The Papa Johns is creating controversy and confusion in equal measure. It was introduced after the RFU's insistence that players wanted less rugby and so reduced the league sizes to 12 - if it hadn't been for some icy Saturdays West's league season would have ended on March 11th.
As it turns out there is still one league game to play. However, relegated Darlington have conceded so it will now not be played at Blackwell Meadows on Easter Saturday. Whether unbeaten West are awarded the points remains to be seen.
Instead, the winning record is being take into the Papa Johns. At Level 7 it's a knock out competition whereas at Level 6, where West will play next season, it's a four team pool tournament guaranteeing at least one home game.
Entering the new competition was discretionary with entries having to be in by Christmas. As a result 32 clubs were entered into the Counties 1 Championship section open to the top four sides in each of the level 7 leagues across the country. Full draw here.
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There are separate tournaments for clubs who finished lower down in the leagues with Old Boys in the Counties 1 Plate and Rovers in the Counties 1 Shield. Old Boys have been given a home walk over with Bradford Salem crying off, while Rovers have pulled out of the trip to Leeds to take on Leodiensian. There are similar walk-overs across the competitions, but not so many in West's tournament - probably because the lure of a Twickenham final is better than the trip to Mowden Park's arena for the Shield and Plate finals. Also, as West discovered, organising only partially subsidised coach travel for a game just ten days after the draw was made proved extremely difficult and expensive - specially with Middlesbrough football club supporters already booking coaches for a trip to Huddersfield. |
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Hopefully, rugby will prove to be the winner once 3.00 comes round on Saturday.
The Firsts will face a Didsbury Toc H side which led Counties 1 Lancs/Cheshire for large parts of the season only to finish runners-up to Liverpool St. Helens, They won 16 of their 22 games losing five and drawing one 28-28 against the eventual league winners.
The start of the school holidays has led to the usual few changes with Durham Under 20's hooker Louis Adamson coming in for Aidan Jackson-Smith, and Lewis Scott returning on the wing for top try scorer (so far) Max Tennant who has more holidays than Judith Chalmers. However, brother Jake is back to provide cover on a strong looking bench which includes Alex Barker on his return to fitness
Jack Angus is fit again and starts in the front row, while Will Corbett is also back and packs down with Ollie Webster with Isaac Robinson, Chrissy Atkins and Jay Corbett in the back row.
The Stags are also looking strong and will be bolstered by Jake Linighan who is unable to travel to Manchester because of work commitments.
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Firsts @ Didsbury Toc H Kick off 3.00 |
Stags @ Seaton Kick off 3.00 |
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| Matt Siddle | 15 | Dom Cox |
| Will Hilditch | 14 | Jordan Painter |
| Davy Heckles | 13 | Zac Southern |
| Ollie Connolly | 12 | Martin Todd |
| Lewis Scott | 11 | Matty Baggs |
| Sam Heron | 10 | Stu Waites |
| Ryan Painter (capt) | 9 | Jacob Parker |
| Adam Hutchinson | 1 | Craig Hadwen |
| Louis Adamson | 2 | Alex Johnson |
| Jack Angus | 3 | Adam Coates |
| Will Corbett | 4 | James Tyers |
| Ollie Webster | 5 | Jonny Wray |
| Isaac Robinson | 6 | Jake Linighan |
| Chris Atkins | 7 | Charlie Kay |
| Jay Corbett | 8 | Connor McLurg |
| Tim Blades | 16 | Ryan Godfrey |
| Alex Barker | 17 | Liam Liston |
| Jake Tennant | 18 | Ross Wood |
| Ben Briggs | ||
| Gabriel Smyth | ||
| Callum Tregar | ||
| Charlie Caswell | ||
| Liam Larkin | ||