Birkenhead Park are first up [kick off 3.00] followed by current league leaders Morley next week.

Butcher has figured a number of times already, but it is a long awaited first start for Larkin who will be at full back. He would have made his first start some weeks but a combination of injury and selection for England Colleges, along with Will Turnbull,put paid to all that.

Adam is a strong running back who is equally at home at outside centre, wing or full back.

Another promising youngster retains his place in the back row. Liam Bailey has tackled his socks off in the last two games and will pack down alongside Adam Howard and Jonny Boatman. The pack is unchanged after their solid display against Blaydon on Easter Monday.

Birkenhead Park travel on the back of a relatively disappointing season. They recruited from the likes of Waterloo in the summer and were early favourites for promotion. They have turned over all the top sides at home -only losing their unbeaten record to our fellow strugglers Cleckheaton last week. Hence the reason we are bottom.

For some reason Park's form disappears once they get through the Wallasey tunnel. They have won only three away games but still harbour ambitions of finishing in the top four.

Thirty nine year Dave Blyth, who played back row for us in the 1992/1993 season, alongside the likes of Kevin Westgarth, will be in Park's second row. Dave, of course, also had a distinguished career with Swansea and Waterloo.

West: 15 Adam Larkin 14 Gareth Kerr 13 Peter Hodgson 12 Jamie Connolly 11 Scott Butcher 10 Paul Moss 9 Davy Tighe 1 Anth Carr [Capt] 2 Andrew Dixon 3 Carl Robinson 4 Andrew Davies 5 Tom Dixon 6 Adam Howard 7 Liam Bailey 8 Jon Boatman 16 Stephen Stockdale 17 Paul Rudd 18 TBA

Birkenhead Park 15 Anthony Handley 14 Greg Hughes 13 Steve Dodd 12 Freeman Payne 11 Dave Hall 10 Gav Scott 9 Steve Lowry 1 Tom Cassidy 2 Christian Jones 3 Martin O’Keefe 4 Dave Blyth 5 Colin Campbell 6 Dan Palmer 7 Ben Shepherd 8 Dave Ibbotson 16 Christian Tyms 17 Mike Chapman 18 Mark McKeown