Fylde, currently in 3rd place in National Three (North), welcome old friends and rivals Macclesfield, 4th placed in the division, to the Woodlands on Saturday (ko 15.00) for what promises to be another entertaining and highly competitive game. Fylde will be looking for revenge for their narrow 12-15 defeat at Priory Park, a result which put an early dent in their promotion campaign. Up to that game, Fylde held the bragging rights with five consecutive wins, three in succession at Priory Park.

Macclesfield had a disappointing three seasons in the division following a superb 2004/5 when they finished runners-up and lost the promotion play-off game at Launceston. They flirted with relegation during this period and finished in 9th place in 2005/6 & 2006/7 and 11th last season.

This campaign, with a new coaching structure and a summer of squad building, has been very different with Macc being one of the early pace setters in the division and still in the promotion mix along with Fylde. They have a very good home record with seven wins and two defeats but, like Fylde, they are much weaker away - two wins, a draw and four defeats. Amongst their notable home scalps were N3N leaders Caldy who they beat by 19-16 in early December. 

A new coaching partnership joined in the summer with Geoff Wappett (formerly coach at Rotherham, Bradford & Bingley and Hull RUFC) coming together with Andy Northey who has had coaching experience at Rotherham & Sedgley Park. Northey had a glittering playing career - RU at Waterloo, Lancashire, Northampton Saints, Rotherham & North of England - and RL at St Helens.

The new coaches strengthened the squad with a host of signings including Mark Devine (prop), Craig Smithson (flanker/no 8) and Alan Marsh (lock), all from West Park, & wingers Luke & Josh Fowles (Broadstreet). These were joined by centre Rob McDermott (Tynedale & Newcastle Falcons), fly-half Gary McDermott (Longton), utility back Jon Lowden (ex-Waterloo, Nuneaton & Manchester), and the return of outstanding no 8 Jonathan Keep who has spent a couple of seasons at Manchester. For a number of weeks before Christmas they were also fortunate to call on flanker Nathan Bonner-Evans, who has Sale Sharks Premiership experience & was previously with the Ospreys. He has since moved on to London Welsh.

The fulcrum of their back line is former Orrell, Plymouth & Wakefield fly-half Ross Winney, equal top scorer in N3N with 180 points, alongside Caldy's Gavin Roberts. It was Winney who strangled Fylde in October scoring all his side's points with five penalties. Fylde fly-half Steve Nutt has been chasing Winney all season and is now only ten points behind. Their dangerous backline features the current top try scorer, ex-Sale fullback or winger, Fergus Mulchrone and reliable centre Richard Hughes, formerly of Manchester & Halifax.

It was the Macc forwards who wrestled the game away from Fylde in October and, once more, this will be the crucial battle zone.

Macclesfield's provisional line-up is:

15 Jon Lowden; 14 Peter Hardwick, 13 Richard Hughes, 12 Tony Howcroft, 11 Fergus Mulchrone; 10 Ross Winney, 9 Chris Townsend; 1 Mark Devine, 2 Pete Allen, 3 Will Robinson, 4 Ian Lear, 5 Ollie Hewitt, 6 Chris Jones, 7 Dan Baines, 8 Jonathan Keep.
 
Rep 16 Ben Latham, 17 Sam Moss, 18 Neil Kean, 19 Craig Smithson, 20 Rob McDermott.

Fylde give the highly experienced Alistair Atkinson his first league start of the season at lock replacing Grant Ferguson who is unavailable due to school duties. One of a number of injury victims, Sam Beaumont (groin) is still missing although Dan Bowman has recovered sufficiently from a knee injury to be named amongst the replacements. Longer term injured players and fellow forwards, Nick King (arm), Chris Tyms (shoulder) & Mark Briggs (knee), will certainly be out of contention for the next few weeks.

15 Martin Wallwork; 14 Nick Royle, 13 Richard Kenyon, 12 David Wiseman, 11 Oliver Brennand; 10 Steve Nutt, 9 Craig Aikman; 1 Sam Simpson, 2 Alan Holmes, 3 Kieran Brookes, 4 Alistair Atkinson, 5 Roger Banks, 6 Dan Palmer, 7 Mark Stephenson, 8 Dave Wilks.

Replacements: 16 Adam Lewis, 17 Mark Darlington, 18 Dan Bowman, 19 Neil Hunter, 20 Mike Waywell.