The Friaragemen have never won at Kelleythorpe and Saturday’s match has added importance with the hosts also in the tight relegation zone. There would be no better time for us to get a result in East Yorkshire and close the gap on the teams above us.
Driffield, similarly to us are in strange territory as they lie in sixth bottom in the league table only 5 points ahead of Old Crossleyans who are in third bottom. This season has seen Driffield achieve 4 wins out of their 18 games, but they have an added 12 bonus points, only high flying West Hartlepool and Cleckheaton have as many.
The side are a tough challenge for any team on their own turf as they have proved with many close results. Three of their home defeats have been 25-26 to Carlisle, 24-26 to Durham and 23-24 to Old Crossleyans.
Last Week Driffield played host to our rivals West Hartlepool and came from 22-0 down to only lose 22-17. This shows that they cannot be taken lightly and we know from previous seasons that Driffield like to play running rugby and can run riot if given the chance.
Rovers have allowed this to happen too often in the past and have suffered as a result with heavy defeats of 41-19 in 2006/07 and 55-7 the following season. Last season saw a slight improvement, but we were still well beaten 29-10. Hopefully this journey will show an even greater improvement. It would be a tremendous result if we were to win and would set us up nicely for the games at Old Crossleyans and Morpeth that follow.
The team for this Saturday’s game shows the same back line up as against Old Brodleians, but there are three changes in the pack. Ian Pinchen retains his place at tighthead after coming off the bench last week; Darren Smith and Chris Atkins are unavailable with player coach Alan Brown and Andrew Dring replacing them. Andrew Pinchen moves up onto the bench alongside Andrew Arnell and Glen Wise.
Rovers: Masshedar, Lilley, Coulson, Foreman, B Cushlow, Sainty, King, Tucker, J Cushlow, I Pinchen, A Brown, Thubron (c), Grazier, S Hall, Dring. Subs: A Pinchen, Wise, A Arnell.