Edinburgh have made a flying start to their Premier National Trophy campaign. The injury crisis and the problems faced by Ben Shields ahve been brushed aside as Monarchs have four straight wins including two away from home. To put things in context there have been twenty-one National Trophy qualifiers and only three have been away wins, two by Edinburgh.
Monarchs currently top the Northern Group with 9 ahead of Glasgow with 7. Sheffield, anther team with a 100% record are third on 6 points. The Northern Group is likely to prove very tough with only two teams out of eight qualifying for the knock-out stages of the competition.
In the past Monarchs have usually got off to a disastrous start. In 1999 they were beaten at home by Newcastle but eventually qualified as best runners-up. Last year Workington came to Armadale and inflicted a heavy defeat on Monarchs. Edinburgh were never really in contention after that.
It remains to be seen if Monarchs will get through since there are several strong teams. In the past, two away wins have tended to be enough, provided the home record is maintained. This year it may not be enough with teams such as Sheffield, Workington, and Newcastle well able to win matches away from home. It could come down to who wins the aggregate match points.
Berwick and Stoke can probably be ruled out after losing matches at home and away. Hull have only raced one meeting and cannot be judged as yet. Of the unfancied teams, Glasgow have made an excellent start winning three home matches and running Workington close at Derwent Park and taking the aggregate point from Newcastle.
The Southern Group is slightly easier with only seven teams including newcomers Trelawny Tigers. The Southern teams appear to have suffered from the weather with only eight matches raced to date. It is hard to say who is going to emerge but Swindon do look to have an exceptionally strong team and Reading also have an impressive looking line-up. Newport have been disregarded by many but are quietly winning matches. Reading are the only team in the Southern Group with a 100% record but have only completed one (home) match.
Results and Tables are given below:
Premier National Trophy Results
Premier National Trophy Tables
These will be updated daily whenever Premier Trophy matches are staged.