As some of you will know, I have followed Rotherham Titans for more than 30 years and this Saturday is going to be a very proud day for me personally as the Titans return to the Championship at Clifton Lane, hosting Coventry.
It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for a very, very long time and I’m sure everyone connected with the club will be desperate to enjoy the occasion.
The Rugby Gods, however, haven’t exactly been kind to us with the fixture list!
After Coventry on Saturday, we travel to the Champions Worcester next week before returning home to face last seasons’ finalists, Bedford the week after that.
So I’ve got a feeling my workload is about to increase somewhat!
But that’s for another thread.
For now, I hope you find the following preview of Week 3 in National One of interest, and as always I wish all followers of our great game the very best of luck for the weekend.
WHERE WE ARE AFTER TWO WEEKS
Well…… this league!
After just two rounds, I’m already wondering whether I should have bothered doing a pre-season prediction at all!
The early pace-setters are Sale FC, Plymouth Albion and Tonbridge Juddians, all with 10 points from their opening two games.
Sale have been absolutely flying, scoring 116 points in their opening two matches.
Plymouth have also taken the maximum available points, with two bonus-point victories from their opening two away games.
And perhaps the biggest surprise of the three is Tonbridge Juddians, who have also won both of their matches and sit alongside Sale and Plymouth on 10 points.
Rosslyn Park responded brilliantly to their opening-day hammering by Plymouth with a huge win at Bishop’s Stortford.
Bury St Edmunds came from 26–17 down at half-time to beat Cambridge.
Moseley have already proved me wrong once by beating Cambridge, although Sale then brought them back down to earth with a 66–35 victory.
Camborne have shown that their promotion to National One is certainly not going to be a gentle introduction, winning at Leeds before losing to Plymouth.
And then we’ve got Rams, who have gone from losing 50–22 to Sale to drawing 24–24 with Dings.
It’s only two games, but already the league is beginning to separate into some very interesting groups.
So, let’s see what Week 3 has in store.
LEEDS TYKES v LONDON SCOTTISH
The Sycamores – 2:00pm
Leeds are still waiting for their first win, but their opening two results suggest that they are probably better than their two defeats indicate.
They opened with a narrow 38–36 defeat to Camborne, before losing 19–12 at Sheffield.
That’s two defeats, but also three league points, with Leeds picking up bonus points in both games.
The problem is that they haven’t yet managed to turn those close games into victories.
London Scottish, meanwhile, have had an eventful return to National One.
They opened with an impressive 53–27 win at Bury St Edmunds, before suffering a heartbreaking 39–38 home defeat to Tonbridge Juddians.
So Scottish have already scored 91 points in two games, which tells you plenty about their attacking threat.
But they’ve also conceded 66.
This could therefore be another entertaining afternoon.
Leeds will be desperate to get that first win, while Scottish will want to bounce back immediately after throwing away what looked like a winning position against TJs.
I can see this being close, but Scottish’s attacking form just gives them the edge for me.
Prediction: Leeds Tykes 27–32 London Scottish
London Scottish win.
BIRMINGHAM MOSELEY v DINGS CRUSADERS
Billesley Common – 3:00pm
Moseley have already caused me a bit of embarrassment!
After all our pre-season discussion about whether they were fortunate to retain their National One place, they went and beat Cambridge 38–33 on the opening day.
They then travelled to Sale and were beaten 66–35.
So six points from two games isn’t a bad return at all.
The Sale result showed there is still plenty of work to do defensively, but scoring 35 points against a side that has already scored 116 in two matches isn’t insignificant.
Dings have had a mixed start themselves.
They lost 52–42 at Bishop’s Stortford before drawing 24–24 with Rams last Saturday.
That leaves them with four points from their opening two matches and still searching for their first win.
However, I’m not writing Dings off.
We talked a lot before the season about their Bristol Bears connection and the pathway available to them, and I still think they have plenty of potential.
This feels like a really important game for both sides.
Moseley will want to respond after conceding 66, while Dings will see this as a very winnable fixture.
Home advantage may just swing it.
Prediction: Birmingham Moseley 34–27 Dings Crusaders
Moseley win.
BURY ST EDMUNDS v SALE FC
GK IPA Haberden – 3:00pm
Now this is a serious test for Bury.
The newly promoted side opened with a 53–27 home defeat to London Scottish, but showed excellent character last Saturday by coming from 26–17 down at half-time to beat Cambridge 38–31.
That second-half comeback was particularly impressive.
But Sale are currently playing some extraordinary rugby.
Rams 22–50 Sale
followed by
Sale 66–35 Moseley
That’s 116 points in two matches.
Sale have scored 16 tries across those games and already look like a team capable of putting huge pressure on opponents.
The only slight concern is that they’ve conceded 57 themselves.
So perhaps Bury won’t be frightened into simply trying to contain them.
They have already shown that they can score points and that they have the character to come back into matches.
But at the moment Sale are looking extremely difficult to stop.
We had Sale down for fourth in our pre-season prediction.
After two weeks, I’m beginning to think we may have been a little conservative!
Prediction: Bury St Edmunds 28–47 Sale FC
Sale win.
PLYMOUTH ALBION v SHEFFIELD
Brickfields – 3:00pm
This is Plymouth’s first home league game of the season, and I suspect there will be plenty of excitement around Brickfields.
They couldn’t have asked for a better start.
Rosslyn Park 17–61 Plymouth
followed by
Camborne 21–32 Plymouth
Two wins.
Two try bonuses.
10 points from 10.
And 93 points scored.
The Park result was an absolute statement, while the Camborne victory showed something slightly different.
They had to work much harder for that one, but still came away with the points.
There is, however, one interesting development to keep an eye on this weekend.
