byline Twm Owen
The South Wales Warriors can claim a second successive south west divisional title on Sunday when they host their return fixture with the Torbay Trojans.
Should the heavily fancied Warriors record a second successive victory over their visitors from Devon (2.30pm) there are likely to be only muted celebrations at Llanharan Rugby Club’s Dairy Field.
The Warriors took control of the British American Football Association Southern Conference Division Two West with a convincing 14-48 away victory over the Trojans a fortnight ago.
Victory on Sunday will ensure the division title but head coach Geraint Roberts has said from the start of the season the club’s aim is to win promotion back to Division One which they were relegated from in 2017.
This Sunday sees the Warriors take on the Torbay Trojans at home in Llanharan for our second match against them this season.
The game will be played at Llanharan RFC
Kick off is at 2:30pm
Entry to the game is free and the clubhouse will be available for use. pic.twitter.com/TRZKtMm7bh— South Wales Warriors (@swwarriors) July 4, 2019
Promotion hopes were extinguished last year when the Warriors lost their semi-final to the Portsmouth Dreadnoughts having posted a perfect 8-0 record through the regular season.
This summer has followed a similar course with the Warriors enjoying comfortable wins to set up a title decider with the Trojans. Strangely the regular season run in mirrors the final three fixtures of last year with the Warriors facing back to back games against the Trojans and completing their season against the Cornish Sharks.
The Warriors sealed last year’s divisional title with a 42-0 win against the Trojans, at Llaharan, after squeezing past them in the previous encounter, in Devon, with a 6-14 victory for the advantage in the divisional race.
The recent road win in Devon suggested the gap between the Warriors and Trojans has widened this season. Both teams had entered the game with perfect 5-0 records but the seven touchdowns, including three from the defence, were too much for Torbay whose five wins have been lower scoring affairs.
That victory has seen the Warriors capture and retain the top spot in the Double Coverage British American Football website’s Division Two Power Rankings while the Trojans slipped out of the Top 10.
With Roberts focused on maintaining the Warriors momentum he will demand a dominant display against wounded opponents who won’t be taken lightly. The former defender will also want a clean sheet with the Warriors defence having allowed 48 points this year against just 12 at the same stage last season.
To prevent the Warriors from wrapping up the division the Trojans will need to cut out the mistakes that undermined them on offence against the Warriors but will also need to show more firepower.
Maintaining a 100% winning record will be vital for the Warriors with two other undefeated sides in the Southern Conference meaning points allowed is likely to be important in determining play-off seedings.