All Golds v Newcastle Thunder KPL1 2017

FLAME OF THE WEST
WRITTEN BY CHRIS WILSON
ROUND 3 PREVIEW
Pool 1 is all about the haves and
the have nots with three teams
on maximum points and the
other three yet to get off the
mark.
Cheltenham Phoenix, Forest
Bulldogs and Somerset Vikings
have won both of their matches
in impressive style leaving
Gloucestershire Warriors,
Bath Romans and Swindon St
George A awaiting their first
victory.
All that should change this
weekend as the Warriors
travel to Wiltshire to take on St
George in a fixture that has extra
spice with ex-Warriors coach
Matthew Robinson in charge of
the Swindon outfit and former
player Paul Bolger likely to be in
their ranks as well. The Warriors
have been on an upward curve
despite their losses and a win
would maintain that trajectory.
The Romans have a tough task
to score their first win as they
travel to Cheltenham to face a
big, powerful Phoenix side that
looks like making the play-offs
once again. They have scored
heavily in their two wins and
though the Warriors found a
few chinks in the armour to
score five times themselves a
fortnight ago, the Romans will
have to be on their game to get
something from the fixture.
A 100% record will go at Weston
as Somerset Vikings take on the
Forest Bulldogs. Having won
two home games, the match will
be a test of the Bulldogs’ ability
on the road while the Vikings
racked up a half century in their
win over Swindon and will be
confident of maintaining their
early season promise.
In contrast, Pool 2 has yet to find
its feet as both Portsmouth and
Southampton suffered a false
start in week one and may seek
to rearrange their fixtures with
Swindon St George and Oxford
Cavaliers respectively for later in
the season.
Elsewhere the big surprise has
been the form of the Bristol
Sonics who have lost both their
games so far. They were poor
for the most part in their loss
to Bath RL but threw away a
promising position to go down
21-20 to Swindon last time out.
The new Bath club has won both
its games as the side followed
their triumph over the Sonics
with an impressive 32-30 win
over the Cavaliers. They travel to
Southampton in a clash of the
top two sides in the Pool aiming
to remain in pole position.
Having beaten local rivals
Portsmouth in their first outing
of the season, the Spitfires will
be hoping to make the most
of home field advantage to
maintain their unbeaten record.
Portsmouth, meanwhile, travel
to Bristol where something has
to give with both sides looking
for their first win. The Sonics’
narrow loss at Swindon should
give them confidence and they
will be looking to make home
advantage count.
The match of the round looks
to be the clash at Supermarine
RFC between Swindon St
George and Oxford Cavaliers.
The home side have won their
only game so far while the
Cavaliers went down to Bath
in their only 80 minutes of the
campaign. Swindon are buzzing
as a club at the moment and,
having had a taste of the Grand
Final last season will be looking
for more this year. A win this
week will certainly help them in
that aim.
Fixtures (2.30pm unless stated)
Pool 1
Swindon St George A vs Gloucestershire Warriors (3pm)
Somerset Vikings vs Forest Bulldogs
Cheltenham Phoenix vs Bath & Wiltshire Romans
Pool 2
Southampton Spitfires vs Bath RL
Swindon St George vs Oxford Cavaliers (1pm)
Portsmouth Navy Seahawks vs Bristol Sonics
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