Nottingham v Rotherham Titans

Second-placed Nottingham will start favourites at Meadow Lane tonight to extend their winning streak to five games against the Titans.

Unbeaten since losing at home in their opening fixture against the Cornish Pirates, Nottingham come into the clash on the back of a hard-fought win at Doncaster Knights. The Titans may have taken maximum points at the beleaguered Bees last time out but did little to inspire.

The Friday night fixture has been forced on Nottingham by their landlords, Notts County FC, who have switched a league match to Sunday to accommodate Sky TV. It is the first time in two years that Nottingham will play at home on a Friday evening.

The Green and Whites have named their side giving a debut from the bench for hooker Greg Sammons, signed this week as cover for the injured Scott Freer. Sammons spent last season at Bedford Blues and is a product of the Leicester Tigers Academy.

Nottingham team info….www.nottinghamrugby.co.uk

The Titans will give a debut at last to wing Peter Swatkins who joined them from Sedgley Park in the summer. Swatkins, who scored 16 tries in National One last season, has been sidelined with an ankle problem.

New prop Craig Voisey, signed last week from Birmingham & Solihull, will be a travelling reserve.

Titans team… www.thestar.co.uk/rugbyunion

Bedford Blues v Birmingham & Solihull

After suffering successive defeats at the hands of Bristol and London Welsh the Blues will be keen to return to winning ways against a Bees side still fighting for their Championship lives.

The Blues were branded “complacent” by their director of rugby Mike Rayer after going down at Old Deer Park last Saturday, but should have little trouble in overcoming the winless Bees.

The Birmingham club were this week granted a reprieve by the Inland Revenue to whom they owe £93,000 and now have until October 28 th to pay up. Head Coach Russell Earnshaw is also hoping to include Rob Connolly, Stuart Ault and Toby Freeman in his squad of unpaid players for the trip down the M1.

However former Cornish Pirates prop Dan Seal could be about to end his short stay at Sharmans Cross Road with Bedford Blues reportedly offering him a contract this week.

Full story.. www.birminghampost.net

Bedford Blues are yet to name their side.

Doncaster Knights v Coventry

Two coaches under pressure face each other tomorrow at Castle Park in arguably the feistiest match of the weekend on and off the field.

Lyn Howells` Doncaster Knights with five straight defeats to their name face a Coventry side without a win since the opening day of the season when they edged past Rotherham Titans. Couple with the poor disciplinary records of both sides there is much at stake in Yorkshire.

The Knights had two players red-carded late in the game against Nottingham last week and with only 18 players fit to train this week as their injury epidemic shows no signs of abating, the pressure is firmly on Howells and his staff.

He told the Doncaster Free Press,

"It's a must-win game this weekend against Coventry for one reason - we need a win for confidence. It's not a must-win in terms of the outcome of the season. But the lads need a win to get things moving and put a smile back on their faces."

Full story.. www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk

Coventry director of rugby Phil Maynard described last Friday’s home defeat to Moseley when his side conceded three penalty tries as, “the most painful defeat I have ever had in rugby.”

Ugly scenes marred the climax to the match at the Butts Park Arena as Maynard vented his fury on his team’s late defeat firmly at Referee Luke Pearce. This week he claimed in the Coventry Evening Telegraph,

“To put the last two games in context, we lost three players immediately before the Cornish Pirates game and then had three penalty tries awarded against us which the referees’ body now says was wrong. You can’t legislate for things like that.”

Full story.. www.coventrytelegraph.net

Maynard will delay naming his side until half-backs Nathan Jones and Fangatapu Apikotoa have had late fitness tests. However he does expect to welcome back the influential Arthur Brenton to the second row. The former Plymouth Albion and Bedford Blues lock has been sidelined with a neck injury.

Full story.. www.coventrytelegraph.net

Meanwhile Referee Pearce has been sent to Siberia following an ugly night in Coventry. He will take charge of the Russian Cup Finals.

Full story.. www.dailymail.co.uk/sport

Exeter Chiefs v London Welsh

Victory at Sandy Park tomorrow against the Welsh will give Exeter Chiefs a six match winning streak equalling their best ever start to a league campaign.

After their impressive win at Bristol last Sunday few would bet against that happening but the Welsh have begun to show some signs of form recently culminating in an impressive 28-17 triumph over Bedford last time out.

