Bridgnorth set for Hales test in the top-three chase

The All Blacks return to action after a week off with a trip to Old Halesonians on Saturday looking to make it three wins on the spin and build on their recent impressive showings against Broadstreet and Derby.

Old Hales currently sit one place off the bottom of the division, having won just one league game out of 16 all season, while Bridgnorth are currently leading the race to be the next best after runaway top two Oxford Harlequins and Stourbridge.

But despite the gap in league standings, All Blacks coach Bryan Smallman is expecting a tough afternoon.

“I’m sure a lot of people will look at this game and thinks it’s a forgone conclusion,” said Smallman. “But we are not taking anything for granted. I have looked at their results and they are getting closer to teams and scoring points.

“They scored more points against Oxford than we did and scored 22 against Derby the other week.

“They will see this as a one-off game and I am sure they will play with some freedom.

“They gave us some problems in the game at our place earlier in the season before we pulled away in the second half.”

Bridgnorth have clocked up a half-century of points in their last two outings against Broadstreet and Derby but Smallman is still looking for improvement.

“From our point of view we want to build on some of the excellent attacking rugby we have played in our last two games,” he said.

“We have got some great outcomes from some of the details that we keep hammering on about and the players have stayed on task and stuck to what we ask them to do.

“But we have been a bit Jekyll and Hyde at times. There have been occasions in games where we lose sight of what we are trying to do defensively and go a bit random.

“We are having a bit of a focus on our defensive work between now and the end of the season.”

n In Counties Four Midlands West (South), Bishop’s Castle & Onny Valley edged out Stourport 22-20 to move up to eighth in the league table.