Saxons set for battle of form teams

National One's form sides collide at Stourton Park on Saturday when leaders Barking put their unbeaten record on the line against the in-form Stourbridge Saxons.

A bumper home crowd will cheer on Ben Hughes' Stourbridge team, who have won six of their last seven games, including last weekend's comfortable 25-6 triumph over Tynedale.

The Londoners, whose only blemish in 11 starts this season came in a 20-20 draw at Redruth, have already beaten pre-season favourites London Scottish and Cambridge, as well as being rare away victors at Tynedale.

Stourbridge director of rugby Neil Mitchell knows his team will need to be at their best to beat the East Enders, who have established links with Premiership giants Saracens.

He said: "We don't know huge amounts about Barking, as they are new to National One this year. I believe former Saracens centre Kevin Sorrell is very influential off the pitch and runs the show on it.

"Apparently their backs can be devastating and they have a very simple but effective set-piece forward game – in fact, exactly the sort of approach we are trying to put in place.

"They have had a great run and we go into the game as underdogs, as expectations are that Barking are running away with this league.

"But we have a lot of confidence from our recent run and will give them a tough battle, it is a great opportunity to take a scalp.

"We are not playing a 'super side,' they are a team at our level who have shown vulnerabilities.

"I haven't spent too much time looking at Barking, as our reconstructed team is still very much at the learning stage.

"The time is better spent eliminating errors in our approach, as there are still many areas we need to improve, before we factor what the opposition is doing into our plans."

Mitchell urged rugby fans to head along to Stourton Park to see what should be a thrilling encounter.

He said: "We need a big crowd on Saturday. We are producing some really entertaining rugby and I very much hope that Black Country rugby fans recognise it and come and get behind us.

"There is no doubt this would give the lads a boost."