That win in Richmond was only Albion’s second win on their travels in 2009, at the 13^th attempt – the first had come at Sedgley Park in March.  They also won their next away fixture, 19-16 at Bedford - courtesy of a 78^th minute try from winger/ centre Ben Mercer, brother of Guy – but have subsequently lost at Pirates, Nottingham and Bristol.  The plus-side of such a run of tough away games should theoretically be a comfortable set of home fixtures, but Plymouth don’t like to do things by the book.  Having beaten Rotherham 20-25 at Brickfields at the start of December, they followed-up their win at Goldington Road by inflicting a first defeat of the season upon local rivals Exeter, before losing 20-10 at home to Moseley at the turn of the year.

At the moment, it appears that Plymouth and Moseley are in pole position to claim the last two promotion play-off places.  While only the top three are currently mathematically assured of avoiding the relegation battle, it’s fair to say that Bedford, Pirates and Nottingham should have enough of a buffer to avoid being caught by the chasing pack – although this assumes that the Green & Whites gain more points than they lose in their games in hand at home to Bees and Coventry and away at Rotherham.  The Titans and their local neighbours, Doncaster, both have a chance of catching Albion and Moseley if they can win their games in hand, but at the bottom end of the table it’s always safer to have the points already in the bag, and the Yorkshire sides are both averaging less than two points-per-game so far.  Yet Albion’s final two games will be against two of the sides currently in the bottom four – a visit to the resurgent Bees in two weeks, followed by a potential winner-takes-all showdown at Doncaster in mid-March.

Like the vast majority of our opponents in recent months, Plymouth go into Saturday’s fixture on the back of a four-try defeat to Bristol.  However, the bonus point wasn’t claimed until four minutes from time, when former Exeter centre Junior Fatialofa touched-down with Albion looking to add another losing bonus point to the one they’d gained at Nottingham (20-19) seven days previously.  They’ve collected only two bonus points from 11 defeats – the other was at Exeter in September – yet have beaten five of the top six, also scoring four tries against Nottingham and in the opening-day win at home to Bees.

Albion’s top try-scorer is the aforementioned Ben Mercer, with seven in 18 games - although in the interests of fairness it should be pointed out that younger brother Guy has scored three in five games for Welsh!  Former Bedford and Ulster fly-half Kieran Hallett is the leading scorer with 100, although his strike rate is only just over 50%, whereas his understudy, Alex Davies, has scored 56 points at a rate of 65%.  Aled Thomas, with 160 points, is currently fourth overall, just 11 points behind the division’s leading scorer, Moseley’s Tristan Roberts, with his strike rate currently steady around 63%.

Two of Plymouth’s backs – long-serving Tongan centre, Keni Fisilau, and former Newbury winger Liam Gibson – have started all 19 league games so far, while Mercer and prop Ryan Hopkins have started 18 each, with Hopkins also coming off the bench against Doncaster.  For Welsh, last week’s Man of the Match, Matt Corker, has started all but one of our 19 games, and Aled Thomas and Errie Claassens have both started 17 times.  One new name on Albion’s teamsheet in recent weeks has been Dan Collier, the former Exiles lock getting a combined total of nearly 10 minutes (!) off the bench in four outings last month following spells with Barking (07-08), Manchester (08-09) and earlier this season with Bridgwater & Albion in National Two South.

It’s difficult to know what to expect from the Welsh this weekend.  The supporters, undoubtedly, have revenge on their minds, and you suspect that the players and coaches will want to put November’s defeat well and truly to bed.  But with a play-off place secured, should we be resting key players to ensure their fitness for greater battles ahead?  Or, given that we know that we’re both safe from relegation and unable to gain promotion due to off-field matters, should we just go out and ‘give it a lash’?  And as for Albion - have they detected a soft Welsh underbelly which can be exploited again to give themselves an extra push towards the safety of the top eight?  To some it may only be the curtain-raiser before the main act is played out at Twickenham later in the day, but it certainly won’t be merely village hall amateur-dramatics, either.

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon