Skipper Phil Baines leaps over the try line at Stockport earlier this season.
Preston Grasshoppers vs. Stockport– Kick Off 2.30pm
Team News
Hoppers coach Garth Dew gives his playing squad a shuffle after the disappointment of last weeks defeat at the hands of Broadstreet.
The ‘Pack’ sees the return of Jack Banks to the second row, Jack Walker coming in at open-side and Danny Madden starting as loose-head.
The backs have changes in the centres with Sam Russell returning at outside-centre after being unavailable last weekend, and Tom Hurst moving up from the bench as his partner. The left wing berth goes to Scott Jordan who also wasn’t available for selection last week, in place of Lewis Allen who will await his turn as replacement on the bench. Also on the bench there’s Rich Morton who is creeping towards his two hundredth League appearance for Hoppers.
1. Danny Madden, 2. Phil Mills, 3. Pete Altham, 4. Jack Banks, 5. Ally Murray, 6. Andy Napier, 7. Jack Walker, 8. Chris Taylor, 9. Sam Kindred, 10. Alex Zavallis-Roebuck, 11. Scott Jordan, 12. Tom Hurst, 13. Sam Russell, 14. Phil Baines (Captain), 15. Mark Murray.
Replacements: 16. Alan Holmes, 17. Oga Mabaya, 18. Richard Morton, 19. Will Lees, 20. Lewis Allen.
Preview
Preston Grasshoppers face bottom of the table Stockport this Saturday and will be hoping for a much needed victory and bring to an end a run of five defeats.
They won’t have to take any complacency into the contest and a look back at the reverse fixture in late September will hopefully serve as a reminder when only a last minute try saved their blushes.
A glance back at last Saturday shows another pointless venture on the road, although lack of effort couldn’t be brought into question and Hoppers led the contest for periods only to be pegged back and the resultant defeat against a resurgent Broadstreet.
Our visitors will be boosted by a draw against fellow struggler’s Birmingham Solihull last time out and will be hoping to improve on that with a victory which will give them hope for their own survival.
Stockport regained their position at Level 4 rugby after just one season away after gaining promotion via a play-off with a comprehensive victory over Midlands 1 runners up Sutton Coldfield and will be hoping to pick up enough wins to draw them away from the bottom three places and stay at this level longer than their initial two season stay.
Whilst the name Stockport is a fairly new one on Hoppers long list of opponents, some of our older members will recall the time when the Cheshire club played under the name of Davenport before they metamorphosed into Stockport in 1992.
Hoppers and Davenport first meeting was over forty years ago on the 13th of February 1971 at the Bramhall ground when the home team came up with a narrow victory fourteen points to eight after a scoreless first half.
There have been twenty-six meetings between the ‘three’ clubs, Hoppers winning nineteen, Davenport six and Stockport none with one ending in a three all draw. After the first game, fixtures were kept every year until the last meeting between Hoppers and Davenport on the 17th of March 1990 at Lightfoot Green when the visitors replaced the scheduled opponents Wigan. We should have met once more, during the following month, but a Lancashire Cup Semi Final against LSH looks to have taken precedence.
Photograph courtesy of Mike Craig.
