CO-OPERATIVE RUGBY LEAGUE CONFERENCE PREMIERSHIP, MIDLANDS DIVISION
Wednesday 28 May 2008
WARRIORS AIM FOR FIRST WIN OVER BEDFORD
Gloucestershire Warriors return from their week’s break and face their longest road trip as they travel to Bedford to take on the Tigers in their Co-operative Rugby League Conference Midlands Premier division game.
This will be the first time the sides have met as the Tigers are in their first season at this level having been promoted from the Regional competition after reaching last September’s Grand Final.
The Tigers are enjoying life in this company after winning two of their four games and sit proudly in fourth place in the table.
New recruit Zander Peden has made a big impression with nine tries already this season to lead the division scoring charts. He has also taken much of the pressure off player-coach Chris Potts who himself hit the record books with a club record 14 goals against Leicester in the Tigers’ dramatic opening day 100-0 win over the Phoenix.
“We don’t know too much about Bedford,” said Warriors’ coach Tom James. “But their results have shown that they have adapted well to this level and will be very competitive.”
The Warriors have two wins and two losses to their name so far this summer and with Bedford and Derby City both in good form, James’ men may well need to win this game to keep their top three hopes and play-off aspirations alive.
“Generally, I’m happy with the way things are going,” said James. “Our defensive structure was good against Derby but individual errors let us down and injuries meant that we couldn’t make the changes we wanted in the second half when the guys were blowing.”
“Our attack has been good and again we scored some good tries last time and if everything gels for us then we can beat anyone in this division.”
The Warriors are likely to come up against former Somerset Vikings prop Jamie Goss who has scored five tries this season and was a regular across the whitewash in his days at Taunton.
Warriors’ Stephan Fourie leads the Gloucestershire standings with five touchdowns while loose forward Ben Constantine is enjoying a prolific campaign, scoring at a try a game. Both will hope to maintain that form this weekend.
There are big battles at the top and bottom of the table this weekend. Champions Coventry Bears travel to Nottingham Outlaws looking to extend their unbeaten record in league matches, which stretches back to 2006. The Outlaws have looked impressive this season and with both sides not having lost this season, an epic encounter is almost guaranteed.
Meanwhile the bottom two in the table battle for their first win. The Bulldogs have been competitive throughout but have shipped early points in most of their matches. Leicester meanwhile have recovered from a horrendous start to the season and showed last week in defeat at Derby that they are capable of worrying any team. A defeat for either side would almost certainly end their play off chances while the winners would still have hopes of post season play.
WARRIORS MILESTONES:
Marc Graham scored on his Warriors debut at Derby while Andy Claydon scored his first try for the club in that game.
ROUND FIVE
MIDLANDS PREMIER DIVISION LEAGUE TABLE
| Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | Pts |
| Coventry Bears | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 230 | 55 | 175 | 8 |
| Nottingham Outlaws | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 178 | 46 | 132 | 8 |
| Derby City | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 135 | 156 | -21 | 6 |
| Bedford Tigers | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 176 | 82 | 94 | 4 |
| Gloucestershire Warriors | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 130 | 115 | 15 | 4 |
| Birmingham Bulldogs | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 76 | 173 | -97 | 0 |
| Leicester Phoenix | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 28 | 326 | -298 | 0 |
(NB: If tied, final positions decided by scores between tying teams not overall points difference)
TOP SCORERS (after 5 Rounds): Nottingham scorers from Round 5 missing
Tries:
9 – Zander Peden (Bedford Tigers)
8 – Ben Powis (Coventry Bears)
8 – Paul Calland (Nottingham Outlaws)
6 – Ben Thornton (Nottingham Outlaws)
5 – Matt Cooper (Coventry Bears)
5 – Martin Edwards (Nottingham Outlaws)
5 – Stephan Fourie (Gloucestershire Warriors)
5 – Jamie Goss (Bedford Tigers)
5 – Mike Jones (Birmingham Bulldogs)
5 - Rich Whitehouse (Coventry Bears)
4 – Ben Constantine (Gloucestershire Warriors)
4 – Ian Gilmore (Derby City)
4 – Will Thomas (Nottingham Outlaws)
Goals:
31 – Graham Healey (Coventry Bears)
21 – Ben Thornton
16 – (incl 2 field goals) Paul Worthington
14 – Chris Potts (Bedford Tigers)
8 – Zander Peden
Points:
66 – Graham Healey (1 try, 31 goals)
66 – Ben Thornton (6 tries, 21 goals)
52 – Zander Peden (9 tries, 8 goals)
42 – Paul Worthington (3 tries, 14 goals, 2 field goals)
32 – Paul Calland (8 tries)
32 – Ben Powis (8 tries)
28 – Chris Potts (14 goals)
24 – Mike Jones (5 tries, 2 goals)
22 – Stephan Fourie (5 tries, 1 goal)
20 – Matt Cooper (5 tries)
20 – Jamie Goss (5 tries)
20 – Rich Whitehouse (5 tries)
20 – Martin Edwards (5 tries)
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Chris Wilson
Media Manager, Gloucestershire Warriors RLFC
Tel: +44 (0)1684 850903
Mobile: + 44 (0)7905 931033
Email: gloswarriors2004@aol.com
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The Gloucestershire Rugby League is an organisation for local rugby league clubs in Gloucestershire. Our main activity currently is to promote rugby league through the County and give useful information about our sport to the public of Gloucestershire.
