It’s a 2.15 kick off  and after last  week’s storm it should be comparatively tropical,  with sunshine  and light winds forecast.

The hosts managed to  attract Red Bulls’ George McGuigan as head coach during the   summer as well as No.8 Yaree Fantini from Blaydon as player coach. They’ve  had a slow start  on the road  including losing to Novos  last week,  but beat  Guisborough 33-19  at home before an epic  45-45 draw with Morpeth,  who overtook West into second place last week.

West go into the game after some solid team performances achieved despite the absence of some of the more familiar faces. As a result,  there’s only a few changes including Peter Youll starting in  the back row in the place of the absent Isaac Robinson.

That leaves a vacancy in the backs,  which means that Jobe Roxby starts where he left off last week – at fullback. That allows   Will Hilditch to partner Ollie Connolly in the centre.

The versatile Charlie Kay will be on the bench together with Liam Liston who will provide front-row cover.  Kyle Jamieson will cover the backs.

The Halloween opposition for the Stags at Brinkburn is a Mowden Park second string which has been running  up  some big scores in the first season in Counties 2 North East 2 South, including a 122 point demolition of Middlesbrough Wasps.

Red Bull are now involved with Mowden as they look to secure their investment in North East rugby. Their second string can now field some players with considerable league experience at a higher level and they sit top of the league with five wins out of  five  with Rovers in second place

The Stags go into the game with a new face at full back in the shape of Ted Davies – son of the formidable Chocky. He will benefit from the experience of Greg Edwards in front of him and he will be partnered by Tom Carling who is earning some rave reviews for his strong running on his return to the game . Kick off is at 2.00