WINNER TAKES ALL

IT'S ironical that for Mick Orton, a Devonian in his first season as Worthing head coach, the destiny of his promotion ambitions are held by another West Country side and not one from London 1 at all.
By The Newsroom
Published 28th Apr 2005, 11:52 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 00:56 BST

"It's not in their hands; it's in ours," he retorts immediately. "And now this is winner takes all.

"Our perfomance on Saturday was simply cracking good rugby with which we just made Canterbury look pretty ordinary. Although at half-time, when we and Cambridge had exactly the same score, Canterbury decided to come out and defend as if their lives depended on it.

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"Good luck to Cambridge. It's just a pity our guys couldn't have done it themselves as they deserve it.

"But I've done my homework and got my feelers out.

"Bridgwater & Albion's team has got a very good spine from hooker backwards. He's Australian, the No 8 is a New Zealander, the scrum-half's Australian, the fly-half's Welsh, the No 13 and full-back are South Africans. And I think there's an England Under-21 prop.

"But I don't care what they've got. This is a one-off game in which passion and belief are going to decide it.

"And support.

"Bridgwater & Albion will be trying to bring a whole load of coaches and make this a home game. So we need support from everybody. There may have been 1,000 watching us on Saturday but I want more than that this time.

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"I'm not talking with fingers crossed. I do believe the team will do it."

Leading Powergen Division 1 scorers: 1,008pts Bridgwater & A, 879 Clifton, 874 Cambridge, 811 Cinderford, 732 Worthing, 700 Preston Grasshoppers (North 1).

Leading defences: 250pts Leicester Lions (Midlands 1), 264 Cinderford, 275 Worthing, 291 Clifton, Richmond, 308 Bridgwater & A.

THE RFU has asked to charge at the game for the Play-off matches across England. Worthing do not normally charge at the gate but our information suggests expect the entry to cost 5 for non-members this Saturday and for Under-16s to be free.

Post-match Saturday (Worthing 69, Canterbury 7).

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Enthused Worthing head coach Mick Orton: "That was an outstanding performance.

His words were echoed by Worthing president, Charles Boughton-Leigh: "We couldn't have asked more of them."

(Mike Rice)

Rice on Tuesday: "It was just a fantastic performance on Saturday and after that you don't make any team changes unless you're forced to."

(Richard Amey)

THE need for a London Play-off this Saturday, tagging on an extra week to the season, means that leading try scorer Rowan O'Gorman and prop Joni Nacagilevu must go easy on any celebrations after the match. They will be heading home on the first flight Sunday morning to New Zealand.

However, they may well be back. Both have reportedly expressed a desire to return next season.

Their new domestic season in New Zealand begins this Saturday, so they will be clocking in a week late.

Related topics:AlbionLondon