Match Preview

Local Derby in Cup Quarter-Final

The originally scheduled trip to Maidstone in the RFU Intermediate Cup was given as an away walkover, freeing up a weekend to play the Bob Rogers Cup quarter-final against Brighton. Hove will now progress to the 3rd round of the Intermediate Cup (having had a bye in round one). The draw for Round 3 will be next Wednesday and the fixture will be played on the 4th January. The boys are thrilled at the prospect of getting back into action so soon after the Christmas period.

Hove will nominally be playing Brighton's second team, with their first team enjoying a week off from a tough campaign in London Premier. However as in any derby fixture both teams will be fired up and looking for local bragging rights. Should Hove win, we'll keep the dream alive that we can continue our illustrious streak of getting to the Sussex Cup final and losing. Or maybe even go one better and finally lift the immortal Bob Rogers memorial trophy.

Hove have made a few tweaks to what is still a strong team sheet, while the cup having 22 man squads has given head coach Sandy Robertson more spaces than he knows what to do with, with 21 players currently named. Sandy is keeping his cards very close to his chest, not even telling the players who the mystery 22nd man is. Rumour has it not even he knows.

Hove's tight 5 (Declan Peake, Tyler-Ray Hooper, Adi Shergold, Ian Saunders and Charlie Watts) is unchanged from the 50-0 win over Thanet and will be looking to continue the set piece dominance they established in that game. Veteran second row Carl Buckland is enjoying the second week of his midseason break and therefore was not in contention for selection (much to Ian's relief). Speaking on Sunday after not playing the Thanet game, Carl said: "it's nice to wake up and be able to move", prompting fears that after 8 years at the club and threatening retirement for 7 of them that this might actually be the year.

In the back row, Toby Brown and Ben Anderson drop out with other commitments. Rob Ward comes up from the bench at 6 while "The Night King" Ollie Noel makes his first appearance for the firsts since suffering a nasty looking injury at the Battle of Winterfell.

Phil Dugard, who has held the captaincy for the first period of the season, moves to centre to allow George Davies to slot in outside Charlie Knight. Martin MacDonald takes back the captaincy he definitely wasn't tense about missing out on since his return. It's fine guys, he was happy for Phil.

Recently-engaged Rene Pavlides returns from holiday and comes back into the back 3 while Carles Casanova Galindo drops out. I haven't checked but safe to assume Carles is off on holiday. Alex Parker shifts round to 15. Guy Patton.

Sam Whiting, feeling the heat from Rene's engagement misses the game to spend the weekend at home, allowing Smash Parker to link up with Big Phil, some say this is the biggest centre pairing that Hove have ever picked.

On the bench, Hove are required to card two front row replacements. With player-coach Ryan Storer rolling back the years to visit the cultural hotspot that is Malia, James Buckley and Timmie Barnett get deserved call-ups to the first team squad for the first time this season (Buckley)/ever (Timmie). Ben Stephens is also in line to make his first team debut, and after some rave reviews from the second team last week a lot of the boys are keen to see what he has to offer.

Jerome Pye, sub against Thanet, drops from the bench so he can enjoy his customary Friday beers free from guilt. Jack Moore and Lloyd Tullett join Jake Butler on the bench as the backs options.

Kick off is at the earlier time of 1:30pm at the Hove Rec, due to the light closing in and possibility of extra time, while the weather is set to be not atrocious (for reference; the weather for the last two home games were definitely atrocious). So come down for what should hopefully be a good day of rugby with plenty of time for pints after.