This Weekend

v
Albion v Knights
Saturday 08 November
K.O. 3 pm
also
Esher v Warriors (Sat)
and
Bath v Ladies (Sun)

Albion

Albion have a momentum behind them that can be seen on the bench and despite not having the use of Sean-Michael and Justin for the next few weeks. A five point win last week against an underrated team was good for Albion's position in the league but they will have to do a lot more to move further up the league table. They will have to beat Knights by 44 points to move above them in the league this week.

A loss however could mean a drop by at least one place! 

Double Barbarian Wihan Neethling may still be called up to the team but will probably have to serve his time on the bench before he gets his deserved starting position. Ross Allen has al but established his place as inside centre as he displaces Arran Cruickshanks, but will that be to the wing or to the bench?

Nat Saumi has shown over the past few weeks that he plays well at full back but whilst he has the power and a very good rugby mind he is not as fast as some of our other players.

Doncaster Knights

Last week Doncaster ‘Knights’ played Leeds away, they score nothing in the second half and lost by 28 to 13. This leaves them 6th in the table one point above Albion. 

The Knights have only won twice away from home, against Manchester and Sedgley ‘tigers’. So their away performance needs improving. The knights average gate is 1171, a few thousand below that of Albion’s 3178, as for traveling support, there should be a few of the knights making the trip down to add vocal support to their team.

Players to look out for, our ‘old ’ player Adam Kettle, should be in the team that come down, Kettle has scored 3 tries so far for the knights, but has also seen a yellow this season, Brickfields should give him a ‘warm welcome’ back to his old playing ground. Jamie Lennard – who scored 21 points in the match against the Tigers, having scored only one try, he seems to be very good with his kicking through the posts, with 15 conversions, 2 drop goals and 15 penalties. Ali Warnock is also a good kicker with 7 conversions 1 drop goal and 8 penalties.

The knights discipline seems to let them down, Chris Hallam has been sin binned twice, with Wesley Davies, Tom Davies, Ollie Goss, Adam Kettle, Richard List and Ali Warnock making a total of 8 yellows against Albions 4. Another game where keeping discipline could make the game go either way.

CD’s prediction – Evens – think a three point win – hopefully to Albion

Visiting Supporters

If you haven't been to Brickfields before you will be in for a friendly welcome from the club and the home support.

The ground is growing into a great stadium with plenty of food and beverage outlets to suit all comers. You can get anything from a chocolate bar to a four course sit down meal.

Click to see more details on the ground

Weather forecast

Current forecast is for heavy rain max temp 13^oC with south westerly winds up to 30mph.

National League One Data

This table shows the for and against for each team. eg Tries 74/17 is 74 tries scored and 17 conceded. Con Rate is the percentage tries converted.

Next Fixtures

Recent meetings

01 March 08
Plymouth Albion 11
Doncaster 15

Attendance: = 2964

Albion put on their best league performance for a long time but it was still not enough to overcome the 4th placed Doncaster Knights.

Just 6 minutes into the match Donny were penalised for binding and Brad took the opportunity to put 3 points on the board from the visitors 10 metre line.

11 minutes in and the ref went to his pocket to show the yellow card to Donny prop Anthony Carter for a violent conduct in front of the Redrow stand supporters. Unfortunately the cards were still in the dressing room but the prop still spent his time in the bin.

Just 8 minutes later he was joined by Adam Kettle who was shown a yellow card passed to him by the touch judge.

3 minutes into time added on Ross Allan made a break from outside the 22 before selflessly passing to Ed Lewsey on the wing who went over just right of the posts to claim his 5th try of the season. In a rare error in this match Brad sliced the conversion so that the ball went right of the posts.

In the 9th minute added on Donny made a sustained attack on Albion's line. With a driving ruck move the forwards went over the line and although it was not spotted by Nick Williams his assistant gave him the nod and Donny went into the turn around just 1 point down.

Donny had two early chances to go into the lead with penalties in range. The first was missed but the second in front of the posts and only 25 metres out was too good an opportunity to miss.

Before 7 minutes were up in the half the visitors were again over Albion's line. Nick was again unsighted but awarded the try after consultation. The try was left unconverted and bought the score to 8 -15.

