Banbridge Rugby Club - Northern Ireland

This weekend sees the First XV play their most crucial game since the club went senior in 1998.

Their fifth place in Division Three of the Ulster Bank All-Ireland League has earned them a promotion play-off against Limerick side Old Crescent. Victory in Saturday's game would see the Firsts move out of the bottom tier and into Division 2A of the newly re-structured league next season.

That would be a remarkable achievement for a young side which has shown steady improvement over the season under coaches Daniel Soper and Simon Best. Kiwi Soper, who returned to the club at the start of this season after a very successful spell as assistant to Derek Suffern at Ballynahinch, is under no illusions as to the task facing his young charges.

"Old Crescent have a long and proud senior history and they certainly will be going all out to avoid the drop," he said looking forward to the match. "And with the support of their home crowd they will certainly start as favourites.

"But our form in our last four games has been impressive. Our backline has been playing with increasing confidence - if our forwards play as they have been, and they've yet to be bettered this season, then the threequarters can ask all sorts of questions of the Crescent defence."

Crescent needed a win in their last game to lift themselves of the bottom of the table. They looked like getting it as their game against DLSP went into injury time with them 17-14 ahead. But the Dublin side scored a converted try in the last of the 11minutes of injury time to claim a final placing of eighth in Division Two.

That gives a guide to the challenge facing the Bann team. But they, and their coaches and supporters, will have been heartened by their recent performances. Bonus point wins over Naas and Highfield were followed by that last minute win over Seapoint that denied the Killiney side the Division Three title.

And although Bann went down 28-23 to Dungannon in last Wednesday's Ulster League game, they scored three quality tries against the Division 1B team, playing with a refreshing flair and panache.

The set pieces have been the rock on which Bann's success this season has been built. If the forwards, coached by Best, can reproduce their form of recent weeks at scrum and lineout, then the threequarters will be given the quality ball they need to attack the Crescent line.

With the players having come through the Dungannon game unscathed, Soper should have a full squad to select from, except full-back Ben Purvis, the Kiwi having returned home after the last league game. Ashley Finlay is likely to move back to fill the No 15 jersey with Stephen Cowan taking Finlay's place on the wing.

Otherwise the starting line-up will be very much as before, with a strong bench on hand if required.

Saturday's game kicks off at Old Crescent at 2.30pm and there will be a sizeable support travelling to cheer on the team, despite the unfortunately-timed counter-attraction of two Ulster Cup youth finals at Ravenhill involving our U-17 and U-15 teams.