THE BIGGEST crowd of the season is expected tomorrow for Basingstoke's most important rugby match of this campaign - with the prize a place in the national league.
Dings Crusaders from Bristol are the visitors to Down Grange for a play-off between the runners-up of London one and south west one.
A superior league record gave Basingstoke home advantage in what their player-coach Ian Calder calls a winner-takes-all cup final.
His side have never played Dings but reports suggest they are a well-balanced team with good backs and good forwards.
"We will play a bit of attention to them but we're not going overboard," said Calder.
"To get this far is good so it's a case of the next step.
"The boys are up for it and want to finish the season on a high. If we can get our game right and perform, we should be okay."
To add to the spice of the occasion, two players could set club records tomorrow.
Australian full-back Chris Norton has already equalled Gareth Jones' 1998-99 record of 24 first-team tries in a season and one more will give him the record outright.
Calder's seasonal points tally stands at 312, which is just 16 behind Matt Hart's 1999-2000 best of 328.
Basingstoke have a couple of minor injury worries.
Forwards Marcus Reeve and Steve Collins have hamstring niggles while wing Rafer Joseph has a bruised shin.
Meanwhile, Steve Drawbridge is serving in Afghanistan with the Army. His place will go to Kelvin Chapman if he proves his fitness in training. Other-wise, Andy Wilson will deputise.
Basingstoke: C Norton; R Holmes, J Rees, N Taylor, G Jones; I Calder, T Dean; N Young, A Riley, S Collins, N Hooker, K Chapman, P Della-Savina, R Baker (capt), M Reeve. Reps from: R Joseph, M Evans, S Buttle, A Wilson, S Appleby.
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