BAFA Adult Contact Week 6 Preview

Photo: Tony Small

We find ourselves at the BAFA Adult Contact Week 6 and have plenty of intriguing matchups installed this week. Poor BAFRA who are faced with officiating SIX Premiership matchups this week. We see NINE matches which conclude head-to-head series in their respective divisions this week all with either playoff or relegation implications. Here is our preview of what is sure to be a week full of great action.

All games kick off at 2 pm unless otherwise stated.

Premiership

North

Newcastle Vikings (2-1) vs Edinburgh Wolves (2-1)

Manchester Titans (2-0) vs East Kilbride Pirates (1-1) – 3 pm

Tamworth Phoenix (1-2) vs Merseyside Nighthawks (0-3) – 4 pm

Who doesn’t love seeing all Prem teams in action? The last time we saw the Vikings they impressed by taking the Manchester Titans to the wire in a 21-28 loss at home. There will always be questions about whether a newly promoted team can sustain the run and this week they have the reverse fixture against last season’s playoff semi-finalists in the Edinburgh Wolves. Edinburgh have had two weeks off from BAFA competition but hosted a friendly last week. In the reverse fixture, Newcastle won in Edinburgh 23-14.

It still feels like EKP could still merge from the pack as the second playoff team but they’ll have to get passed the Manchester Titans this week. They’ve had three weeks off bar a friendly against Alma College from the US. They last played Newcastle in week 2 and lost 23-6. The Titans will look to continue their undefeated stretch in the Prem North having last lost in week 9 of the 2022 season.

Tamworth will be judged this season against the two teams from Scotland with fewer expectations around the playoffs. They now have the upper hand against the Nighthawks in any relegation talks. The Nighthawks will need to win by 29 points to take the head-to-head against Tamworth. It’s worth noting they’ve never beaten the Phoenix.

South

Bristol Aztecs (1-1) vs Solent Thrashers (0-3)

Hertfordshire Cheetahs (1-1) vs London Warriors (2-0) – 2:30 pm

London Blitz (1-1) vs Cambridgeshire Cats (2-1) – 4 pm

More and more Prem action! Bristol will be determined to bounce back this week after a really close defeat away from home against the London Warriors last week. They play a Solent Thrashers team who are searching for their first win of the season. We last saw the Thrashers in week 4 where they lost 0-27 to the Cats.

Hertfordshire and the Warriors have played already this season, and it wasn’t pretty. Hertfordshire will certainly have learnt a lot against their previous encounter which ended 60-0 to the Warriors. London Warriors are playing their second game of a 3-game stretch.

Another rematch in the division between the London Blitz and Cambridgeshire Cats. We predicted a difficult matchup last time around as the Blitz had a lot of movement off the field. The game in Cambridge finished 34-28, will we see a step forward for the Blitz or will the Cats continue their impressive start to the season?

Division 1

NFC 1 – Scottish

Inverclyde Goliaths (2-0) vs Clyde Valley Blackhawks (1-2) – 1 pm

Clyde Valley go into this game having played two games on the bounce. Hopefully, they are healthy enough to give this tough matchup a good go because if last season is anything to go by this will be a great game.

We last saw Inverclyde in Week 3 when they beat the Glasgow Tigers 31-13 at home and the Blackhawks are coming into this matchup following a loss to Highland Stags last weekend.

A win for Inverclyde will separate them from the rest of the division with a comfortable gap and a win over all their opponents. However, in 2023 Clyde Valley took the series 2-0 with a 12-9 victory in this fixture last season. Inverclyde look like a different team having scored half of their total points from last season already this season.

NFC 1 – North

Scunthorpe Alphas (1-1) vs Yorkshire Rams (1-0)

Sheffield Giants (1-2) vs Humber Warhawks (1-2)

Alphas and Rams meet again. A back-to-back series will conclude this weekend. The Rams took a close 32-28 win last week so Scunthorpe will be looking for a 5-point victory in an attempt to take the head-to-head.

We see another series conclude in this division as the Giants and Warhawks meet again. Humber won 14-7 last time out at home but the Giants have shown they know how to win at home. With them both currently being at the bottom of the division Sheffield will need to win by more than 7 points as an insurance policy.

In such a close division every point is going to count when hunting for the playoff spots and avoid relegation.

NFC 1 – Midlands

Shropshire Revolution (2-1) vs Nottingham Caesars (3-0)

Shropshire will be delighted with their start in Division 1 following their promotion, but they face a tough challenge this week in the division leaders Nottingham Caesars. The Caesars will also be buoyant after beating fellow playoff contender Northants Knights 24-0 last week.

Shropshire will have taken heart from their 45-19 victory over the Leicester Panthers but that was three weeks ago now so hopefully they can regain some momentum for this matchup.

SFC 1 – East

London Blitz B (1-1) vs Norwich Devils (0-4) – 12 pm

Kent Exiles (1-1) vs London Olympians (2-1)

It’s been a tough start to the season for Norwich but they will be happy to get on the scoreboard last week against the Olympians. In a reverse fixture from Week 1 where Blitz B won 45-0 this will be another tough match for Norwich who are conceding 45 points a game. Blitz B will be hoping the four-week break won’t affect the outcome of this game, the last time we saw them they lost 30-0 to division leaders East Kent Mavericks.

The Exiles and Olympians last met in 2022 in the Premiership South Division where Kent won 27-12. The Olympians have shown this season that they can score, averaging 40 points a game, so we probably shouldn’t expect a similar scoreline. Being the only team to run the Mavericks close the Olympians still seem like the only challenger for the division.

SFC 1 – West

Bristol Apache (4-0) vs Somerset Wyverns (2-1) – 12 pm

A matchup between the top two in the division. Another series conclusion in Week 6 where Bristol will look favourites to wrap the series up 2-0. Why? Well, Bristol is only conceding 3 points a game and they met at Somerset’s place and won 35-0. However, Somerset has had three weeks to prepare for this game and will hope to keep pace with Bristol, they’ll also take confidence from their 42-12 victory over Hereford in Week 3.

A win for the Apache will see them sitting comfortably at the top of the division with a win over each of their division rivals.

Division 2

NFC 2 – East

Darlington Steam (2-0) vs Gateshead Senators (3-0)

The battle of the undefeated! Gateshead come into this game having dismantled Doncaster Mustangs last week 67-20 and are averaging 47 points per game (admittedly 124 of those have come from two games against Doncaster). Darlington has only played Lincolnshire Bombers this season so far taking the series 2-0, last time out being a narrow victory 28-24 in Lincolnshire.

It's difficult to put your finger on who’s favourite. But one thing is almost certain – it won’t be like last season. Across the two games in 2023, a total of 40 points were scored across both games and in this fixture, Darlington won 8-2.

NFC 2 – West

Staffordshire Surge (1-0) vs Leigh Miners (0-1-1)

This division remains difficult to read, so everything is to play for. The information we have going into this Week 6 matchup is that the Surge last played two weeks ago when they beat Sandwell Steelers 27-23. Leigh drew with Lancashire Wolverines last week 14-14 and are still searching for their first win of the season. But it’s still very early days in the NFC 2 – West season.

These two did play each other three times last season however, including a playoff game. Surge won all three games and the last time they met, in the playoffs, the score was 27-16.

SFC 2 – East

Essex Tridents (1-1) vs Ipswich Cardinals (1-1)

The Tridents last played in Week 2 so have had plenty of time to prepare for this game but what effect with the 4-week hiatus have on their season? Last time out they lost to Colchester Gladiators 12-13.

Almost the complete opposite, Ipswich managed to turn their season around last week with a win against Ouse Valley Eagles, overturning an 8-6 loss when they travelled to Ouse Valley in Week 2. Will this difference in momentum affect the result of this game? Since Essex Tridents are a new team, they remain difficult to analyse, only time will tell.

SFC 2 – West

Berkshire Renegades (1-1) vs Swindon Storm (2-1)

Swindon just love a close game! In their first three games, they have been separated by an average of 6 points a game, including a 7-0 victory last week against Sussex Thunder. Berkshire took last week off which followed a defeat to Sussex 17-7 away from home.

However, looking at last season Berkshire took the series 2-0 without conceding a point to Swindon. This fixture last season finished 33-0 to Berkshire but with Swindon conceding less than 6 points a game this season, it’s difficult to expect a similar result this season.

SFC 2 – Inter-Divisional

Ouse Valley Eagles (2-1) vs Cornwall Monarchs (0-3)

Another inter-divisional matchup in SFC 2 and it’s a reverse fixture of a Week 4 matchup. Last time, when Cornwall hosted Ouse Valley, it was the Eagles that came out victorious with a convincing 34-16 win. The Monarchs will have taken positives from the game though as they managed to get themselves on the scoreboard, something they couldn’t do in their first two fixtures. No doubt Ouse Valley would have been disappointed with last week’s result and will be looking to bounce back.