As far as local derbies go Orrell and Garstang isn’t that obvious but with the fragmentation of league rugby in the North West over the past two years this is as close as it gets. In the close season a solid twelve team league dissolved as teams jumped ship to the Lancashire leagues and during that period the integrity of Lancs/Cheshire One was broken with the Northern Division giving us a set of home away fixtures to provide us with a fourteen game season! Orrell were integral in the negotiations that led us to a reasonable fixture list with the two phase season and Garstang were keen allies in this. It is a far from perfect league structure but it gives all teams in the league a reasonable fixture list.
Orrell are flying at the moment and currently sit top of the table with eight wins from eight. I think it’s fair to say that Orrell were relieved to get the victory over Garstang a couple of months ago in a game which saw two teams go toe to toe. A last gasp Orrell try denied Garstang a bonus point which probably wasn’t a fair reflection on the day.
As is always the way Garstang’s team is much changed from last weekend but there are some welcome returnees to the match day squad. Veteran Paul Brown comes in at Scrum Half and he will be looking to apply a calm hand to the tiller as he manages his talented forward pack. Lawson Whittaker also makes his first appearance in the match day squad this season on his comeback from surgery, the former Blackburn player is the club co-captain and he is looking forward to influencing affairs once more. He makes up an impressive bench with Head Coach Gavin Barton and former Fylde & Vale of Lune player Harrison Pickervance. Up front we have the dream front row of Dave Miller, Ryan Wilkinson and Will Parkinson and we are hopeful that Orrell won’t resort to uncontested scrums as three of the last four teams have done!
Team: Miller, Wilkinson, Parkinson, Davies Taylor, Johnston, Pye, Kelsall, Billington, Brown, Davies, A. Swale, Tissingh, Knowles, Inman, Nickson. Replacements: Barton, Pickervance, Whittaker.
In a beaut of an afternoon at Hudson Park the Blues are also in action as they take on Aldwinians 3rds. A decent team has been selected and they will be led by Tom Smeaton as Captain and managed by Martin Hindle.
Team: E. Nicholls, R. Swale, Hindle, Kerr, Everest, Hancock, Howard, Haley, Powell, Minnikin, Whittingham, Smeaton, Thompson, Makinson, Duda. Replacements: Fricker, Taylor, Couling, Cooper