It is a quieter than usual midweek in the school rugby world this week however there are still a few exciting looking fixtures.
Tuesday sees Haileybury host Tring, Haileybury took a bit of a beating from St Albans at the weekend but with the brand of rugby that they are trying to play they have the capability to do real damage if it all can click.
They will hope that tomorrow it can as when it does it can produce excellent results, such as their 38-22 victory over Bishop’s Stortford College last week.
Also on Tuesday is Trent v Oakham. Oakham lost to Bedford at the weekend, making it two in a row after losing to Warwick the week before, Trent by contrast have had a pretty good start to the season.
Do not let the stats fool you though, Oakham have been playing pretty well as their 20-0 defeat of Bromsgrove shows, and despite three losses to their name they have looked good. Trent are also yet to play any of their really big rivals yet so this will be their first big test of the season, it should make interesting viewing.
On Wednesday all eyes divert to the North and in particular to King’s Macclesfield where they host Sedbergh in what ought to be a superb battle between two of the strongest sides in the region, if not the country.
Both were unbeaten up until the weekend but King’s lost that record to a last minute Woodhouse Grove drop goal, losing 16-14. If they wanted a tough game to prepare for Wednesday’s fixture against Sedbergh though they could hardly have asked for a better one, Woodhouse too were unbeaten.
Sedbergh are in fine form themselves though. In three games they have scored 139 points and conceded just 31, a quite stunning run of form and because of it they will rightly go in as favourites.
Woodhouse Grove are also in action after their late heroics against Macclesfield, they play Crossley Heath in the NatWest Cup, a fixture that they will be expecting to win.
A side that knows a thing or two about Cup competitions are last year’s Vase winners Yarm. They play Silcoates away on Wednesday and will be desperate for a return to winning ways.
Ampleforth will be looking to build on their dominant victory over Sedbergh’s 2nd XV at the weekend when they play Austin Friars on Wednesday. Their season has not been one of their best so far but they have been highly competitive in each and a 41-0 victory is always an enormous confidence booster, against a 2nd XV or not.
Selected Midweek Predictions (Predictions in bold):
Tuesday
Haileybury v Tring
Trent v Oakham
Wednesday
Ampleforth v Austin Friars
King’s Macclesfield v Sedbergh
Silcoates v Yarm
Woodhouse Grove v Crossley Heath (NatWest Cup)
