Paul Pritchard prepared for Instonians' crunch All-Ireland League derby clash with former club Rainey

After winning all 18 games with bonus points last season, Inst have a maximum 10 points from two games in the higher division, but were made to work hard for their victory against Corinthians last Saturday.

“Corinthians were fairly good and they will certainly be up there at the end of the year,” said Pritchard. “We didn’t start as well as we would have liked.

"We gave away a few penalties on our own ball in their 22 so that killed momentum in the first half.

“On three or four occasions discipline let us down.

"We came back into it and the guys showed great spirit and fight to get back into that.

“Thirteen points down against a good team isn’t the place you need to be but we were always very confident going into the second half that we would be able to pull it back.

“It is the players there that are involved – we try to make everything as player-led as possible.

"David Whitten stepped up as captain as Rob was away. He has that winning mentality that he has brought in from Queen’s wining promotion and getting to the Senior Cup final last year.

“The guys did a great job and there isn’t very much we have to say to them as coaches.”

Rainey sit second-bottom after losing both of their opening two fixtures, but Pritchard is well aware of the challenges they can cause his side.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he added. “It is a great clubhouse, there are some great people about the club and I still speak to a few guys there.

“Tim Barker is the forwards coach and a lot of the pack are there from when I was there, so we know what we are going to come up against.

“It is going to be a very physical battle up front, they are going to come after us and they are going to give it all they can.

"We are under no illusions it is going to be another tough week.

“It is a challenge we are looking forward to.

"We pride ourselves on having a good scrum, a good maul and a good pack, as do Rainey, so it will be a good battle for the lovers of forwards anyway.”

Pritchard believes all form goes out the window when it comes to a local derby and has also reminded his players about the loss they suffered to today’s opponents last season.

“We lost to them last year in the Ulster League, which was one of two loses in our season last year,” he said. “We have mentioned that and we don’t think they’ll be too much different in their style of play.

“We know what we are going to come up against and we are still disappointed that we lost that game last year and the manner in which we lost it.

“I don’t think you can read too much into two games – Sligo are doing very well in 2B, and Rainey ran them very close.”

There is also an Ulster derby at Stevenson Park as Dungannon host Belfast Harlequins.

In Division 2A, all three Ulster clubs are a home with Ballymena facing Old Crescent, Banbridge host Barnhall and Malone welcome UL Boh’s.

In Division 2C, Clogher Valley visit Midleton, Bangor are at Bruff while Omagh travel to Tullamore.