This Saturday will see the return of Captain George Bambrick into the side after a couple of weeks away from playing duties, as he looks to lead his men straight past and through a Ponteland side that we don't really know what to expect from.

Our hunt for the league title and promotion continues tomorrow afternoon with a 14:00 kickoff, and after our opponents have recorded a very mixed bag or results over the past few weeks, we will have to make sure we are at our absolute best to come away with 5 points at a difficult venue to travel to.

A fair few players that missed the action last week due to unavailability return to the squad for Saturday, the likes of Darren Kelly and Rob Baldwin come back into the pack to hopefully make a substantial impact leading the players around the park and making line breaks left right and center.

Also in the pack, the big youngster Solomon Mak will make his starting XV debut in the front row packing down at loosehead alongside James Moore and Morgan Scrace. A big challenge lies ahead for him but after dominating a strong Tynedale scrum just a week ago from the bench we are more than confident he is up for the fight.

The backs also see some familiar faces returning, Lewis Chater returned from injury last week and within minutes was already back to his try-scoring antics, scoring a perfectly timed intercept. He will play at scrumhalf, whilst Rhys Merlane, returning after some time away, will take up the 18 shirt on the bench.

The rest of the backline remains relatively unchanged, Max Cook moves from scrumhalf to his familiar right wing where he can cause so much damage, and Harry Tankard slides out from the center channels over the past few weeks and moves back into full-back where he is always so dangerous.

Also returning to action this week, we welcome back George Jowitt to the squad, he takes up number 17 on the bench alongside the versatile forward Ollie Forster who grabs the final spot.

So, a formidable team return to league action this week to take on the ‘mighty maroons’ on their home turf. All the support we can get will be hugely appreciated but if you can’t find the time to get to Ponteland for 14:00 then the 2nd XV will be in action at Sutherland Park against Medicals in what promises to be a good contest as well!

1st XV Vs Ponteland (A)
Meet Time: 12:10
Kick Off: 14:00

Solomon Mak, James Moore, Morgan Scrace, Jonathan Allton, Darren Kelly, George Bambrick (C), Simeon Archibald, Rob Baldwin, Lewis Chater, Josh Farley, Brandon Gilbert, Michael Searle, Ben Jubb, Max Cook, Harry Tankard, Ollie Forster, George Jowitt, Rhys Merlane

2nd XV Vs Medicals (H)
Meet Time: 12:45
Kick Off: 14:00

Ant McQuillan, Ben Rodgers, David Medjigbodo-Lawson, Theo Mouille, Richard McNeill, Matty Knox, Jeremy Hunt, Dylan Mills, Christian Selkirk, Matthew Russell, Sam Cleife, Sam Bird, Greg Wills (C), Luke Masters, Adam Lambert, Charlie Lawlor, Eddie Mason, Sully Ismail, Dan Vicary, Issac Robinson, Vinny Baker

3rd XV Vs Ponteland (A)
Meet Time: 12:10
Kick Off: 14:00

Ian Wood, Arthur Wallis, Michael Scott, Chris Ward, Jonny Cotterill, Tom Storey, Rohan Cook, James Bass, Sonny Norris, Dan Murphy, James Douglas, Zach Weatherhead, Lex Leonard, Harry Graves, Ross Cleminson, Daniel Sweeney, Vuyo Nossa-Yabantu, John Watson, Milo Challis