NORTH Midlands have given a vote of confidence to the team that overcame Notts, Lincs and Derbyshire two weeks ago for the Tetley's County Shield final against Eastern Counties at Twickenham tomorrow (3pm).
They have named an unchanged starting line-up for the game -- the biggest match in the county's history. North Midlands were beaten by Lancashire in the 1982 Championship final at Moseley.
There is just one change to the squad that was on duty against Notts, Lincs and Derby with Pertemps Bees' winger Geoff Gregory taking the place of Stourbridge's Ross Yiend on the bench.
Gregory missed the NL&D game because he was involved in trials for the West Indies rugby league side, but he played in the victories over Staffordshire and Lei-cestershire at the pool stage of the competition.
The starting line-up in-cludes Moseley winger James Aston and Coventry's former Dudley Kingswinford scrum-half Shaun Perry whose outstanding performances for North Midlands this season have secured them selection for the England Counties XV for their two-match tour of Canada next month.
The starting line-up also includes Terry Sigley, the Gloucester-bound Pertemps Bees prop, who has won international honours with the Counties XV in the past two seasons.
Sigley's elder brother Rob is on the bench along with Moseley flanker Steve Halbert.
The latter will be appearing at Twickenham for a second consecutive season having captained North Midlands in last season's Tetley's National Under-20 Championship final defeat by Yorkshire.
Saturday's final is the third and, probably, last in the Shield competition.
Plans are afoot to restructure the County Championship again next season merging the Championship and Shield competitions to form a new three-division tournament.
North Midlands: Jon Hall (Stourbridge); James Aston (Moseley), Toby Wilson (Stourbridge), Mark Eastwood (Malvern), Tom Bee-chey (Stourbridge); Duncan Hughes (Stourbridge), Shaun Perry (Coventry); Adam Sturdy (Stourbridge), Alan Hubbleday (Pertemps Bees), Terry Sigley (Pertemps Bees), Tom Churchill (Bromsgrove), Jon Taylor (Bromsgrove), Gareth Taylor (Stourbridge), Simon Daws (Old Patesians), Glen Eager (Aston OE).
Replacements: Rob Sigley (Pertemps Bees), Dan James (Stourbridge), Ben McGowan (Luctonians), Steve Halbert (Moseley), Geoff Gregory (Pertemps Bees), Gareth Taylor (Moseley), Richard Arnold (Bromsgrove).
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article