Hove return to league action with a home game against old rivals Dover.
Hove welcome Dover 2 weeks after the win against Gravesend. The two teams have played a number of times over the past few seasons in both London 2 South East and London 1, and the games are often close, physical encounters, so both teams are well advised to stock up on tape and bandages and foam and mouth guards.
Hove make 3 changes to their starting line-up from that win against Gravesend. Ryan Storer, fresh from his pasting at the hands of Tendai Mtawaria in the World Cup final, drops to the bench along with Charlie Watts while Harry Nelson drops out of the squad altogether as he takes a month off rugby to go travelling. Adi Shergold and Carles Casanova Galindo are promoted from the bench to the starting line-up, while Ben Anderson comes in to the back row to clean up untidy ball around the park. Rene Pavlides also returns to the bench, having trained 4 times since returning from holiday 2 weeks ago.
Hove currently sit second in the league and following a break in the league schedule last week for the World Cup final, Hove now have a run of 6 league and cup games in 6 weeks to bring us up to the Christmas. Hove will be looking to start this next phase of the season with a good performance and result.
First team manager Kev Long said: "I really hope the team go out there and do themselves justice. The win would be nice but I'm hoping in addition they can put in a vintage Hove performance with forwards dominating collisions and backs in full flow, as England did when they knocked out my native New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup semi-final just 2 short weeks ago. I recently learnt that this is the first time New Zealand had been knocked out at the semi-final stage since 2003, but I digress.
"Playing in a public park, it can feel a million miles away from the events in Yokohama last week, but it's the same game. Same laws, same number of people, same ball. So if you got taken in by England's amazing run to the final in Japan and want to continue your love affair with rugby, the Hove Rec at 14:30 is the place you want to be."