Just to whet your appetites and fill you in on the five
'other' fixtures - the official JRFC preview will be up late
Thursday or early Friday...
Doncaster will be hoping to replicate last season's form against
Bedford, when the Blues travel to Castle Park on Friday evening.
The Knights won the corresponding fixture 33-12 and held their
opponents to an 18-all draw at Goldington Road. Brett Davey's men
will be going all out for a win after slipping to the foot of the
table following their 38-20 loss away to local rivals Rotherham in
Round 8.
Plymouth take on London Scottish at Brickfields. The losing side
achieved a bonus point in each of last season's fixtures between
Albion and the Exiles, with the Devon outfit recording a 29-25 win
in front of their own supporters.
For the second week running Newcastle face their nearest
challengers in the league, as they welcome in-form Nottingham to
Kingston Park in the third Friday night fixture. Having beaten
Bedford, 29-20 at Goldington Road, they will be looking to keep the
second-placed Green & Whites at arm's length. However
Nottingham are looking as sharp as any outfit, their 63-7 thrashing
of Bristol making it three bonus-point wins on the bounce at Meadow
Lane.
Like many sides in the Championship, this will be Nottingham's
first league meeting with Newcastle since the 1996/97 season - the
year that the Falcons won promotion to the Premiership and
Nottingham were relegated to level 3. Sixteen years ago a
second-half hat-trick from replacement scrum-half, Steve Bates,
helped the north-east side to a 53-17 win at Kingston Park. Fellow
scrum-half Gary Armstrong went one better in Nottingham's home
game, running in four tries in a 74-29 win at Beeston.
With no Championship games scheduled for Saturday, the remaining
three fixtures fall on the Sabbath. Leeds Carnegie are 'on the
road' again, as they entertain Moseley at Wharfedale RUFC. Last
season Leeds beat Moseley by the narrowest of margins, winning
22-21 thanks to the boot of former full-back Tommy Bell. George
Ford proved to be Moseley's nemesis at Billesley Common, capping
the briefest of loan spells at the Yorkshire club with a virtuoso
display in a 42-32 win for Leeds.
Rotherham handed caretaker Head Coach, Lee Blackett, a winning
start to his temporary spell in charge of the side with victory
over Doncaster. Backing it up at Cornish Pirates will be tough,
especially as the Titans have only won only two of the last 10
fixtures between the sides, and both of those were at home. However
the Pirates have been slow to find their stride this season,
Saturday's draw at Moseley - incredibly the third year in a row
that the fixture has ended all-square - means they have won only
once in their last six games.
Sunday's remaining game sees Bristol at home to a Jersey side
buoyed by their second league win of the season. The Islanders beat
Plymouth 16-14 to move off the bottom of the table for the first
time since Round 2.
