Cornish Pirates

POOL A

Bristol v Bedford Blues

Bedford Blues head into the penultimate game of the Championship play-offs with a tough trip down to Bristol who will still be smarting from their one point defeat at Goldington Road last month.

Bedford and Bristol top the Pool A table having both won three and lost one and a win would put one foot firmly into the semi-finals for the victorious side

The Blues preparations have been somewhat disrupted this week with Canadian International James Pritchard suffering from a hand injury during the thrilling encounter between Bedford and Cornish Pirates last Saturday. The fullback came off in the first half shortly after scoring a try in the 42-18 win. Tackling machine Ian Vass will also miss out the Bristol encounter after suffering a hamstring injury during the same game.

Whereas Bristol will want to avenge the 17-16 defeat that they suffered against the Blues in March, Bedford will have their own demon to face after slumping to a 37-16 defeat at the Memorial Ground back in December. On that cold night the Blues led 16-10 at half time but a second half Bristol blitz saw the former Premiership side do the double over Bedford in the regular season

Looking ahead to the game Blues director of rugby Mike Rayer said: "I think that everyone knows how difficult Sunday's game is going to be. Bristol will probably still be reeling from the defeat at Goldington Road and they will want to put that right in front of their own fans.

"That said, we've been playing some really good rugby in these play-offs and the lads have been giving their all for the cause and I don't expect anything less this weekend.

"A lot of effort went into the double-header against the Cornish Pirates and now we have to continue that hard work into the final two games of the play-offs

"The boys have been fantastic in training and although we've had to change things around in the backs, the forwards are the same as last weekend and I'm sure the whole 22 man squad will be going that extra mile come 3pm.

Bedford are forced into two changes with Brad Davies and Ollie Dodge coming into the starting line-up for the injured James Pritchard and Ian Vass. Davies goes in at fly half with Myles Dorrian, who racked up 23 points against the Pirates, moving to 12 in place of Vass. Ollie Dodge, who replaced Pritchard on Saturday, starts on the wing with Luke Fielden reverting to fullback. Liam Roberts and Ian Davey come into the squad on the replacements bench.

Bedford team:-
15. Luke Fielden
14. Ollie Dodge
13. Brendan Burke
12. Myles Dorrian
11. Duncan Taylor
10. Brad Davies
9. Will Chudley
1. Sam Walsh
2. Dan Richmond (c)
3. Dan Seal
4. Mike Howard
5. Paul Tupai
6. Gregor Gillanders
7. Sacha Harding
8. Chris Goodman

Replacements: 16. Chris Locke, 17. Phil Boulton, 18. John Harlock, 19. Ben Lewitt, 20. Nick Walshe, 21. Liam Roberts 22. Ian Davey.

In their final home fixture of the play-off group stages, Bristol Rugby have announced an unchanged side as they welcome Bedford Blues to the Memorial Stadium.

After a five-try bonus point victory over Plymouth, Bristol have opted for consistency on Sunday, selecting the same starting XV and bench including last weekend's try scorers Lee Robinson, James Phillips and Junior Fatialofa.

Sunday's penultimate play-off Pool fixture promises to be a brutal encounter, with both sides vying for the top spot in their group. The Blues are the only side to have recorded a victory over Bristol in the play-off stages so far, narrowly taking the 17-16 win at Goldington Road.

Bristol Rugby
Luke Arscott; Lee Robinson, Luke Eves, Junior Fatialofa, Tom Arscott, Adrian Jarvis, Jason Spice ©; Darren Crompton, Ross Johnston, Wayne Thompson, Nathan Budgett, Roy Winters, Iain Grieve, Redford Pennycook, James Phillips

Ollie Hayes, Mark Irish, Mariano Sambucetti, Dan Montagu, Robbie Shaw, Sam Giddens, Matt Turner

POOL B

Nottingham v Doncaster Knights

Nottingham face their biggest game of the season so far when Doncaster Knights visit Meadow Lane on Sunday.

Following defeat at the hands of London Welsh last weekend only a win will do for Glenn Delaney's men in this crucial match that should decide the semi-final spots.

Doncaster may sit at the bottom of Pool B but they will provide a tough challenge for the Green & Whites this weekend.

Glenn Delaney said: "Doncaster are a very physical side and they will be hard to beat on Sunday but we are up for the challenge. They beat us at Castle Park last month and will want to do the same thing again this weekend. But this is a must-win game for us.

"Last weekend was frustrating for us, especially off the back of such a good performance down at London Welsh, and we made a lot of unforced errors.