With Keni, Gareth and James coming on in the 15th minute of the half it was a rare truly tactical replacement that had been made in the season. Emyr and Mike were on at the hour point. It could have been enough to bring off the first league win this year but it was not.

The last score of the match cam with 15 minutes still on the clock when Albion were awarded a penalty almost in front of the posts and inside the 22. After a discussion between Brad and Tommy Hayes resulted with a successful kick at goal.

Despite 7 or 8 minutes of extra time no further score was made and the match ended with Donny kicking a penalty deep into the crowd.

Team: Nat Saumi, Ed Lewsey, Arran Cruickshanks, Ross Allen, Nic Sestaret, Brad Davies, Nigel Cane, George Davis, Richard Oxley, Scott Zimmerman, Jannie Bornman, Tom Hayes, Adam Kettle, Brett Stroud, Chris Lowrie Replacements: Daniel Hawkes, Emyr Lewis(used), Keni Fisilau(used), Gareth Evans(used), James Owen(used), Colin Stewart, Mike Denbee(used)

Scorers :- Tries Ed Lewsey Penalties 2x Brad Davies Sin Bin Adam Kettle

26 October 07
Doncaster 19
Plymouth Albion 13

Attendance: = 2381

To me this match can be described as an if only fixture. If only Albion had played at their full potential for 80 minutes we would have come away with a win!

At the beginning of the season we might have been happy with a bonus point away to a strong 2nd place team but if you watched the match at Doncaster, at Brickfields via a live link or in the comfort of your own home a single point is disappointing.

The team that played better on the day came away with spoils but Albion should have beaten the Doncaster team on the pitch!

But if you make unforced handling errors and do not get the ball out to our star wingers very often then you get what you deserve.

A Friday kick off makes the league table look reasonable but after the Saturday fixtures we could move down into the bottom half!

Team: Emyr Lewis, Liam Gibson, Arran Cruickshanks, Brad Davies, Nic Sestaret, Ross Laidlaw, Ed Lewsey, Martin Rice, James Owen, Steve Barretto, Tom Hayes, Ben Gulliver, Brett Stroud, Jannie Bornman, Adam Kettle Replacements: Nigel Cane, Wihan Neethling(used), Richard Oxley(used), George Davis, Tim Mathias(used), Colin Stewart, Chris Lowrie(used)

Scorers :- Tries Liam Gibson Penalties 2x Ross Laidlaw Conversions Ross Laidlaw

09 December 06
Doncaster 12
Plymouth Albion 8

Attendance: = 1100

Albion travelled to Doncaster knowing that they were going to have a tough task but they did not make the most of the match and came away with the wrong sort of bonus point.

Sila Va’enuku made his debut in the 80th minutes of the match and Nat Saumi scored another try after he came on with only 2 minutes left on the clock. Could this make Nat the highest scorer per pitch time in the league??

Tom Arscott played a full match but this week did not see enough ball to create one of his scoring opportunities. There were opportunities that on other weeks and in other towns may have turned the match around.

Albion will now have to work very hard to stay in touch with the top of the table as they now sit 5th.

Opponents Report

Team: Wihan Neethling, Tom Arscott, Regardt van Eyk, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Ed Lewsey, Martin Rice, Richard Oxley, Scott Zimmerman, Colin Stewart, Tom Hayes, Federico Genoud, Danny Thomas, Chris Lowrie Replacements: Nigel Cane(used), Sila Va'Enuku(used), Nat Saumi(used), Tim Mathias, James Owen(used), Francisco Deformes(used), Brett Stroud

Scorers :- Tries Nat Saumi Penalties Wihan Neethling Sin Bin Keni Fisilau

16 September 06
Plymouth Albion 14
Doncaster 13

Attendance: = 2553

A very close game as the score suggests. With Albion defending well for the full 80 minutes before Doncaster finally manage to push Albion over the white wash in what must have been the 7th minute of stoppage time to claim the bonus point and end just 1 point behind Albion.

With Rotherham winning their match against Otley by 27 – 8 they claim their bonus point and move ahead of Albion in the title race. Doncaster drop to 3rd. There are now only two teams with a 100% record.

More ...

