Post by Jamie Crawford on Sept 1, 2015 8:04:37 GMT
Now we get to the serious games as the Knights kick off their 2015/16 Greene King IPA Championship season with a mouth-watering Castle Park tie against league newcomers London Welsh. The Welsh must be one of the favourites to bounce back to the Premiership as happens all-too-often, especially after receiving a parachute payment from the RFU to increase their playing budget.
“The fixture will be a must see encounter for many reasons but holds extra significance for one Knight in particular as mainstay centre Bevon Armitage could line up opposite younger brother Guy for the very first time…”
As Bevon said, “I think the fixture is at the right time for us, it’s the first league game and things will still be a bit new with players still settling in plus we’re at home...
If we played them half way through the season they would probably be ticking over a bit better so hopefully we can catch them out.” (DRFC website)
After our three pre-season games against increasingly better competition in respect of leagues, the Knights should be well practised to play London Welsh. The opposition was a test but not too much of a test to incur significant injuries. Knights’ confidence should be riding high as they scored 179 yet only conceded 7 points over three games. The conceded try wasn’t a well-worked try that breached the Knights defence; it was a silly handling error that gave possession away whilst we were in attack formation deep in their half.
Griff’s charges will hope to extend the Exiles unblemished losing run of 22 losses from last season in Round One at Castle Park on this first weekend in September.
The Knights will want to start the season by making Castle Park a fortress – start as you mean to go on. The Welsh won’t relish the prospect of playing the Knights at Castle Park; there are many easier games for them to have started with.
On Friday 14th August the Welsh beat Esher 19 – 45 at Molesey road.
On Saturday 22nd August the Welsh beat Coventry 18 – 33 at Butts Park Arena.
Lastly the Welsh won 7 - 22 at Ebbw Vale. All wins on the road and against slightly tougher opposition but all less resounding than the Knights’ wins.
OK London Welsh are the favourites to win today. They have just been relegated from the Premiership and are used to a better standard of rugby plus they have that massive parachute payment from the RFU. As Bevon eluded to; hopefully we are going to play them before they get into their stride plus we’ve all got to make sure that our ‘16th man’ is very vocal in his support. The Knights must hit the start of the season firing on all cylinders; the news reports that we receive from the players about training and pre-season are all positive.
Elsewhere in the Championship on 5th September:
Leeds Carnegie v Jersey
Rotherham Titans v Ealing Trailfinders
London Scottish v Moseley
Cornish Pirates v Nottingham Rugby
Bristol Rugby v Bedford Blues
C’mon Knights let’s give the season a great start and help Bevon to ‘get one up’ on his brother Guy and beat the ex-Premiership giants.
DONNY, DONNY, DONNY…
“The fixture will be a must see encounter for many reasons but holds extra significance for one Knight in particular as mainstay centre Bevon Armitage could line up opposite younger brother Guy for the very first time…”
As Bevon said, “I think the fixture is at the right time for us, it’s the first league game and things will still be a bit new with players still settling in plus we’re at home...
If we played them half way through the season they would probably be ticking over a bit better so hopefully we can catch them out.” (DRFC website)
After our three pre-season games against increasingly better competition in respect of leagues, the Knights should be well practised to play London Welsh. The opposition was a test but not too much of a test to incur significant injuries. Knights’ confidence should be riding high as they scored 179 yet only conceded 7 points over three games. The conceded try wasn’t a well-worked try that breached the Knights defence; it was a silly handling error that gave possession away whilst we were in attack formation deep in their half.
Griff’s charges will hope to extend the Exiles unblemished losing run of 22 losses from last season in Round One at Castle Park on this first weekend in September.
The Knights will want to start the season by making Castle Park a fortress – start as you mean to go on. The Welsh won’t relish the prospect of playing the Knights at Castle Park; there are many easier games for them to have started with.
On Friday 14th August the Welsh beat Esher 19 – 45 at Molesey road.
On Saturday 22nd August the Welsh beat Coventry 18 – 33 at Butts Park Arena.
Lastly the Welsh won 7 - 22 at Ebbw Vale. All wins on the road and against slightly tougher opposition but all less resounding than the Knights’ wins.
OK London Welsh are the favourites to win today. They have just been relegated from the Premiership and are used to a better standard of rugby plus they have that massive parachute payment from the RFU. As Bevon eluded to; hopefully we are going to play them before they get into their stride plus we’ve all got to make sure that our ‘16th man’ is very vocal in his support. The Knights must hit the start of the season firing on all cylinders; the news reports that we receive from the players about training and pre-season are all positive.
Elsewhere in the Championship on 5th September:
Leeds Carnegie v Jersey
Rotherham Titans v Ealing Trailfinders
London Scottish v Moseley
Cornish Pirates v Nottingham Rugby
Bristol Rugby v Bedford Blues
C’mon Knights let’s give the season a great start and help Bevon to ‘get one up’ on his brother Guy and beat the ex-Premiership giants.
DONNY, DONNY, DONNY…
