RUGBY: Southend Saxons face a crunch clash with North Walsham this weekend.

A run of six defeats in succession has seen Southend slump to second from bottom in the Regional One South East standings.

But North Walsham arrive at Warners Bridge just one point and two places higher than Southend.

And Saxons hooker John Kenward is looking forward to what he expects to be another testing contest.

“This weekend we are expecting a tough game,” said Kenward.

“With North Walsham coming down from National Two last year they will be a well drilled side and tough to break down but I think if we put together everything we have been working on recently we would hope to come out on top.

“Obviously it is still early on in the season to say a game could be decisive but as a squad we look at this game and the build up to Christmas as a chance to make our mark on the league and cause some upsets. We are also expecting a good crowd as always at Warners Bridge and we hope we can put on a good show for them.”

Victory on Saturday’s rearranged clash would move Southend up to eighth or ninth in the table depending on the number or tries score. But Saxons head into the game having been beaten 42-0 at table-topping Oundle last time out, a score-line Kenward felt was an unfair reflection of the game. “Saturday’s result of 42-0 may not look great on paper but we felt we played well for the majority of the game and put a very good, currently unbeaten this season, team under a lot of pressure,” said Kenward.

“We were happy with our performance as a squad and I think on another day, with a couple of bounces of the ball going our way, the score would’ve been a lot closer.”

Southend are lining up in Regional One South East this season after being promoted as Regional Two Anglia champions last term.

And Kenward is relishing lining up at a higher level.

“We have all enjoyed the start of the season and some of the challenges that we have faced,” said Kenward.

“We got off to a great start and then we had a tough run of games.

“We did not perform as we would have liked for those games and the difference from last year really showed with teams taking full advantage of our mistakes.

“We have however continued to build and put in the hard work and look forward to the challenges to come.”

And Kenward is keen to help Southend grow as the season progresses.

“We hope that we can continue to build as a squad this season and start to put some big performances in against good sides,” said Kenward.

“We don’t see why we can’t beat any of the teams in the league and we welcome any challenge that comes our way.”