NEW National 2 South leaders Taunton Titans are looking to maintain their position at the summit as they head to Esher on Saturday.

Taunton’s 35-27 derby win over Clifton last Friday took them a point clear at the top but head coach Tony Yapp is ensuring his side don’t get ahead of themselves.

“It’s a nice position to be in,” Yapp said.

“If you had offered us this position after eight games, of course we would have taken it.

“But there are still miles to go and we will make sure we take every game as it comes.

“It is an open league so we just have to keep going and keep ourselves in the hunt for as long as possible.”

Esher sit fifth with six wins from eight matches and their director of rugby is former England and British & Irish Lions flanker Peter Winterbottom.

The hosts will also have former Taunton forward Andy Hamilton lining up against his former club, the youngster having joined Esher on loan from Blackheath after moving away from the Westcountry for work reasons in the summer.

“They will be well organised and tough to beat, as is shown by their results so far,” Yapp said.

“It is a big test for us but it is an exciting one, as if we come through this it bodes well for the games to come.”

Taunton Titans squad to face Esher: 1. Connor Baker, 2. George Gosling, 3. Isaac Dalton, 4. Barry Chapman, 5. Stuart Persey; 6. Ben Oliphant-Thompson, 7. Brett Harvey, 8. Dan Lee (c), 9. James Tait, 10. Lewis Webb, 11. Oscar Kolowski, 12. Nick Mason, 13. Thomas Wyatt, 14. Jack Arnott, 15. Gary Kingdom. Replacements: Chris Francis, Gary Carpenter, Dan Ogden, Gabe Mead, Greg Kitson