Fylde, 4th in National Three (North), welcome 7th placed Leicester Lions to the Woodlands on Saturday, 17th January (ko 15.00) for only their fourth ever visit to the Woodlands. This is a speedy re-arrangement of the fixture that was postponed on 3rd January when the Woodlands was frozen. Both clubs will be anxious for match action as they've each had only one competitive league game in six weeks before and after Christmas. Since the Lions were promoted to the national leagues, the results between the two clubs are balanced - three wins for Fylde, three for the Lions, and one drawn.

The Lions have had a mixed 2008/9 season so far with seven wins and six defeats. They started off with four straight victories, including a narrow, last minute 25-21 home win over Fylde, and then followed that up with three defeats including an amazing 12-40 reverse at home to Kendal. It's been similarly up and down since then. More recently, Preston Grasshoppers beat them by 34-8 at Lightfoot Green but the Lions came back a week later with a good 2nd half performance to edge it at home against an in form Huddersfield by 16-9. On the 20th December they were as disappointed as Fylde at 'Hoppers when they went down at neighbours Loughborough Students by 6-20. Since then, like Fylde, the Lions have been 

The Lions club was formed in the summer of 1999 by the amalgamation of Westleigh RFC (founded in 1904) and Wigston RFC (founded in 1946), both clubs with proud traditions. The aim of the merger was to provide Leicestershire with a second senior club playing the national leagues in addition to Leicester Tigers. The Lions achieved national league status for the first time in the 2005/6 season and struggled to adjust to the standard of play as they finished just one place above the relegation zone in 11th. In 2006/7 they were 7th and last season finished one place behind Fylde in 4th. So they'll be looking to take that gradual improvement another stage further this time. The last game between the clubs at the Woodlands was in February 2008, a thrilling 34-all draw thanks to a last minute penalty kick by the Lions in which the visitors recovered from a 21-34 deficit after 50 minutes.

The Lions appear to put most of their resources into their playing budget. With Leicester Tigers a few miles away, it's not too surprising that they attract small crowds, an average of around 120 last season. On the other hand, they benefit from close ties with the Tigers who act as a source of young development players to bolster their ranks.

Much of the credit for the Lions' last two seasons' achievements goes to former Tigers No.8 Chris Tarbuck who was appointed as Director of Rugby in the summer of 2006 but who surprisingly left the Club at the end of May 2008. The rugby management is now in the hands of Director of Rugby Glyn Evans and player-coaches Jon Russell, Jon Bowden & Richard Moore.

The Lions' most influential signing last season was former Doncaster fly-half Jon Boden. He is both a very accomplished goal kicker as well as a fluent launcher of his backline. Boden was the division's top scorer by a country mile last season, with 282 points and a kicking success rate of 70%. This campaign has been harder for him as the Lions have struggled to score tries in the fashion of their last campaign. They've scored 32 tries compared with Fylde's 54 and have only picked up three bonus points compared with Fylde's eight. Boden has scored 101 points compared with Fylde kicker Steve Nutt's 147.

An acute danger in Lions' backline is fullback Gavin Collins, always one of the division's top try scorers in the past three seasons and perhaps the best 15 seen at the Woodlands last season. Kiwi winger or centre Scott Alfred is also a constant threat. They have now recruited talented newcomers in Leicester Tigers Development wing Karl Pallas, Nuneaton scrum-half Alex Wright, and the accomplished veteran former Nuneaton & Moseley centre Jody Peacock.

They have a tough, competitive pack featuring on loan Birmingham lock John Harlock (ex-Cambridge), two durable and forceful hookers in John Williamson and Dale Ager, lock or backrower Junior Fagalilo (ex-DMP), flanker Marc Howgate, prop Stuart Pearman (both formerly with Nuneaton), and the very promising Leicester Tigers Development no 8, Jeremy Saxon. More recently former Tigers young fly-half Billy Blair, who has been making a name for himself in Australian club rugby in Perth, has joined the club.

Fylde trained on Thursday evening with Sedgley Park at Park Lane, the second time they've done this during the season. They make three changes from the team which lost at Preston Grasshoppers before Christmas. Amongst the backs, Neil Hunter starts at centre in place of the injured Jordan Davies. In the forwards, prop Andrew Irving replaces Ross Davies and Darren Clark is named amongst the replacements. In the backrow, flanker Dan Bowman has 'flu and is replaced by Dan Palmer. Mark Stephenson is one of the replacements but as his wife is due to give birth at any moment David Wiseman stands by.

15 Mike Waywell; 14 Nick Royle, 13 Tom Albinson, 12 Neil Hunter, 11 Oliver Brennand; 10 Steve Nutt, 9 Craig Aikman; 1 Sam Simpson, 2 Alan Holmes, 3 Andrew Irving, 4 Oliver Atkinson, 5 Roger Banks, 6 Dan Palmer, 7 Dave Wilks, 8 Sam Beaumont.

Replacements: 16 Darren Clark, 17 Mark Darlington, 18 Grant Ferguson, 19 Mark Stephenson (or David Wiseman), 20 Martin Wallwork.

In terms of the long term absentees, lock forward Nick King is still two or three weeks away from fitness after breaking an arm against Kendal on 2nd November and prop forward Adam Lewis, who suffered a serious hand injury on the opening day of the season in September, is seeing a specialist next week and is hoping to get the all-clear then. On the down side, hooker Chris Tyms looks to be a long-term injury victim.

Mark Nelson said: "Chris has dislocated his shoulder, on which he has had an operation before. There is worse damage than was first thought, and it's a possibility he won't play again this season." Fylde are fortunate that they have experienced cover for the specialist hooker's position with Alan Holmes and Mark Darlington