KEVIN SQUIRE is backing Barnstaple's props to give them the edge over Newton Abbot.

Phil Gordon and Mark Berry will be patched up and sent into the Devon derby battle at Rackerhayes on Saturday.

And if they drive Barum to victory, it will probably knock Newton Abbot out of the race to finish fourth in National Three south west.

Squire, the director of rugby, said: "The first thing Phil Burford (Newton Abbot's director of rugby) will look for is whether Phil Gordon and Mark Berry are playing.

"They are so dominant at the set piece, Newton Abbot have nothing to compete with that.

"Phil Gordon is a bit sore after Saturday's game – as he is every week now – but he has nothing to prove.

"If we can get 60 to 80 minutes out of him on a Saturday and he doesn't train all week, that's fine with us."

Gordon and Berry will line up either side of returning hooker Sam Roberts.

And with Tom Skelding, Luke Berry and, if he comes through a fitness test on his ankle, Josh Squire back in the side, Barnstaple will be at full strength.

Four defeats in five games have seen Newton Abbot slip out of the pack behind the runaway top three.

Another defeat on Saturday would most likely leave three sides in the race for fourth place – Exmouth, Barnstaple and Weston-super-Mare.

With no love lost between Squire and Burford, that would please the Barum man immensely.

"That's my main motivation this week," said Squire.

"I don't buy the idea that we're going into the game as favourites. They're at home and that gives any side an enormous advantage.

"Their pride has been dented over the last few weeks and that is when teams can be at their most dangerous.

"It's very difficult for us to analyse their side because it is changing every week.

"We will have to be at our best to win. If we play like we did on Saturday we will get turned over."

The Barum faithful were frustrated that their side did not put more than 45 points past a poor Newbury Blues team at Pottington Road on Saturday.

In response, Squire highlighted the youthful nature of his squad, particularly the back line. Of the 18 players on duty at the weekend, five were teenagers and seven were in their early twenties.

"The forwards were terrific and there was plenty of good quality ball for the backs to utilise and it was mainly down to inexperience that we didn't," he said.