London Welsh v Pertemps Bees

18/09/2004 3PM

Old Deer Park, Richmond

Possible Bees Position London Welsh Matt Long 1 Listed below Matt Miles 2 Jim Thorp 3 Dan Zaltzman 4 Rob Walton 5 Hese Fakatou 6 Gavin Pfister 7 Jim Jenner 8 Paul Knight 9 Tim Walsh 10 Aaron Takarangi 11 Mike Davies 12 Shaun Woof 13 Nick Baxter 14 Dave Knight 15 Martin O'Keefe 16 Rob Merritt 17 Rob Hurrell 18 Nathan Carter 19 Tom Richardson 20 Scott Williams 21 Simon Martin 22

Dan Zaltzman (neck), Gavin Pfister (ankle), and Dave Knight (knee) have all failed fitness tests ahead of the National League One match at London Welsh. Expected to deputise are Rob Hurrell, Nathan Carter and Simon Martin.

Bees will hope that Dan Zaltzman will be fit after his injury scare on Saturday at home to Pirates. He was discharged from hospital on Sunday and revealed that he should be fit to play.

Fellow new boy Gavin Pfister will also face a late fitness test to see him fit for the game. He went over on his ankle in the dying minutes of Saturday’s game and if not fit, a welcome return for Bees favourite Nathan Carter will ensue.

Simon Martin failed his fitness test last week, opening the door for former England Counties star Dave Knight who will look to hold onto his position, and influential captain Ed Orgee will be out with his knee injury meaning Knight’s brother, Paul will captain the side.

The Exiles have made a poor start to this season going down 38-26 at Exeter and 25-12 at Bristol (where they were leading after 60 minutes), which are both hard places to go to. Conceding nearly 65 points however may not be a good omen for them. However, spurned on by a home crowd, anything could happen.

Steve McCormack (Sports Stats Online) RFU stats guru says: London Welsh make their seasonal debut at Old Deer Park. They have made an encouraging start to the season but have yet to pick up their first points. They will need to put in a very good performance on Saturday if they are going to get off the mark against an in form Pertemps Bees.

The Welsh were unfortunate in defeat at Exeter and lost on Sunday at Bristol 25-12 after leading on the hour.

Pertemps Bees won comfortably at Henley on the opening day and ran in a further four tries in their 33-12 victory against Penzance on Saturday. They are setting the pace and will clearly be one of the teams in contention for top spot this season.

However, London Welsh have a marvellous record against Pertemps Bees. They completed a league double over them last season and have won seven of their eight meetings since 2001. Pertemps Bees will be looking to add another victory to the 35-10 scoreline in August 2002

Prediction: Bees to win by 10 points.

Elliott’s Prediction: Welsh 13-28 Bees

WELSH SQUAD v PERTEMPS BEES

Steve Millard, Chris Ritchie, Chris Cano, Kevin Burke, Will Bowley, Paul Mansfield, Martin Anayi, Richard Griffith, Allen Chiltern, Dylan Pugh (C), Matt Vines, Matt Cannon, Alex Cadwallader, James Strong, Mark Meenan. Replacements: Andy Fahey, James Greenwood, Tom Parker, Dave Ramsey, Owain Walbyoff, Steve Ravenscroft, Geraint John.

Form Guide:

Welsh: L L

Pertemps Bees: W W

Comparisons:

	Discipline	Kicker's Strike Rate	Leading Try Scorer	Total Tries	Home/Away Tries (for –v- against)
Bees	0 2	Tim Walsh (63)	Aaron Takarangi (3)	9	5/3
Welsh	0 0	Dylan Pugh (78)	3 players (1)	4	0/0

Other Matches:

Saturday:

Henley v Exeter15:00

Otley v Bedford 15:00

Albion v Nottingham 15:00

Rotherham v Orrell 15:00

Sedgley Park v Bristol 15:00

Sunday:

Penzance & Newlyn v Coventry 15:00

Map:

A map of Richmond can be found at the London Welsh website http://www.london-welsh.co.uk http://www.london-welsh.co.uk/directions.html

REMEMBER: THE PREDICTIONS LEAGUE IS NOW OPEN!!

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