IT is going to be a trip into the unknown for both Chipping Sodbury and North Bristol on Saturday as they go head-to-head for the first time this season in the Gloucester Premier League.

And it has turned into a big clash as Sodbury cannot afford to drop points if they are to challenge for second place behind Bristol Saracens who, even at this stage of the season, look assured of winning the title and going up.

The other incentive for Sodbury is that second-placed Berry Hill are travelling to Cirencester, in third, and with just one point separating Sodbury from Cirencester, victory could put them a place up the table.

However, sixth placed North Bristol will be buzzing to win as they became the 15th victims of unbeaten Saracens during the campaign.

Sodbury head coach Sean Hodges is under no illusions about the task facing his side, who have two games in hand on Berry Hill and one on Cirencester.

Hodges said: “It’s the first time since I have been involved with the club that we have played North Bristol and it’s an odd one because we were supposed to play them at the start of the season but it was cancelled.

“The rearranged game was also cancelled. Normally we would have played every team in the league by now but we still have this unknown. We have not played against them for probably a decade but, historically, they are strong in the pack.

“You look at their results and they seem to score quite freely but they also concede so we will have to defend really well on Saturday.”

Their unfamiliarity is because both were playing in different leagues last season. Chipping Sodbury were promoted from Gloucester One to the Premier division, while North Bristol, along with Bristol Saracens, were relegated from the Western Counties North league.

Sodbury’s rise up the higher division has not shocked Hodges in the slightest. He added: “You don’t want to put your pride before a fall but, at the end of last season, we played some really good rugby and it was not a surprise that we have done well this season, to be honest.

“But the proof of the pudding will be in the second-half of this season. In the first-half, we had an element of surprise for teams we played but that has gone now.

“We have always had a strong pack but, over the last couple of years, we have played some 15-man rugby, played faster and scored some good tries.

“Our ambition is second place and we are not shying away from it.”

Crucial is the word for it because after both teams take on struggling sides whom they should beat, they will both have to face fifth-placed Cheltenham Saracens, the club separating Sodbury and North in the table at the moment.

And the end of the month and start of March is likely to be the turning point as to whether Sodbury can achieve their goal of second place.

After the Cheltenham Saracens clash, they face Berry Hill on the final Saturday of February and follow that up with a visit to Cirencester.

North, meanwhile, can get right back in the race with matches against strugglers Frampton Cotterell and Tewkesbury in the coming weeks.

Therefore, victory for either side will be a huge boost as the business end of the season looms.