In their first action in the Greene King IPA Championship for four weeks, Jersey Reds will be looking to build on recent impressive performances in the British & Irish Cup.
Maximum points from games against Cardiff Blues Select and Ulster 'A' helped the Reds top their B&I pool and earned a home quarter-final against Cornish Pirates. Now they revert to their league campaign with Sunday's game against Nottingham, which kicks off at 3pm at Lady Bay.
There are three changes to the Reds' starting XV from the line-up who began last weekend's B&I tie at St Peter, which the home side won 26-21 - one in each row of the scrum.
Joe Buckle is preferred at hooker, with Jack Macfarlane moving to the bench; Dave McKern comes in at second row alongside skipper Pierce Phillips, with Uili Kolo'ofa'i on the bench; and at flanker, Gary Graham will start in place of James Doyle.
Jersey's unchanged back-line means another opportunity for fly-half Callum Sheedy, who joined the Reds on a dual-registration deal with Bristol earlier this month.
The two sides currently lie seventh and eighth in the Championship table, with 27 points each and the Green-and-Whites just ahead by virtue of five wins to the Reds' four. The clubs were also evenly-matched last season, Jersey finishing just one point (57) and one place (sixth) above their rivals in the final table. Each side won the away encounter, both of which were closely-fought Friday night affairs: Nottingham by 27-29 at St Peter in October, and the Reds by 15-22 at Lady Bay in March.
The results in last season's matches reflected a general trend in this fixture since Jersey reached the Championship in 2012, with the away side winning six of the nine games, including the most recent encounter at St Peter in September, when Tom Heard's late try and Lawrence Rayner's last-kick conversion sealing a 21-22 win for Nottingham.
Jersey Reds squad v Nottingham (A) - Greene King IPA Championship, Sunday January 29th, Lady Bay; k-o 3pm
Backs (15-9)
Jack Cuthbert
George Watkins
Jordan Davies
Kuki Ma'afu
Ross Adair
Callum Sheedy
Kieran Hardy
Forwards (1-8)
Sean McCarthy
Joe Buckle
Simon Kerrod
Pierce Phillips (capt)
Dave McKern
James Freeman
Gary Graham
Nick Haining
Replacements
Jack Macfarlane, Jake Woolmore, Jake Armstrong, Uili Kolo'ofa'i, Max Argyle; Joel Dudley, Sam Katz.
