By David Wilkinson
It has been a very difficult season for Kirkby Lonsdale; the effect of players dropping out of the game after Covid, and a number of senior players retiring, meant that the 1st XV this season has been much of their previous Colts team. They are without a win all season, but like all rugby players, they are resilient with a never say die attitude. They will more than likely drop a league this season, but that will do them no harm, as they get some results under their belt, and back to winning ways. That said they will be travelling to Priory Park with one thing on their minds – a win. Equally Head Coach, Ben Wade, will be treating the contest with utter respect.
Wadey had this to say about Saturday’s contest: “Any team can win, at anytime in this league, you always have to take the game seriously, and we will prepare well for it. Sam Brown picked up an injury against Rossendale and there are few players unavailable, which gives us the opportunity to rotate a few players and look at a few others from the 2nd team squad. The boys trained well again this week, and we are looking forward to the game and a dry track”.
We welcome back the Captain, James Oliver, after his 3 week, enforced rest – expect him to be fizzing after twin brother Harry was awarded ‘Player of the Round’ by North Rugby this week! Probably the most significant absentee is the unavailable, Charlie Attis, who has got the backline really firing in recent weeks, the versatile Louis Stephenson steps in to the 10 slot this week, and Wadey is likely to get the bench on sooner than later, which will be a long awaited debut for Carl Droy and another look at Max Dempsey, after his 10 minutes last week.
Usual kick-off of 3.00pm, please come and give your support, the boys really appreciate it. The team is: 1. Dan Percival, 2. Marcus Pyle, 3. Tom Burden, 4. Harry Harding, 5. Elliot Alston, 6. Seb Pemberton, 7. Brendan Berry, 8. James Oliver C, 9. Danny Martin, 10. Louis Singleton, 11. Sam Adu, 12. Terence Babarinsa, 13. Harry Oliver, 14. Sam Broster, 15. Tom Jennings, 16. Carl Droy, 17. Max Dempsey, 18. Alex Jakubowski.