The Chiefs have included lock Chris Bentley in their squad for tomorrow whilst flanker Andy Miller is also on his way back from injury although not figuring against the Welsh.

Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter told the Express & Echo, “ In the last few weeks we've asked a heck of a lot of our front row. Ruaidhri (Murphy), Brett (Sturgess) and Hoani (Tui) have been involved in every single game and they have done an exceptional job for us.

"Ben Moon is not far off being involved again but Shane Kingsland is another few weeks off.

Budge has slotted straight back in but we've got to give him time to hit a few scrums, make a few tackles and carry the ball into contact to get a bit of body hardness. Budge is a bit like a rubber ball, it takes a bit to knock him over and injure him, so it won't take him long to be rugby fit again."

Full story and squad..www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk

London Welsh head coach Danny Wilson has called on his team to keep up their work-rate as they prepare to travel to Devon.

He told the Richmond & Twickenham Times,

“Saturday’s win was a big step in the right direction for us but there is still a long way to go. If we thought Bedford was a tough game this weekend will be even tougher.”

“It is a long road that we are on and sides like Exeter, on and off the pitch, are the markers for us in this league. We will go there confident but they deserve massive respect, and we will have to raise our game again.”

Full story.. www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/sport/rugby

Moseley v Plymouth Albion

A fast improving Moseley side are next on the radar for Graham Dawe`s troops as they bid to build on the successes of their last two outings.

A vastly improved display at Exeter two weeks ago was toped by victory over the Cornish Pirates and Dawe told the Western Morning News,

“ We enjoyed the game last week and looked at the DVD and we haven't picked up any knocks. From what we can see, a lot of individuals want another chance to keep impressing.”

"It's always hard to keep the same side, you want to try and improve the team every week. But this week we can make improvements while keeping the same team as the guys get more confidence. Continuity is an important ingredient that you shouldn't overlook."

Albion expect to field the same twenty-two man squad as last week and Dawe cheekily commented of the likelihood of facing his former charge Justin Mensah-Coker, “Let`s hope he`d like to gift us something.”

Full story.. www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk

Moseley lock Ali Muldowney, who almost moved to Brickfields in the summer, told the Birmingham Post that their early season thrashing at the hands of the Cornish Pirates was something of a watershed for the club.

He said,

“We are not where we were at the end of last season yet. But every week since the Cornish Pirates game we have made vast improvements. We are still leaking soft tries, though. There were two more on Friday night (against Coventry).”

Moseley duo Tristan Roberts and Andy Borgen are back in the frame for selection after recovering from injury although the back three trio of Ryan Wilson, James Rodwell and Mark Evans remain absent.

Full story.. www.birminghampost.net

Cornish Pirates v Bristol

The match preview for this game which will be screened live on Pirates TV can be found here... Cornish Pirates v Bristol

Bristol head coach Paul Hull has reflected on a difficult week for the club following their home defeat against Exeter and has warned his players to cut out the errors if they want promotion back to the Premiership.

He told the Evening Post, “The mood was a bit sombre, as you can imagine. We're very disappointed with the way we performed more than anything – and that obviously contributed to the loss.”

"We didn't look after the ball in certain areas of the field and Exeter capitalised on our errors. They scored three out of the four tries from turnover ball, and it's tough to win games when you give a team like Exeter 13 points at the start and a 17-point half-time lead.

"It's a bit disappointing, and when we looked back at the game we saw areas we will definitely have to work on and deal with.

"But we've worked on those things this week and it's just a matter now of trying to translate that into a performance which is lower on errors at the weekend. That's our aim over the next three to four matches."

Full story.. www.thisisbristol.co.uk/bristolrugby

In his column for the same newspaper Mark Regan said, “Quite rightly there have been some harsh words said this week – and Bristol are going to have to be a lot better at Cornish Pirates this weekend. That is another tough game – there really is no respite in this division .”

He continued, “But Bristol really need to get back on the bike this weekend. They need to go down to Cornish Pirates and get five points in the bag – that must be the aim.”

“Because there cannot be any further slip-ups. Bristol need to show a ruthless edge against sides like Cornish Pirates – they need to send a message to the rest of the Championship.”

Full story.. www.thisisbristol.co.uk/bristolrugby