"We've been through the video nasty and have put that behind us now. Training has been good this week so hopefully we can come out on Sunday and get that all-important win.

"We don't want to be in a position where we have to go down to Exeter and pull off a win to be in with a chance of reaching the semi-finals.

The Knights also come off the back of a disappointing weekend after suffering a 51-15 drubbing at the hands of pool leaders Exeter Chiefs

That match saw Adam Kettle receive his second red card of the season - the first received against Nottingham in their league game at Castle Park - for alleged foul play on Exeter fly half Danny Gray.

The back row man is likely to play a part in Sunday's fixture as it does not appear any action has been taken following his card last weekend.

Delaney said: "We know they will be hurting after last weekend - but so are we - and both sides will be wanting to put in a big performance

"Hopefully we will get a decent crowd down at the Fortress at Meadow Lane and we can make sure we put ourselves in the best position we can."

Nottingham:
Parr, Youngs, French, Rouse, Green, Hammond, Sherriff, Slater; White, Tonks, Streather, Johnston, Casson, Savage, Jackson
Bench:
Cook, Sammons, Buxton, Raven, Eggleshaw, Marshall, Cobden

The Doncaster Star reports, “Doncaster Knights will be boosted by the return of influential skipper Glen Kenworthy in tomorrow's must-win Championship promotion play-off Pool B encounter at Meadow Lane.

Knights beat Nottingham, currently occupying second spot, 25-15 at Castle Park late last month. "We need to beat them again in the return, and it would also be helpful were we to pick up a bonus point," said Knights team boss Lynn Howells.

Knights lost both league games against the green and whites, but Howells is hopeful that his charges can overturn a 27-21 defeat at Meadow Lane in late January, in what was the club's first game for six weeks.

Knights' hopes of finishing in the top two looked to be all but ended last Saturday night following their 51-15 defeat at Exeter, but London Welsh's win over Nottingham the following day threw the pool wide open.

"Last week was a blip because we've defended well all season," said Howells. "Even so, we've worked on our defence in training."

POOL C

Birmingham & Solihull v Coventry

Birmingham & Solihull face Coventry at Sharmans Cross Road in their fifth and penultimate Championship Relegation Playoff fixture.

Having suffered defeat at the hands of Pool C leaders Rotherham last weekend, the Bees will be keen to get back to winning ways and secure the points that should ensure Championship survival.

A strong second half performance last week against Rotherham wasn't enough to secure any losing bonus points, which makes this weekend's clash with Coventry all the more important.

Coventry sit just behind the Bees in the Pool C table having won one of their first three fixtures (a low scoring win over Moseley two weeks ago). The Bees will be looking to draw inspiration from the performance they put in at the Butts Arena three weeks ago, beating a resolute Coventry side 18-22.

Bees Director of Rugby Russell Earnshaw is expecting Coventry to be pumped up the clash at Sharmans Cross Road, "They will have been buoyed by a very hard fought victory against Moseley at the BPA a fortnight ago, so we will have to be on our game and ensure we keep our discipline to take the points we need".

"We have home advantage and a strong squad to choose from so I have every confidence that we can put in the performance that is required to keep us in the Championship," he continued.

The Bees team to face Coventry is:-
1 Matt Long (c), 2 Stuart Philpott, 3 Leo Halavatau, 4 Alex Davidson, 5 Ross Noonan, 6 Rob Connolly, 7 Russell Earnshaw, 8 Adam Clayton, 9 Sam Brown, 10 Ben Patston, 11 Anthony Elliott,12 Ronnie McLean, 13 Cameron Mitchell, 14 Simon Hunt and 15 Tom Foden

On the Bench are:- 16 Mauro Sperandio, 17, Jack Preece, 18 Matt Cox, 19 Simon Pitfield, 20 Ryan Tomlinson, 21 Rod Petty and 22 Ed Binham.

Phil Maynard will finalise his Coventry side later today but the Coventry Telegraph reports, “The RFU have asked Coventry for more information about the registration of Joe Merrigan following a complaint by Sunday’s opponents Birmingham & Solihull.

Bees have alleged that Cov should not have received special dispensation from the Union to re-sign the hooker more than two months after the transfer deadline had passed.

Coventry were concerned about an injury to incumbent Ross McMillan and with Matt Dwyer due to go away with the Army feared they would be left without specialist front row cover for the Moseley match.

But Bees claim Dwyer could still have played and that Aaron Carpenter or Dai Maddocks could have filled in and have made this point to the RFU who have requested clarification from the Butts Park outfit.”

Full story www.coventrytelegraph.net

The views expressed by High Tackle are his own.