Bury ready for a crunch clash against Henley

Back-to-back defeats at the hands of Taunton (22-8) and London Irish Wild Geese (36-24) have seen Bury slide closer to the relegation zone, so they will be keen to re-establish a buffer between themselves and the bottom three, starting tomorrow against a Henley side who were relegated from National League One last term.

“It’s another key match,” insisted Gavin Hogg, Bury’s Director of Rugby.

“Suffering two losses on the bounce has seen this weekend’s fixture take on an even greater importance, especially after the disappointment of our first-half performance at London Irish.

“It’s all about the players going out and proving a point to themselves.

“The guys have been very focused this week, and have had an honest chat with each other on Tuesday night. They want to prove a point.

“I think ‘frustration’ sums it up after last weekend, when mental attitude and concentration levels were not quite there during the first half. For some reason, a lot of the guys did not go out and perform.

“They proved that they had the ability to turn it around in the second half, scoring 17 unanswered points, so we have to take that on into this weekend’s match, in front of our own supporters.

“We have basically let the players take the lead this week,” added Hogg.

Tomorrow’s visitors, Henley, are currently two points behind 10th-placed Bury in 12th spot, with a game in hand – they had no match last weekend.

Bury (37 points) are eight points clear of third-from-bottom Barnstaple.

Hogg said: “Henley have a big pack of forwards. They have a solid scrum and like to catch-and-drive off the line-out, so we need to get parity with them up front.”

Cai Griffiths will return to the front row, to add some size and bulk, while Louis Wheeton will return in the second row after injury – fellow forward Ben Turner serves a one-week suspension for three yellow cards.

Club stalwart Matt Edison is available again and will play at No. 8,