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Mid Week Update

| 17/10/2017

Simon MorrellWritten by Richard Walsh

Bridgwater and Albion return to action on Saturday when they travel down the M5 to take on South West One (West) table toppers Exeter University.

The University side have won all six of their matches notching up a century in one of them but in their last game beat Bideford 27-23, while the Albion lost out to second in the table Drybrook 38-7.

A week without a fixture has given the Albion players longer to recover and they will also hopefully have some more of their injured regulars back for what is going to be a tough assignment.

Simon Morrell the head coach said: “We have got some pretty tired bodies amongst the squad many of who have played six games on the bounce so it was good to have a week off.

“We also made use of the training sessions to carry out some fitness tests which gives us a benchmark for each of the players.

“It was a really useful pause week for us to reflect on where we are and where we are looking to go.

Recovering skipper Ollie Dunn is one of the players who will certainly have been glad of that rest.

Everybody is in better nick because of the week off, although obviously Shaun Mahoney wont be playing after he was sent of against Drybrook, while Adam Conybeare is struggling with a shoulder injury.

However we have got several players coming back so we hope to have a fairly strong squad to go down to face the leaders on Saturday.

This week Bridgwater and Albion’s new signing Craig Blyde a young tight head prop who hails from New Zealand’s North Island, is expected to be in the start line up after impressing when he came off the bench against Drybrook.

Blyde has played for Bay of Plenty Under 19s in the Jack Hobbs New Zealand U 19 Cup. He is a graduate of the Matamata College academy and previously been playing for Greerton Marist in Hamilton, so has a sound pedigree

Regarding the New Zealander the head coach said: “Craig is a tight head prop and will play an important part for us moving forward. He is rock solid from what I have seen and his work rate will set him apart. He scrums well and makes himself known around the park as well, so he is a welcome addition to the squad.”

Category: Previews / Reports -XV

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