Which is to say…
Absolutely nothing like what I expected!
Three teams remain unbeaten, but behind Plymouth, Sale and Tonbridge Juddians the league is already incredibly tight.
Bishop’s Stortford and Birmingham Moseley have both won two of their opening three, Camborne have made an excellent start to life in National One, while Leeds finally announced themselves with that remarkable 57–10 victory over London Scottish.
At the other end, Rams and Dings are still looking for their first victories, while Cambridge have yet to get off the mark despite scoring 116 points in their three matches.
And this week gives us another fascinating set of fixtures.
There’s a battle between two of the unbeaten sides at Heywood Road, a couple of games between teams I had very different expectations of before the season, and several clubs desperately looking to turn promising performances into points.
So, let’s get into Week 4.
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SALE FC v TONBRIDGE JUDDIANS
This is probably the game of the weekend.
The two unbeaten sides meet at Heywood Road.
Sale have been absolutely relentless in the opening three rounds.
They’ve scored:
50 against Rams
66 against Moseley
45 against Bury
That’s 161 points already.
And they’ve done it while conceding only 72.
The attacking numbers are quite extraordinary.
Tonbridge Juddians, meanwhile, have also won all three, but they’ve taken a rather different route.
They’ve beaten Sheffield 31–26, London Scottish 39–38 and Cambridge 53–52.
So they’re averaging 41 points a game themselves, but they’re also conceding almost 39.
That makes this a fascinating contrast.
Sale have shown that they can score heavily.
TJs have shown that they can win extremely close games.
Something has to give.
I think Sale’s home advantage, combined with their attacking form, could prove decisive.
Prediction: Sale FC 46–32 Tonbridge Juddians
A fourth win for Sale, but I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if TJs make them work very hard for it.
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BISHOP’S STORTFORD v BIRMINGHAM MOSELEY
Another very interesting game.
Both sides have two wins from three and both have already caused me problems with my pre-season predictions!
Stortford opened with that 52–42 victory over Dings, were then beaten heavily by Rosslyn Park, before bouncing back with an excellent 34–31 victory at Rams.
Moseley, meanwhile, beat Cambridge, lost heavily at Sale and then recovered to beat Dings 35–31.
So both sides have already demonstrated that they can respond to setbacks.
Stortford have home advantage, but Moseley are starting to look like a very awkward side to play against.
I originally had Moseley finishing 14th.
After three weeks, they’re sitting fifth.
I’m not saying I’m rewriting the prediction just yet…
But I’m certainly keeping quiet about it!
I think Stortford might just have enough at home.
Prediction: Bishop’s Stortford 34–29 Birmingham Moseley
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CAMBRIDGE v LEEDS TYKES
This is a really intriguing one.
Cambridge are still looking for their first win, but their results don’t exactly suggest they’re a poor side.
They’ve scored:
33 against Moseley
31 against Bury
52 against TJs
That’s 116 points in three games.
The problem is they’ve conceded 129.
Leeds, meanwhile, finally got that first win last Saturday and did it in emphatic fashion.
57–10 against London Scottish.
That could be exactly what they needed after two narrow defeats. They had already shown in those opening games that they could compete, losing by just two points to Camborne before going down by seven at Sheffield.
The big difference against Scottish was that this time Leeds turned that competitiveness into a convincing victory — and they’ll be hoping that gives them the confidence to build some momentum.
Cambridge will certainly provide a different challenge, though. They’ve scored 116 points in their last three games and will fancy their chances of causing Leeds plenty of problems.
This could be another high-scoring game.
Prediction: Cambridge 30–36 Leeds Tykes
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DINGS CRUSADERS v BURY ST EDMUNDS
Both sides will be desperate for this one.
Dings have yet to win, but they’ve been competitive.
They drew 24–24 with Rams before losing 35–31 to Moseley.
Bury have won once — that excellent comeback at Cambridge — but were beaten 45–15 by Sale last weekend.
There’s another interesting factor here.
That Dings side contains a strong Bristol Bears connection, as has been discussed previously and that gives them access to players who can bring real quality into National One.
But Bury have already shown that they can cause problems.
I think home advantage could be important here.
Dings have been close in their last two games and I can see them finally getting over the line.
Prediction: Dings Crusaders 32–27 Bury St Edmunds
This could be a big afternoon for Dings.
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LONDON SCOTTISH v PLYMOUTH ALBION
A fascinating fixture for completely different reasons.
London Scottish will still be trying to work out what happened last weekend.
After scoring 53 against Bury and 38 against TJs, they went to Leeds and lost 57–10.
That’s some turnaround.
Plymouth, meanwhile, are doing exactly what we expected them to do.
Three wins.
140 points scored.
Only 43 conceded.
And last weekend they put Sheffield to the sword, winning 47–5.
The other interesting thing is that Plymouth have continued to perform despite Iwan Jenkins’ absence.
Jenkins was taken off at Camborne and was expected to be unavailable for a couple of weeks, so it was always going to be interesting to see whether his absence affected the dynamic of the team.
So far, the answer appears to be no.
This is a very difficult game for Scottish.
They’ll need a completely different performance from last week.
Prediction: London Scottish 24–42 Plymouth Albion
I can see Scottish scoring more than they did at Leeds, but Plymouth should have too much.
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RAMS v ROSSLYN PARK
Now this is a game where both teams need a result.
And neither is where I expected them to be.
I had Rams third in my pre-season prediction.
They’ve got no wins from their opening three:
Draw with Dings
Loss to Stortford
and the opening-day defeat at Sale.
Rosslyn Park aren’t exactly flying either.
They lost 61–17 to Plymouth, responded brilliantly by beating Stortford 61–30, then lost 40–26 at home to Camborne.
So both teams have shown flashes of what they’re capable of.
The problem is consistency.
This could be one of the most difficult games of the weekend to call.
Rams are at home, but I think Park will be desperate to respond after last week’s disappointment.
Prediction: Rams 28–32 Rosslyn Park
Another close one, but I think Park might just edge it.
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SHEFFIELD v CAMBORNE
This is another game where I’m beginning to look at my pre-season predictions rather differently.
Sheffield have already beaten Leeds and were competitive at TJs before losing 31–26.
They then went to Plymouth and got a taste of just how difficult that particular challenge is, losing 47–5.
Camborne, meanwhile, have been one of the early stories of the season.
They beat Leeds away on the opening day.
They lost to Plymouth.
Then they went to Rosslyn Park and won 40–26.
So their only defeat has come against Plymouth.
And both of their victories have come away from home.
That’s an excellent start from the newly promoted side.
Sheffield’s home record is something Camborne will have to respect, but I think Camborne have enough confidence and attacking ability to make this very uncomfortable for the home side.
Prediction: Sheffield 27–33 Camborne
Another close one, but I’m going with Camborne to continue their excellent start.
After three rounds, my pre-season prediction sheet is already looking a little battered.
National One — don’t you just love it?