North Walsham aiming to follow up superb away performance by winning at Scottow
Jim Riley offloads during another North Walsham attack at Ruislip. Picture: Hywel Jones - Credit: Archant
North Walsham return to home ground in London One North tomorrow (3pm) after what was an extremely rewarding win at Ruislip.
The Vikings ran in 10 tries against the Middlesex side for the second time this season – no easy task on a difficult pitch – to romp home 64-5.
This weekend's opposition, Fullerians from Watford, should on paper present more tricky opposition. Sitting safely in ninth place in the table with an eight-win, eight-loss record, they have shown that without any spectacular wins they are consistent. In the away fixture the Vikings came away 36-14 winners.
Coach James Brooks will be looking for a similar performance to the one his players produced at Ruislip. Most of the injuries last week were of a minor nature but Brooks has been hit with the news that James Knight, a stalwart of the side, will miss the next four to six weeks with a wrist injury.
However, Brooks should be able to fill the gap as Mike Braans has returned from holiday and can slot in at outside half alongside Jake Duffield and taking Knight's No10 shirt. Also back and available are Chris Godwin, Tom Knight and Ben O'Hickey as well as front rowers Dane Canning and Tim Weber and scrum-half Lee Thomson.
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This means it will be more a case of who is left out than who to select, a choice Brooks could not have envisaged a few weeks ago. It is, however, difficult to see where the coach will make changes to a winning side, although Godwin is usually one of the first names on any teamsheet and it will be a surprise if he doesn't step back in.
Both the Raiders and Warriors have the weekend off and many of the players will be lining the rails at Scottow to boost the support.
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North Walsham (from): A Downing, T Browes, L Brown-Bates, W Swart, R Oakes, R Miller, T Scotland, C Godwin, E Sampson, W Hodgson, J Duffield, M Braans, H Riley, J Riley, D Smith, T Younie, H Downing, E Sampson, B O'Hickey, T Weber, D Canning, T Knight, W Haynes, L Thomson.
Diss travel to Letchworth Garden City, who are second bottom after winning just three of their 16 games. Diss will be looking for a boost after conceding 60 points in each of their previous fixtures – 64-3 at Brentwood and 63-31 at home to Old Haberdashers.
