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HAVING secured a good victory in the opening game of their County Championship Plate campaign, Hampshire will be looking to record another win when they play Buckinghamshire at Down Grange on Saturday (3pm).

The county rugby squad, which featured five players with Basingstoke connections, beat Dorset and Wiltshire 55-0 at Swanage, with 'Stoke players Karl Buttle and Luke Richardson both scoring two tries.

This weekend sees Hampshire play their only home game of the pool stage, with Buckinghamshire the visitors and Basingstoke RFC chosen as the host club.

Buckinghamshire lost 39-24 to Sussex in their opening match of the tournament and Hampshire manager John Byett is confident that his side can make it two wins out of two.

"I think we should be able to overcome Buckinghamshire," he said. "We had some players unavailable last week, so I hope that the side will be even stronger on Saturday. It all looks positive going forward."

Byett missed last weekend's match because he was away as citing officer for the RFU at a tournament in Chile, but was pleased to hear of his side's successful start.

"The reports were very good," he said. "There is always a worry with the county championship because you cannot get the squad together before the end of the season.

"You never know what you are going to get until the first game, but the lads seem to be up for it and we were really pleased to get off to a good start."

Basingstoke's Jamie Folan and Matt Oliver look set to miss out on a place on the bench as more players become available, but north Hampshire will still be well represented.

'Stoke captain Neil Young will line up in the front row and he is likely to be joined in the starting line-up by two fellow Basingstoke players, winger Buttle and centre Simon Buckland. Richardson will again start on the bench, where he will have Simon Appleby for company.

In addition to this, former 'Stoke players David Byett and Simon Humberstone will also be involved. Byett, the manager's son, will line up at centre, while fly-half Humberstone, whose father Martyn is also on the coaching team, will start on the bench.

"We are yet to finalise the team but it is likely to be much the same squad as last week," the manager explained.

"A couple of boys will drop off the bench because of the lads coming in, but it will be hard to make changes to a team that did so well."

Sending the county side out at Down Grange is a great honour for Byett, whose association with Basingstoke RFC goes back a long way.

"I was very happy when the Hampshire RFU chose Basingstoke for the home game," he said. "I have a lot of links to the club, having been captain and chairman of the playing committee in the past, so it makes the game even more special."

4:35pm Thursday 1st May 2008

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