Saturday 13 September – Brickfields, 3:00pm KO
This weekend marks the first home game for Plymouth Albion as they look to build on their impressive start to the 2025/26 campaign. The newly promoted Clifton RFC will be making the relatively short journey south to face Albion in their second game of the season, after a tough loss at the hands of Blackheath.
Clifton boasted a top-of-the-table finish last season in National Two West, losing only four games throughout and earning their spot in National One. This season, however, has not started as they would have liked, and they will be looking to turn their fortunes around against Albion.
Last week Albion dominated their opposition on the road, defeating newly promoted Leeds Tykes 45–12. Coach Ryan Lamb will be hoping to improve on their impressive start to the season by adding another five points to their current league tally.
Team News
Coach Lamb has made a number of changes to the lineup for the opening home match, which is as follows:
Starting XV
- Jenson Boughton
- Harry Wilkinson
- Dan Pullinger
- Joel Broadhurst
- Freddie Stevenson
- Jake Clemson
- Angus Hodges
- Ben Moa
- Jack Oulton
- Harry Legg
- Bobby Wigginton
- Archie Hill
- Oscar Stewart
- Shea Cornish
- Frankie Dart
Replacements
16. Gabe Mead
17. Liam Bishop
18. Jago Sheppard
19. Morgan Stone
20. Jack Statton
The selection sees Angus Hodges slot in at flanker for his first start of the season, moving Jago Sheppard to the replacements, as well as adding summer signing Jack Statton to the replacements in place of Charlie Bell.
Morgan Stone will hit a milestone if he comes on to feature in this weekend’s game, as it will be his fiftieth match for the club. On top of this, Shea Cornish and Jenson Boughton will have their first home game since they reached fifty appearances on the road, with both now sitting on fifty-two games each for Albion.
Key Stats
Statistically, with only one game played, it is still a small sample size. That said, Albion will want to maintain their strong numbers in the lineout, currently at 95% success rate, and their flawless scrum against Leeds, winning 100% of scrums with 100% scrum quality.
Not only that, but Albion’s front row managed to overwhelm the Leeds scrum, keeping them at just 67% success rate — something Coach Lamb will want to build on when taking on Clifton.
Ryan Lamb had this to say ahead of the game Vs Clifton
“The guys are very excited to be back playing in front of our home fans and want to build from a good performance last week. It’s always a great occasion to play at Brickfields but we know that Clifton will be a tough side, so it sets up to be a fantastic afternoon of rugby and we hope to see a big crowd to support the boys.”
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