Mitch wary of struggling Huddersfield (From Dudley News)

Mitch wary of struggling Huddersfield

10:00am Friday 14th September 2012 in Stourbridge RFC

NEIL Mitchell expects Stourbridge to face another big forward battle when they head to Huddersfield this Saturday.

The Saxons made it two wins out of two to become the early pacesetters in National Two North with a resounding 44-10 derby win against Dudley Kingswinford, as their pack dominated the derby at Stourton Park.

But with Huddersfield boasting former England international scrum-half Scott Benton and being under pressure after losing their opening two games, Stour’s director of rugby is expecting a much closer contest.

He said: “Huddersfield have some big burly guys and will feel like they have to win this home game to avoid finding themselves in a hole.

“It’s going to be a very difficult game and the forwards will again play a huge part.

“I’ve done my research on this league when we were building the squad. The message is there are some very big packs about and we’ve developed our side accordingly.”

Mitchell is pleased with how his new-look side have come through two bruising derby games against Birmingham and Solihull and then DK, conceding just 15 points in the process.

And he while he remains entirely focused on the job in hand, he admits the two wins have lifted some of the pressure.

He said: “For us the first two games were real banana skins and there was an increased pressure.

“I wouldn’t say we are now relaxed but I do feel, now we have got them out of the way, we can start to concentrate on what we want to achieve.”

He added: “I felt on Saturday our sheer physicality won the day. “DK were certainly fiery enough but they couldn’t cope with our power.

“It was a great day all round really with the ground packed out, it was great to see and a really good day for the sport.”