Kingstone Press League 1 preview: All Golds v Rochdale Hornets

Gloucestershire University All Golds got off to a winning start against South Wales Scorpions but coach LeeGreenwood expects a sterner test against Rochdale Hornets this week.

“Saturday is going to be tough,” he said. “Any time you play a Northern team, we’re the underdogs. They’ve got lads who have played the game for a long time who are a lot more experienced than us.

“We’re looking to be competitive in these games without being expected to win so there’s pressure on them. We’re starting to get a team now that can compete against Northern teams. We’ll put a plan together to give them a game knowing it’s going to be difficult.”

Rochdale Hornets coach Ian Talbot said: “It’s a potential banana skin for us. We’re a bit low on confidence at the minute having lost a few games on the bounce so we can’t under estimate them in any way. It’s going to be a hard game, as it always is when there’s travelling involved.

“They’re pretty similar to ourselves in that we’ve had quite a turnaround in our personnel, it’s just a matter of seeing who can gel pretty quickly. With that win first time out they seemed to have gelled pretty rapidly whereas we’re still trying to find our feet with new combinations so it will be interesting to see where we are.

“In recent years we’d have been expected to go down there and win comfortably but I don’t think that’s going to be the case in any of the fixtures this season.”