Borough pile the pressure on Oundle ahead of a big derby game

Borough make the 12-mile trip boosted by a bonus point victory at home to Olney last weekend.

But Oundle were among the pre-season favourites to win the title and they’ve started well with two wins from their opening two matches.

“The pressure is all on them,” Powell stated.

“They signed several players from a higher level in the summer so their expectations for this season will be very high.

“I’d rather be looking up at this stage of the season and we will travel with confidence after playing well for most of the game last weekend.

“We will need to be ready to go from the start, though. Games between Oundle and Peterborough are unusual affairs as they don’t often go as you would expect.

“There will be an extra level of aggression, but rugby is a physical game so neither team will shy away.”

Borough’s cause has not been helped by the unavailability of powerful player-coach Sam Crooks.

Crooks was one of two players sin-binned in the final stages of the win over Olney at Fengate.

Zak McClure also missed the final 10 minutes which enabled the visitors to close the gap to 28-21 at the final whistle.

McClure, Crooks, Aram Jones and David Buchan scored the Borough tries with Matt Newman adding four conversions.

“The final scoreline didn’t do our domination of the game justice,” Powell said.

“We started slowly in our first game at Old Northamptonians and it cost us in a tight game.

“This time we started really well and in the end that won us the game.

“We need to be careful with our discipline, though. Olney scored two tries when we were down to 13 men.”

Peterborough Lions host Doncaster Phoenix in the Midlands Premier Division (3pm). Neither side has yet picked up a point.