The Twisters line up against Belsize Park in the latest round of fixtures in Regional 2 Thames, an away match at The Hub in Regent's Park, kicking off at 2pm on Saturday afternoon.

There has been some chopping and changing to the lineup, with the likes of Ben Ridley, Cathal Sheehan and George Fowler making starts ; Sheehan performed well against H.A.C in pre-season, showing intelligence in his carrying and line running to go over for a try and will be making his league debut for Old Priorians.

Freddie Greenwood also returns at scrum half, having formed an effective partnership with Will Taylor on the 9-10 axis against Beaconsfield, which could once again prove to be a point of difference during this match. We will also see first starts of the season for Kimen Nyam and Ari Goualin at wing and full-back too, both of whom can be devastating on their day ; Nyam has raw pace that is difficult to match, while Goualin's footwork and agility have been a highlight of OPRFC pretty much since the club was formed in 2008.

The squad looks well balanced and has depth on the bench – Mark Machado and Jack Dever are very experienced players, with Dever coming off the bench to score last week against Cobham and Machado a savvy scrummager and strong ball carrier. James Porter is someone we know will put in 100% effort in any circumstances and has a willingness to take the big hits in both attack and defence.

Conor Dolan will captain the side ; his form so far this season has been excellent and is a definite return to the class we know he possesses after a stop-start 2021/22 with injuries, a game winning player on his day.

Speaking before training on Wednesday evening, Vinnie Berrington said :

'We're continuing to work hard every week and try and get things right, hopefully building nicely into this weekend.

We expect a big physical pack again with Belsize, with lots of strong in depth and who will want to win and we have to expect them to take the game to us.

I know a few of us on the sidelines struggle with discipline and working on this aspect off the field is something we've been trying to implement, along with adapting to different refereeing styles – just being better prepared for that as a long-term process.

There is some unavailability this week but there'll be some younger players coming through, with the likes of Cathal Sheehan and George Fowler coming in. We saw how effective Alex Gribbon on the wing was last week so fingers crossed for more of the same.'

Belsize Park are a side who, like Old Priorians, are probably at their best when playing running rugby and – as with most sides in this division – have a pack to back it up. We know that they themselves have discipline issues, with a red card received in the first game of the season against Fullerians (along with a late yellow), so may look to play a safer, more contained game to diminish the chances of a repeat.

With conditions looking agreeable, an open game looks likely, and could well be high scoring on both sides.

MATCH FACTS

- A win for OPRFC would make it their best start to a season at Level 6, surpassing the two wins achieved at the start of the 2018-19 campaign in London 1 North
- Cathal Sheehan makes his league debut
- Will Taylor needs 4 points to surpass 100 points for the calendar year
- Of the 18 person squad, 14 played youth rugby at St Benedict's School
- OPs are unbeaten in four previous meetings against Belsize Park.