After almost pulling off a victory against 2nd place Letchworth two weeks ago, things don't get any easier as we play host to third placed Old Northamptonians.

The form book suggests we must begin with a chance if you consider their narrow defeat two weeks ago to lowly placed Bedford Athletic who's secured only their second win of the season. However that doesn't tell the whole story as the week before Old Northamptonians came away victorious from Letchworth in another close fought game. So, my forecast is the spoils will go to the team that plays best on the day. (Superb punditry, don’t you think!)

It will be great to welcome back to Hoe Lane another opposition player who has graced the blue black and gold, in the form of Rory Seymour. Rory was with us for a couple of seasons 5 or 6 years back When he played at both 10 and 15 for the 1st XV. According to the team supplied it looks as though he will be wearing the number 14 wingers shirt for our guests. Maybe he just wants to get close to the crowd.

It's always a good game against Old Northamptonians and great to see a side with similar rugby philosophy, evidenced by the stat that they have 11 squad members who are product of their youth system.

If we can play the game that we played against Letchworth we must be in with a good shout. As the coaches tinker with mixing the right blend of youth and experience we see the return of the old war horse Josh Corcoran.

Evidence of that mix can be seen as the five newest squad members have 24 caps between them and in the spine of the team, the 8, 9,10 axis combines to register almost 430 caps between them.

Carrying on our theme of meet the team 24-25, the accompanying photograph shows 2 of our recent debutantes, post match, having received their Hertford RFC ties from president ‘Griddle’.

On the left of the photo is the starting fullback, Sam little. Sam has recently moved this way after finishing Uni and was previously associated with Westcliff RFC. His preferred position is 10 but has shown that he can equally slot into the centre wing or fullback shirts. We wish him well in his first start for the 1’s.

on the right of the picture is James Bovaird. James was previously with Saffron Walden and was the starting prop for Eastern Counties last season. Whilst not a product of our youth system, James has Hertford blood well and truly running through his veins. As I've said before, his dad Alistair and late Grandad Ramsey are both former players. James is a solid scrummager and strong ball carrier and we look forward to watching his progress.

Bear with me while I go off at a tangent here. Looking at the O N’s team sheet makes me think about how surnames sometimes fit the jobs people do. Their loose head props name is Diggin. Well, it tickled me. I may have to buy that man a pint.

Here’s to a great game.

See you there, mine’s a Guinness.