JORDAN REYNOLDS does not think much of this weather and he is praying it takes a turn for a calmer and drier for a two-hour window on Saturday afternoon.

Hertford are coming to town and Raiders head coach is confident that the English side's view will be the wetter the better.

'They will thrive in this sort of weather,' he said looking out over the home ground on a Thursday lunchtime with the wind blowing a hooley and the rain coming down again.

'But we understand that. What they will do they do well and our forwards are going to have to really up their game to cope,' he says of the impending clash.

Last year's two matches with Hertford were tight and it probably be no different this weekend. They won here and we won away with Glen Walters slotting over the decisive kick at the death.

Walters moves to the centres on Saturday, while Adam Nixon starts at scrum half with Malcolm Barnes reverting to the bench.
Sam Whitehead comes in on the wing. That switch at 9 is all part of the plan says Jordan.

'We were always going to do this, which is rotate. In fact Adam went to 9 after just four minutes last week.'

Ahead of Thursday training Jordan was yet to confirm his exact starting XV, but the likelihood is that there will be no changes despite him being unhappy with some of the individual performances from the pack against Shelford.

He says that the issue is mental more than anything and that players are switching off at crucial times which, at this level, means from minute one to minute 80, 'All 18 players have to work every minute,' he demands.

As for Hertford he respected them greatly even before they beat Tonbridge Juddians last weekend, 'They have kept the core squad for a few years and they will keep it tight,' he predicts.

Raiders likely XV:
Cameron Craine, Tom Ceillam, Layton Batiste, Lewis Hillier, Nick Merrien, Eamon Chapman, Robin le Cocq, Matt Thomas; Adam Nixon, Owen Thomas, Dave Davison, Blair Campbell (capt), Glen Walters, Sam Whitehead and Luke Sayer.
Replacements: Thomas Malagodi, Malcolm Barnes and Luke Gardner.