Stanford-le-Hope are banking on home-town pride to deliver a memorable victory as they play for a place at Twickenham in tomorrow's Tetley's Vase semi-final in Roehampton.

Highly-rated Herts & Middlesex side Bank of England stand in the club's way of a date at Rugby HQ, but Stanford fly-half Jamie Daisley believes his team's pride in their home town can pull them through.

"We have that small-town mentality," said Daisley, as he prepared for the team's final training session prior to the match.

"It's Stanford-le-Hope versus the whole of the Bank of England as far as we're concerned. I don't know whether they are prepared to die for it but we are.

Nevertheless, a tough battle lies ahead for the Eastern Counties Three side, who are forced to play yet another away tie in this semi-final - their sixth in seven Vase clashes.

Bank of England can reputedly call upon two former internationals and a couple of ex-London Welsh players, although Stanford have some outstanding players of their own.

"We're just going to run at them," said Daisley. "Everybody has decided that we're not just going to let them have it. We're going to run at them and see if they fall over."

Rochford are hoping to extend their lead at the top of LondonLeague in their rearranged match with Ely on Saturday, and expect the Cambridgeshire side to be a stronger proposition than Holt last week.

Ely always produce big sides and Rochford will expect nothing less from them, but the Magnolia Road side know if they continue to play the sort of rugby they are capable of, they have a great chance of victory.

Rochford have named a squad from which the team will be selected on the day but have kept faith with the players who have produced the results over recent weeks.

Fellow title chasers Basildon travel to Romford for a friendly tomorrow and will be bringing in 18-year-old hooker James Adamson for his debut and Scott Bryan in the second row.

Rochford's under-12 rugby team had mixed results in a double-header of matches against Tonbridge and Westcliff.

They lost 20-5 to Tonbridge after a slow start but turned in a performance full of character. However, they had better luck in the game against Westcliff as they entertained the spectators with a good display of rugby.

Although Westcliff opened up an early lead, excellent interraction between the backs and forwards saw Rochford record a 20-10 victory.

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