Match Preview

Saturday sees Sandbach travel to Newport, Shropshire, following their gutsy victory over the previously unbeaten league leaders, Birmingham & Solihull, last week. Newport who have promotion aspirations of their own, currently lie third in the table, but just 4 points above Sandbach. Earlier in the season Sandbach produced a sensational performance to come from eighteen points down in the first half, scoring a late try for a 26 v 21 victory. Newport will certainly be fired up for revenge, so Sandbach will once again need to show that defensive resolve, to keep the powerful hosts at bay. Newport have several players familiar to Sandbach with the former Longton star man Hendry Vaka and the Crewe and Nantwich back row duo of Kirk Robinson and Oli Buckley now plying their trade there. So, Sandbach will have no excuse, in not knowing what to expect.
Sandbach though have shown by beating all three of the top sides already this season, that they can win against any side in the league, on their day. Disciplinary issues have generally been their problem of recent, with Sandbach failing to keep 15 men on the field all game for the last five matches. So, they certainly need to resolve that issue, if they want to come away with the spoils. Sandbach however won’t be in awe in any way and as both teams like to play, so expect another hard-fought battle.