, KO 2.15 if you fancy watching some local rugby.
The ladies will be hoping for their 1st win of the league season when they welcome Manchester Ladies to Kelleythorpe on Sunday, the ladies are in a very tough league, with their closest opponents on Sheffield, most of the remainder of the league are Manchester & Liverpool based. Having had a heavy defeat at Sale a couple of weeks ago, the had a narrow defeat at Birkenhead 2 weeks ago, so hopefully this will be the first win. KO at 2pm, support very much welcome.
Good Luck to all in Blue, Black & White.