PREVIEW: EASTBOURNE v POOLE (Champ)

SOUTH coast rivals Eastbourne and Poole meet for the first time since 2014 at Arlington tonight (Saturday).

Both sides are opening their Championship campaigns with the Eagles in their second season back at this level and the Pirates racing in the second tier after electing to move from the Premiership in the winter of 2019.

Eagles co-boss Trevor Geer said: “They have dropped down from the top league to the Championship but only a fool would under-estimate them. Poole have a winning mentality and their record this century is the envy of us all.

“Their top three are a class act and we saw in 2019 how good their No 1 Rory Schlein can be around Arlington. This is a tough start for us, and we will need to be focused from Heat 1.”

Poole co-promoter Danny Ford said: “Ideally we would have had some laps under our belt before looking to go in search of league points on the road, but circumstances have contrived against us this season.

“Going to Eastbourne might not be easiest venue to start at, as it is not renowned as the simplest of tracks to negotiate, but that said I believe that the group of lads we have assembled have enough passion and determination about them to go and do a professional job.

“I would be delighted if, when we open at Wimborne Road on June 9, we have already posted our first league points on the board.”

EASTBOURNE: Edward Kennett, Tom Brennan, Kyle Newman, Lewis Kerr, Richard Lawson, Jason Edwards, Drew Kemp.
POOLE: Rory Schlein, Zane Keleher, Steve Worrall, Stefan Nielsen, Danny King, Ben Cook, Danyon Hume.