But it never works that way and a hard afternoon's graft will be called for with the wind blowing down the pitch.

Carlisle have already taught us a valuable lesson about not starting in the right frame of mind. The result was a superb first twenty minutes of rugby at Durham last week - but that was last week.

The same starting 15 should line up against Rovers. The coaches have once again rotated the replacements, to make sure everyone is given game time, with fit again Adam Howard and Adam Coates coming onto the bench, alongside Peter Hodgson who has also recovered form a hamstring injury.

No doubt the pre-match banter will be about the "defectors," the Foremans in the West line up, and great mates Tom Wilson and Harry Readhead in the Rovers back line.

But there were a number of other excellent performances from West last week including some great back row play from Paul Rudd and the Boatmans.

The front row always had the beating of City, with Liam Bailey once again superb in the loose, and Colin Cheslin having an excellent game after coming in at outside centre.

With the Stags and Bucks also unbeaten, and playing with some style, the pressure for places continues.

Rovers have a good account of themselves against the students from Team Northumbria leading for a large part of the game. Losing Michael Thubron from the second row early in the second half seems to have been a turning point. He is fit to play in the derby.

Rovers give a debut to scrum half Ian Phillips in a very young looking back line. He will partner Tom Wilson at half back with Harry Readhead, who featured at scrum half for west at the start of last season, in the centre.

The referee, for a peculiarly Hartlepool occasion, will be Mr Max Barnard who is an exchange referee from the North West Federation

West:Scott Jordan, Adam Larkin, Colin Cheslin, Paul Moss, Darren Thomas, Gareth Foreman, Andrew Foreman, Anth Carr, Liam Bailey, Stephen Stockdale, Tom Dixon, Andrew Davies, Dan Boatman, Jon Boatman [c], Paul Rudd. Reps: Adam Coates, Adam Howard, Peter Hodgson.

Rovers: 15 Chris Sainty 14 Ben Cushlow 13 Liam Austwicke 12 Harry Readhead 11 David Grand 10 Tom Wilson 9 Ian Phillips 1 Steve Smith 2 Jonathan Cushlow 3 Ian Pinchen 4 Mark Power [capt] 5 Michael Thubron 6 Stuart Palmer 7 Stephen Jones 8 Andrew Dring Subs Michael Tucker Stewart Grazier James Masshedar