Nottingham Outlaws continue the defence of their Conference League South crown on Saturday with a difficult looking away fixture against league newcomers London Chargers at Motspur Park (kick off 2.30pm) writes Richard Johnson.
After a two opening home wins in the league the Outlaws have a much tougher challenge on their hands against a newly-promoted outfit that won the Harry Jepson Trophy three years in a row before deciding to step up to the top level in the Southern game for the first time this season.
Indeed the Londoners will provide a stern test to the Outlaws with a team packed full of expatriate Australian and New Zealand players and they have already sent a few ripples through the competition with an opening day away win at last season’s minor premiers Valley Cougars.
Despite the tough looking fixture player-coach George Strachan refused to comment on the opposition and instead has focussed all his attention on his own players and some tricky looking selection dilemmas.
Indeed by Wednesday evening the wily coach was still holding back from naming his travelling squad as he waited on a couple of minor injury doubts before deciding whether to make changes to the team that did so well in Saturdays 42-14 victory over West Wales Raiders.
Whilst the half backs and the threequarters will probably remain unchanged there are likely to be a number of changes in the forwards with Wil Ephraim looking likely to miss out after picking up a hamstring injury early on in Saturdays match. However with regular forwards Tom Howley, Luca Costante and Chris Prime all coming back into the frame it looks likely that Strachan will have plenty of selection permutations available to him.