Opponents Report

Team: Wihan Neethling, Ed Lewsey, Regardt van Eyk, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Nigel Cane, Martin Rice, Richard Oxley, Scott Zimmerman, Colin Stewart, Ben Gulliver, Brett Stroud, Danny Thomas, Tom Hayes Replacements: David Delaney(used), Nat Saumi, Arran Cruickshanks, Tim Mathias, James Owen, Federico Genoud, Chris Lowrie(used)

Scorers :- Tries David Delaney Penalties 3x Wihan Neethling

18 February 06
Plymouth Albion 27
Doncaster 25

Attendance: = 2238

More ...

Team: Luke Arscott, Jon Fabian, Regardt van Eyk, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Nigel Cane, Martin Rice, Stewart Pearl, Scott Zimmerman, Mike Lewis, Tom Hayes, Martin Schusterman, Danny Thomas, Alfie Tooala Replacements: Sam Leung Wai, Matias Albina(used), Nick Defty(used), Ryan Hopkins(used), Graham Dawe(used), Nic Rouse(used), Brett Luxton

Scorers :- Tries Ed Barnes Luke Arscott Nic Sestaret Penalties Nick Defty Tom Hayes Conversions 3x Tom Hayes

08 October 05
Doncaster 14
Plymouth Albion 9

Attendance: = 859

Team: Jon Fabian, Tom Arscott, Nat Saumi, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Luke Arscott, Matias Albina, Martin Rice, Stuart Friswell, Scott Zimmerman, John Henry Brown, Tom Hayes, Martin Schusterman, Danny Thomas, Alfie Tooala Replacements: Stewart Pearl(used), Ryan Hopkins(used), Mike Lewis(used), Chris Lowrie, Ed Barnes, Regardt van Eyk, Nigel Cane

Scorers :- Penalties 3x Nat Saumi

Side by side
Gate 3178 avg 6871 max	Gate 1172 avg 1613 max
Form home w w l l w w away d w l l	Form home d w w w w away l w l w l
Best home game 47 - 6 Man	Best home game 37 - 9 N Blues
Worst away game Nott'ham 43 - 19	Worst away games Leeds 28 - 13 Welsh 31 - 16
Most points in a match 16 Kieran Hallett Albion 26 - 17 Moseley	Most points in a match 21 Jamie Lennard Tigers 3 - 41 Knights
Most tries in a match 2 Justin Mensah-Cover Albion 31 - 7 Tigers	Most tries in a match 1
Recent results Albion 31 - 7 Tigers Titans 10 - 10 Albion Albion 26 - 17 Moseley Albion 14 - 41 Chiefs Otley 16 - 31 Albion Albion 24 - 25 Welsh N Blues 19 - 11 Albion Albion 47 - 6 Man Nott'ham 43 - 19 Albion	Recent results   Leeds 28 - 13 Knights Tigers 3 - 41 Knights Knights 24 - 24 Pirates Knights 34 - 22 Cov Nott'ham 18 - 9 Knights Knights 37 - 9 N Blues Man 23 - 39 Knights Knights 28 - 22 Titans Welsh 31 - 16 Knights
TRIES 4 Justin Mensah-Cover 3 Arran Cruikshanks Gareth Evans Keni Fisilau 2 Geoff Griffiths Tom Jarvis Wayne Sprangle 1 Mike Denbee Liam Gibson Kieran Hallett Ryan Hopkins Greg Nicholls Martin Rice	TRIES 3 Bevon Armitage Anthony Carter Bryn Griffiths Adam Kettle Donovan Van Vuuren 2 Simon Grainger Chris Hughes Toma Toke 1 Jamie Albinson David Griffiths Chris Hallam Simon Jenkins Jamie Lennard Hudson Tonga Uiha Ali Warnock
Kicking Points Con DG Pen Points Kieran Hallett 12 2 13 69 Ross Laidlaw 5 - 8 34	Kicking Points Con DG Pen Points Jamie Lennard 15 2 15 81 Ali Warnock 7 1 8 41
Discipline SinBin Arran Cruikshanks Gareth Evans Keni Fisilau Sean-Micheal Stephen	Discipline SinBin Wesley Davies Tom Davies Ollie Goss Chris Hallam (2) Adam Kettle Richard List Ali Warnock

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon