BAFA Adult Contact Week 7 Preview

Photo: Mick Dixon

As the British American Football season heats up, fans are in for a thrilling weekend of gridiron action. This Sunday promises high stakes and intense matchups across all divisions, with each team battling for supremacy, redemption, and playoff positioning. Whether it's the undefeated teams looking to extend their perfect records or the underdogs striving to turn their seasons around, the excitement is palpable. Here's a comprehensive preview of this weekend's fixtures, highlighting key matchups and storylines to watch for the BAFA Adult Contact Week 7.

All games kick off at 2 pm unless otherwise stated.

Premiership

North

Manchester Titans (3-0) vs Merseyside Nighthawks (0-4)

East Kilbride Pirates (1-2) vs Newcastle Vikings (3-1) – 3:30 pm

An offence that has an average of 36 points per game scored vs a team with an average of 40 points conceded per game. Sunday is probably going to be a difficult day at the office for the Nighthawks but no doubt they will be looking to continue their development and turn the tide on their season. The Titans will be looking to continue their unbeaten regular season record.

Can Newcastle make it 4-0 against the teams north of the border? These two teams met in week 2 where the game ended 23-6 to Newcastle. We saw last week that EKP have a hard-hitting defence but will be looking to improve on offence to take the pressure off the defence.

South

London Warriors (3-0) vs Solent Thrashers (0-4)

London Blitz (1-2) vs Hertfordshire Cheetahs (1-2) – 4 pm

The Warriors are playing for the third week in a row so they’ll be wanting to come out of this game unscathed. Hopefully, their player who was injured last week, which led to calling the game in the 3rd quarter, is recovering and well. They face a Thrashers team who are conceding an average of 33 points per game and scoring an average of 7 points per game. Thrashers will be keen to improve on the trend and show up well to what is likely to be a difficult game.

London Blitz has shown so far this season that things are different to previous years having lost a home to the Cats last week. This week they host the Cheetahs who are coming off two tough matchups against the Warriors. A difficult matchup to call, how will the Prem newcomers do against a Blitz team adapting to change on and off the field?

Division 1

NFC 1 – North

Chester Romans (2-1) vs Sheffield Giants (2-2)

This division is turning into a very interesting one with four teams separated by one win. Already at this point in the season, this matchup has significance in the playoff race as the Giants currently hold the head-to-head against Chester. Chester clearly has a tough defence only conceding an average of 8 points per game and Sheffield will take confidence from their comprehensive win against Humber last week. Chester will be looking for a 10-point victory to take the head-to-head which may be significant at the end of the season.

NFC 1 – Midlands

Birmingham Bulls (0-3) vs Leicester Panthers (0-2)

Northants Knights (2-1) vs Shropshire Revolution (2-2)

Both the Bulls and the Panthers will be chasing their first win of the season and this series ends may decide relegation based on recent results. Interestingly in this matchup, we have a Bulls offence scoring just 10 points per game and a Panthers defence conceding 45 points per game.

In week 1 we saw the reverse of this fixture where Northants won 14-0. Northants will be disappointed with their showing against Nottingham a couple of weeks ago and until then they hadn’t conceded a point. Shropshire on the other hand hasn’t scored a point against the top two yet, but they’ll be looking to correct that, they’ll need to overturn a 14-point deficit to take the head-to-head against the Knights.

SFC 1 – East

London Blitz B (2-1) vs East Kent Mavericks (3-0) – 12 pm

A repeat of the week 2 matchup where the Mavericks won 30-0. Either side of that the Blitz B have faced the Norwich Devils and secured two convincing victories. We haven’t seen East Kent in four weeks where they had the close game against the London Olympians at home. With a victory in this fixture the Mavericks can solidify themselves at the top of the division, on the other hand, Blitz B could keep up with the top two for a playoff place.

SFC 1 – Central

London Hornets (0-3) vs Rushmoor Knights (4-0)

Wembley Stallions (1-1) vs Portsmouth Dreadnoughts (2-1)

We didn’t get to see the reverse of this fixture as the Hornets forfeited but Rushmoor have been dominant so far with an average of 21-point margin of victory. The Hornets on the flip side have only scored 5 points per game. A victory for Rushmoor here will see them clear of the pack.

When Portsmouth isn’t playing Rushmoor they score a lot of points! 45 per game to be precise. We also haven’t seen Wembley in four weeks, so they’ve had a lot of time to prepare for this game with Portsmouth likely to be their rivals for a playoff spot. Portsmouth have shown they belong in Division 1, this is an intriguing matchup.

SFC 1 – West

Hereford Stampede (0-3) vs Bournemouth Bobcats (1-3)

South Wales Warriors (2-2) vs Somerset Wyverns (2-2)

We see a repeat of this fixture from two weeks ago where Bournemouth beat Hereford 29-6. This means Hereford needs to win by 24 points to take the head-to-head and aid their Division 1 survival. Bournemouth will surely take confidence from their last game having got on the scoreboard for the first time this season, they’ll want to continue that momentum.

Who will be able to keep up with Bristol? Somerset took care of the Warriors in week 2 where they won 26-0. But since then the Warriors have beaten Bournemouth and only just lost to Bristol a couple of weeks ago. South Wales have their work cut out to overturn a 26-point deficit in the head-to-head.

Division 2

NFC 2 – East

Doncaster Mustangs (0-2-1) vs Wakefield District Raiders (0-1-1)

Gateshead Senators (3-1) vs Lincolnshire Bombers (0-2)

Doncaster and Wakefield currently can’t be separated. Both are looking for their first victory of the season and 3 weeks ago shared a 28-28 tie in Wakefield. The only other results we have to go by are both sides’ performances against Gateshead, Wakefield lost by 18 points and across two games Doncaster lost by 98 points.

Gateshead will be disappointed with last week’s result against Darlington and looking to bounce back against bottom-of-the-division Lincolnshire Bombers. We haven’t seen the Bombers in three weeks, and they’ve only played division leaders Darlington so far. A journey to Gateshead may be a difficult task to get their first victory of the season.

NFC 2 – West

Lancashire Wolverines (0-1-1) vs Staffordshire Surge (2-0)

Sandwell Steelers (2-1) vs Leigh Miners (0-2-1)

The Wolverines are still in search of their first win of the season having tied with Leigh Miners two weeks ago. They find themselves against the division leaders and in-form Surge who convincingly beat Leigh last week.

Sandwell will be looking to keep up with Surge in the race for the playoffs. These two met in week 1 in Leigh where Sandwell won 25-23. Leigh’s third game in a row and second away from home in as many games hopefully will not have too much of an impact on their squad.

SFC 2 – East

Ipswich Cardinals (1-3) vs Colchester Gladiators (3-0)

These two teams have had very different starts to their season. Colchester currently sitting at the top of the division whilst Ipswich find themselves at the bottom. These two met in week 3 where Colchester won 16-3 but since then Ipswich had a better showing against Ouse Valley but lost convincingly to Essex last week. Colchester will continue to rely on their stingy defence whilst looking for a way to improve on offence as they go through the season.

SFC 2 – West

Sussex Thunder (1-2) vs Cornwall Monarchs (0-4)

Sussex has had an up-and-down season so far having lost very close games against Essex and Swindon but beating division leaders Berkshire at home. They find themselves against Cornwall who have had a tough start to the season. Cornwall has continued to improve on offence, having scored no points in their first two games they’ve scored 36 in their next two. They will be keen to continue to improve as they search for their first win of the season.