Northern will follow City and Middlesbrough in arriving as the side just behind leaders Percy Park and will be hoping for something the first two didn't manage - a win.

Those results, together with the closeness of other games, show that West have nothing to fear in this league and even managed a try bonus point at Percy Park,  which is something not many other clubs will achieve.

However, a few more wins are needed to move away from the bottom group. West are in 9th place with three Cumbrian clubs below -  if that stays the same it may not be good news at the end of the season as the RFU sets out to balance leagues across the region.

So far there've been three games where West were within a whisker of winning - only to fall short. Aspatria last week was one of those games afrter a sleepy start gifted the home side two tries in the first four minutes. West came back and were camped on the home line in the last ten minutes, forcing three yellow cards and a penalty try only for the Black and Reds to hold out for a 27-24 win.

West and Northern last met two seasons ago in Durham and Northumberland One. Honours were even with both sides winning their home game with the Brnkburn encounter  memorable for Adam Coates' try (pictured).

Northern have lost only two of their nine games. They went down 39-12 at Percy Park on the opening day and also lost at Asaptria since when they've enjoyed six straight wins.

There's fewer changes this week than usual although Ollie Connolly and the Head Coach are away at a wedding. The experienced Zac Southern, who has taken over the goalkicking duties, moves from full back to fly half - Sam Knight is fit again  and Max Tennant also returning to a speedy back three.

For the first time this season the pack is unchanged from last week's starting line-up  - Jack Angus and Will Corbett providing the cover from the bench and Kyle Jamieson covering the backs.

Interesting times for the Stags with the promising young lads benefitting from the return of some old stagers with Ben Lloyd last week's Man of the Match. He'll be on the bench this week alongside Anth Carr.  Adam Coates also made a return to training this week with a view to making his considerable experience available at some point.