The new year starts with a bang for Sedgie with a visit to Blackwell Meadows for the local derby with Darlington on Saturday. This is an evening kick off at 7:30pm to accomodate the football game kicking off in the afternoon. The last meeting between the sides saw Darlington triumph 17 -31 at the Wok so we are keen to wrestle back bragging rights. More importantly with Darlo 3 points above us in the league and it being tight in the bottom 5 with three going down, points are very much at the forefront of both teams minds.

The Opposition

Darlington are one sitting on on 19 points with us on 16, since beating us in September they have picked up wins over Seaton Carew, Gosforth and a draw with Bishop Auckland. Darlington normally have a strong pack and always provide a stern opposition. Sedgie have been playing well of late without getting results and we hope we can start turning positive performances into wins and climb away from the bottom 3 trap door.

Team News

Sedgie will name the squad after training on Thursday

Paul McCormack misses out following his unfortunate double yellow misdemeanor against Ryton but the forwards are able to welcome back James Allison and Richie Wood to the front row with James Watson captaining from hooker. Paul Wilkinson and Anth Smyth are unchanged in the 2nd row and Pedro Gray replaces McCormack at number 6. Will Johnson is at openside and Ollie Lines completes the pack at number 8.

The back line looks very capable with Michael Shepherd wrestling the number 9 jersey back to line up at half back with Chris Dawson. Lawrence Oliver and Adam Grieve are now familiar partners in the centre while the back three sees Gareth Pratt rewarded for some fine form and positive training performances with a start on the wing with Andy Shepherd and Owen Robinson.

The bench sees Graham Brennan come in to cover the front row with Mark Baldwin and Danny Wolfe covering a multitude of options

The derby games are always a cracker and everyone loves a night game so get along to have a watch