The 1st XV are headed north on Saturday as they make the trip up to Manchester to take on Sale FC.
Thanks to last week’s victory over DMP to make it three wins on the bounce, the 1st XV now sit in 6th with all 5 teams above having won seven and lost three.
On the other side of this weekend’s matchup, is Sale who sit bottom of the table on 12 points. Over the past couple of seasons Sale have regularly competed for promotion. They finished 2nd behind Caldy in the 2021/22 season and came 3rd last year, finishing just one point behind the winners Cambridge amidst a fierce three horse race for promotion that went down to the wire. So far this season Sale have won just two of their ten matches and have picked up only four bonus points along the way.
However, not everything suggests that coming away with a win on Saturday will be a simple task for the 1st XV. A fortnight ago, Sale’s 2nd win of the season came at the expense of the league leaders, Rams, who fell to a 29-17 defeat in Manchester. This result will have provided the Sale side with a huge boost in confidence and re-instilled a belief that they can compete with, and beat, anyone on their day. Sale will also take note of their recent record against Park, following Sale’s promotion to Nat One in the 2018/19 season, Park beat the Manchester outfit in the first 5 consecutive meetings, scoring an average of 34 points across those clashes. Since then, Sale have gone on to win the last 3 matches, a streak the 1st XV will be eager to bring to an end this weekend.
Kick off is at 2.15PM at Heywood Road, match details can be found here