It has to be said that the Papa Johns competition has not taken off with a host of teams withdrawing – mainly because they have an away draw or their particular section doesn’t have the lure of a Twickenham final.

The competition does, however, provide much needed rugby at the end of the season, plus a chance to play against teams from other leagues.

West (Regional 2 North) and Scarborough (Regional  2 North East)  are in the  Shield competition by virtue of the league positions held earlier in the season. The only other game left in the Northern section is the  Keswick v Kirkby Lonsdale quarter-final, which will be held in a couple of weeks’ time. Both clubs seem to think they will be at home.

Whoever wins the Brinkburn quarter final will travel to the winner of the Keswick game in the semi,  with the final against a team from the Midlands at Mowden Park on Sunday May 12^th – a day when DMP will host several Papa Johns’ finals.

The competition was brought in to appease clubs when leagues were cut from 14 teams to 12 by the RFU. If there’s a club which doesn’t want to revert to 14 team leagues we have yet to meet them.

However, a home game is welcome after we had two away trips in the competition last season at Didsbury and Cockermouth. Because of the smaller leagues this will be only the fourth home game for the first team in 2024, which speaks for itself.

West go into the game after last week's difficult trip to Keswick. Storm Kathleen, a home team needing to win to stay in the league in front a big crowd and a frustrating penalty count resulted in a 21-12 defeat.

That didn’t affect the final league position. Sixth place was a decent outcome in the first season back at level 6, which was achieved by no less than 40 players wearing the first team shirt. All are home grown, so it's fitting that this week’s game will feature a thank-you party for the junior coaches and team managers who are producing the next generations.

Scarborough will arrive in some form. They had a poor start to the season and for a long time looked doomed to a return to Yorkshire One. Injuries were to blame for a lot of their problems - once the players returned they have remarkably won the last nine league games finishing 9^th in Regional 2 North East.

The first team will have the usual number of changes with Adam Hutchinson unavailable and Ollie Connolly having an enforced rest,  after taking a knock to the head last week. Jack Angus starts in the front row and Jacob Wood moves to the centre to accommodate Max Tennant returning on the wing.

Jake Linighan is free of work commitments and will be on the bench with Ollie Webster continuing his record of being the only player to start every game.

The Pyman Cup has been reinstated to its traditional format after some tinkering in recent years, including the competition being held all on one day. The value of the Pyman being based on  15 a side rugby, often with midweek games, was clear in the first round when the Stags hosted Peterlee and Horden in front of a crowd bigger than for many first team games. The Stags winning 43-21 in an entertaining game. There's a strong team out led by Martin Todd and with its usual blend of experience and youth.

Hartlepool IIs and Seaton now meet next Wednesday at Mayfield Park in the other semi-final with a 7.30 kick off.