FYLDE travel to Market Bosworth in Leicestershire for Saturday's 2003/4 season opener in a 1st Round Powergen Cup tie.

Market Bosworth overturned the form book last Saturday in the clearest way possible with a 37-7 away win in the Preliminary Round at Spalding.

This was particularly noteworthy as MB are in a lower league than their hosts.

Market Bosworth are in Midlands Two (East), level six in the RFU hierarchy, whilst Fylde are now at level fout. Although MB were defeated in the Leicestershire County Final by Loughborough Students, their opponents fielded an ineligible player and they were subsequently banned from the county cup competition and also excluded from the Powergen Cup.

Of their Spalding triumph, Market Bosworth captain Rich Jackson said "I was delighted with the result, but Spalding probably did take us a bit too lightly."

However, Jackson is refusing to allow his players to get carried away with the result. "I've told everyone not to read too much into the scoreline.

Spalding had a few players away and are usually a much stronger side," he added.

A number of Fylde's new recruits will feature in the squad which travels to Leicestershire including Mike Scott, Karl Long and Paul Bamber. 'Returners' Ben Godfrey and Alan Yates are also likely to be included. Aaron Rameka, the New Zealand lock who is expected to arrive midweek in the UK, may feature in the game depending on whether he suffers jet lag.

Mike Scott has a haematoma in his arm which needs to be removed but, showing early commitment to his new club's cause, has postponed surgery until the crucial opening weeks of the season have been navigated.

The victors of Saturday's match will entertain Nottingham at home on the 20th September.

* The youngest ever Lytham line-up had a very encouraging start to the season when they overran St Mary's Old Boys by 64-0 in the 1st Round of the Lancashire Plate competition at the Woodlands on Sunday. Lytham included a number of young players at, or who have just left, local schools plus a handful from the University of Central Lancashire and some old Fylde stalwarts, including 1st team Kiwi prop Matt Filipo, returning after injury.

The mixture was a very potent one indeed. Relative newcomers included Ben Hall (who has already made a Fylde first team appearance), the outstanding Richard Westerman, Edward Priestly and Scott Newburn. Brennand, Ball and Caterson are still at Arnold where as Laycock and Priestley have just left. Perhaps the best aspect of the performance was the level of commitment shown by all the players. They just weren't willing to let them get on the score sheet!

It's heartening that the considerable efforts put into attracting talent from local schools and universities to the Club are paying off.