Iwan Jenkins was taken off during the victory at Camborne, and Scrummy Paul mentioned on his latest podcast that he was expected to be absent for a couple of weeks.
Obviously, until Plymouth confirm the situation themselves, we don’t know exactly how long Jenkins will be unavailable.
But it will certainly be interesting to see how his absence affects the dynamic of the team.
Jenkins has been such an important part of Plymouth’s attacking and kicking game, and they’ve started the season with maximum points from two matches.
How they adapt without him could therefore tell us quite a bit about the depth they have assembled.
Sheffield have also made a respectable start.
They lost 31–26 at Tonbridge Juddians before beating Leeds 19–12.
That gives them six points from their first two matches.
They’ve shown that they can compete at this level.
But this is a huge step up.
We started the season with Plymouth as our title favourites, and absolutely nothing they’ve done so far has changed my mind.
In fact, quite the opposite.
The Jenkins situation does make this a slightly more interesting test, though.
Prediction: Plymouth Albion 42–19 Sheffield
Plymouth win.
RAMS v BISHOP’S STORTFORD
Old Bath Road – 3:00pm
This is another really interesting game.
Rams were one of my pre-season title contenders, and yet they’re still looking for their first win.
They were beaten 50–22 by Sale in Round 1 before drawing 24–24 at Dings last Saturday.
Four points from two games isn’t what Rams would have wanted, but I’m not suddenly writing them off.
That opening defeat was against a Sale side that has subsequently put 66 past Moseley, while the Dings game was one Rams could easily have won.
They’ve also scored try bonus points in both matches.
Bishop’s Stortford have six points from their opening two games, but their results tell an interesting story.
They beat Dings 52–42 before being thrashed 61–30 by Rosslyn Park.
So they’ve scored 82 points but conceded 103.
Their attacking threat is obvious.
Their defence is rather harder to work out!
The biggest question here is how Stortford respond after being 42–6 down at half-time against Park.
Rams will be desperate for their first victory and have home advantage.
I think that could be decisive.
Prediction: Rams 35–29 Bishop’s Stortford
Rams win.
ROSSLYN PARK v CAMBORNE
Priory Lane – 3:00pm
Rosslyn Park produced one of the biggest turnarounds of the season so far last Saturday.
After being beaten 61–17 at home by Plymouth, they travelled to Bishop’s Stortford and came away with a remarkable 61–30 victory.
They led 42–6 at half-time.
That’s some response.
We had Park second in our pre-season prediction, and although that Plymouth result gave us plenty to think about, the Stortford performance was much more like the team we expected to see.
Now they have another test.
Camborne have already shown that they can compete in National One.
They went to Leeds on the opening weekend and won 38–36, before losing 32–21 at Plymouth.
They were 25–0 down at one stage against Plymouth but fought back strongly.
So there is no question that Camborne have the ability to cause problems.
This is an interesting one because both sides have already scored heavily.
Park have scored 78.
Camborne have scored 59.
I expect another entertaining match.
But after the way Park responded last weekend, I’m backing them to continue that momentum.
Prediction: Rosslyn Park 42–27 Camborne
Rosslyn Park win.
And no, I’m not predicting another 61-point demolition!
TONBRIDGE JUDDIANS v CAMBRIDGE
The Slade – 3:00pm
And finally, we come to a game that could tell us quite a lot about two of our pre-season predictions.
Tonbridge Juddians have started brilliantly.
They beat Sheffield 31–26 on the opening weekend before producing one of the results of Round 2 by beating London Scottish 39–38 away from home.
That’s 10 points from two games and two wins.
Alongside Plymouth Albion and Sale FC, that puts TJs among the three early pace-setters in National One.
That’s probably not where many of us had them after the pre-season predictions!
Cambridge, meanwhile, are still looking for their first victory.
They lost 38–33 at Moseley before suffering a 38–31 home defeat to Bury.
But I don’t think Cambridge have been as poor as those results might suggest.
They led Bury 26–17 at half-time before losing the second half 21–5.
So once again, the issue has been turning promising positions into results.
Before the season we had Cambridge eighth and TJs twelfth.
After two rounds, TJs are unbeaten and Cambridge have two defeats.
It’s obviously far too early to rewrite our predictions, but TJs have certainly given us plenty to think about.
This is a really important game for Cambridge.
TJs, meanwhile, will be full of confidence.
I think Cambridge will make them work for it, but I’m going with the home side.
Prediction: Tonbridge Juddians 34–27 Cambridge
Tonbridge Juddians win.
MY WEEK 3 PREDICTIONS
Leeds Tykes 27–32 London Scottish
Birmingham Moseley 34–27 Dings Crusaders
Bury St Edmunds 28–47 Sale FC
Plymouth Albion 42–19 Sheffield
Rams 35–29 Bishop’s Stortford
Rosslyn Park 42–27 Camborne
Tonbridge Juddians 34–27 Cambridge
So there we have it.
Seven more matches and, if the first two rounds are anything to go by, probably seven more opportunities for this league to make me look like I don’t know what I’m talking about!
At the top of the table we already have Sale FC, Plymouth Albion and Tonbridge Juddians all sitting on 10 points, and I don’t think many of us would have predicted exactly that after two rounds.
Plymouth remain the team I’ve got at the top of my pre-season prediction, but the Jenkins situation will be one to watch closely.
Sale have been absolutely rampant.
And TJs have been the early surprise package.
Behind them, there is still plenty to play for, with Rosslyn Park, London Scottish, Sheffield, Bury, Stortford and Moseley all showing that they can compete.
And that’s what makes National One so enjoyable.
Good luck to every club, player, coach and supporter involved this weekend.
Enjoy your rugby, stay safe, and here’s hoping for another cracking Saturday.