TAUNTON Titans will turn up at Hyde Park today to face a Hartpury side which should provide an even stiffer test than Canterbury last week.

Taunton are unbeaten at home so far this season, having beaten the likes of Ampthill and Canterbury who lie third and second in the table, and hope to add the league leaders to their tally.

They players know they have to be on top of their games to compete with Hartpury and there are also one or two other elements that have to be present if victory can be achieved according to forwards coach Chris Brown.

He said: “The motivation has to be high, and we have to believe we are capable. They are not infallible and have been beaten by four teams to date.

“For that reason, the first ingredient has to be self confidence. Hartpury are beatable.

“The next thing is set piece. You have to have at least parity, and it would be useful if you can keep all of your ball and have most of theirs.

“The collision area is also vital. The contact area must be physical, technically accurate and fast.

“The final area we need to consider is to attack with intensity and ‘throw the kitchen sink’ at it. As a coaching team I would rather we played the game positively and lost than played negatively.

“Hopefully the team will deliver but they will need all of the help that a home support can bring and the coaches and players hope that the 16th man of Hyde Park will turn up and cheer the players on.”

Head coach Tony Yapp knows it won’t be easy but said: “Hartpury are a good side with good players and are well coached.

“Hopefully though we can get a bumper crowd that will help the players feed off the atmosphere and spur them on to produce the performance that will be needed to claim the win.

“After the game the Six Nations game between France v England will be shown on the big screen in the bar so a full day of rugby can be had by all.

“Then if you want to make it a full weekend of rugby you can watch Taunton take on Burnham-On-Sea at Hyde Park on Sunday afternoon in the Somerset Cup quarter final at 2.30pm.”