A week ago an extended 1st XV squad welcomed Consett to our home ground for the last of our pre-season fixtures. An exciting and free flowing game saw the visitors who currently sit a league above Novos come out narrow winners, besting us 29-26. A great learning experience for lots of new faces, some of which have impressed enough during pre-season to grab one of the 18 shirts available for our opener against Acklam. Redemption is up for grabs this week after the disappointment of just 6 days ago as we think we have fielded a strong 18 to face the unknown challenge of our opponents.

Seven players in the starting 15 are set to make league debuts when kick off comes around at 15:00 tomorrow. A proud day for Ant McQuillin and Fin Ruddock in the front row, Seb Shilling at second row, and Tom Westgarth and Rob Baldwin in the back row will round off the relatively new faces in the pack. Whilst Sam Cleife and Oliver Harris will be the only debutants in the backline.

Brandon Gilbert, Jeremy Hunt, Ben Jubb, Tom Taylor, Johnny McSorley, Max Cook and Sam Busby are some of the names missing in action this Saturday as a result of injury or other commitments but the brilliant depth and skill set throughout the whole Men's side of the club allows means we head into this fixture full of confidence and ability to face the challenge Acklam will throw at us.

Speaking of our opponents for Saturday, we are unsure of what to expect. New coaches and perhaps some new players in their set up means new ideas and new challenges to rise to, and whilst previous encounters have put us on top in recent seasons we are more sure than ever to not give them an inch as we know they can pose a real threat with ball in hand when they get momentum. So a real test for some of our new faces to see how they cope under that kind of pressure as well as if they can keep cool in important situations to execute what we hope to be a lot of tries tomorrow.

Unfortunately with the 2s league scheduled to take place later in the year there are certain players who have missed out on selection and game time this week despite performing excellently and consistently throughout the entirety of pre-season, but regardless will be coming along to warm up alongside the 18 selected to cover any potential drop outs and support the team despite very narrowly missing out on selection. Cam Harvey, Ben Stocken, Vinny Baker, Alex Cokeley, Solomon Mak, Eddie Mason, Mattew Russell and Greg Wills will all play a vital part in ensuring that the selected team warm up effectively.

The women are set to kick off proceedings at 12:30 against Blaydon whilst the minis and youth section will be hosting a touch tournament in the build up to kick off. The bar will be open for most of the day and delicious pizza will be served from 15:00 - 18:00 by the great 'Scream For Pizza'.

So something for the whole family to enjoy on what is set to be a great and sunny Saturday, we hope to see you there!

Men's 1st XV vs Acklam (H)
Meet 13:30 (Physio) 13:45 - Kick Off 15:00
Ben Rodgers, Fin Ruddock, Ant McQuillin, Jonathan Allton, Seb Shilling, George Bambrick, Tom Westgarth, Rob Baldwin, Rhys Merlane, Josh Farley, Sam Cleife, Michael Searle, Oliver Harris, Lewis Chater, Harry Tankard, David Medjigbodo Lawson, Darren Kelly, Sam Bird