BUSA fixtures announced
18th August 2008 13:13 | by David Robinson
BUSA have announced the composition of the Midlands conferences and the fixtures and for the coming season. The Blues, who will be keen to retain the division 1 title won last season, will start their championship defence with a tough trip to Warwick on 15th Oct (Wednesday 2nd week). The corresponding fixture last season was the only game that the Blues lost in the league in 2007-8 and things will get no easier, as the following week sees Worcester as the visitors to Iffley, who the Blues beat on the final day of last season to leapfrog to the title. Nottingham Trent and Nottingham 2nds replace Northampton and Bedford, relegated last season meaning that the division has a distinctly Nottingham based feel to it; 3 of the division's 6 teams are from the city's 2 universities.
Disappointingly, the geography which seems to have counted against the Blues in recent years has again reared its head with BUSA confirming that the Blues will need to win a promotion play-off to gain promotion to the Premier League if they win division 1, while any other team wining the division will gain automatic promotion, however this is a challenge new Blues captain Tom Wherry is sure to relish.
The Centaurs have moved sideways in tier 3 of the Midlands conference and will be plying their trade in division 3B this season rather than 3A where they have played since their promotion in 2003-4. Their new opponents are Leicester 1sts, De Montford 1sts, Bedfordshire 2nds, Nottingham Trent 2nds and U.E.A. 2nds. The Centaurs will commence their season with a trip to Bedfordshire in 2nd week and will play host to De Montford the week after. A new innovation this season sees all Midlands teams below division 1 being entered into a cup competition to run concurrently with the league. The Centaurs have received a bye in round 1 and will travel to face Aston 1sts from division 3A in round 2 on Nov 19. The two Cambridge teams in the conference have been drawn away from the Centaurs meaning that the Centaurs will only meet the Cambridge Blues if both teams reach the semi-final (round 6) stage and only meet the Falcons in the final.
