Will Croker is backing his replacements to have a big impact on the outcome of their important South West Premier visit of second placed Maidenhead on Saturday.
Thanks to the success and strength of the Lions’ Seconds and Thirds’ teams this season, Croker says he has had a number of selection headaches.
Due to the fierce competition for places in his squad, Croker is afforded the luxury of being able to unleash some potent weapons from the bench.
He said: “In terms of the team, we welcome back Jack Hennings to the replacements’ bench and this is the type of game he absolutely thrives on with a big crowd, fingers crossed nice weather conditions and hopefully Jack will be absolutely busting a gut to come off the bench and make a good impression.
“We also bring Dan Stewart back into the squad who has been with the Seconds team for the last few weeks and is a terrific try scorer and is still one of our leading try scorers this season I think and has been really unlucky to lose his first team shirt.
“But he has been absolutely brilliant in terms of his approach and his attitude and he has focussed hard on making sure the Seconds team got the league win they deserved and his attitude in training has been absolutely exemplary so it is great to have him back in the squad too.”
Second placed Maidenhead are a total of 23 points behind Croker’s side with just two games left after this weekend at already-relegated Newton Abbot and at home to basement boys Old Patesians on April 6 and 13 respectively.
Therefore, Croker’s men have already sealed the title plus promotion to the fourth tier of English rugby - National Two South.
Their success this season - which includes a total of 22 wins in their 23 fixtures this season - marks a return to the same division they were in as recently as 2012.