Bradford Salem are hoping that the tempering effect of the coast will enable their game to go ahead at Bridlington on Saturday in the fifth round of the EDF Energy Senior Vase.

Salem won at Dukes Park on their only two visits in 2006 but both were close contests in Yorkshire Division One.

The Heaton club won 24-23 last March and 26-19 in September but their worry is not so much the rain but the strong winds that can affect the Bridlington ground.

For example, three Bradford & Bingley players had to leave the field with hypothermia there during a Yorkshire Cup tie.

However, Salem match secretary Neil Klenk - no stranger to harsh weather as he lives in Queensbury - said: "We hope that Dukes Park will be sheltered."

Klenk added: "It will be a difficult tie as our last two league matches there show but while we have won our last two league matches this season, they have lost three of their last four games so confidence wise we will be in the ascendancy."

Salem recall first-choice flanker Steve Cowman, which means that the unlucky Mark Viner drops to what is an experienced bench. Matt Booth also returns at fly half, Sean Thomas joining Viner as a replacement.

Also bidding for a sixth-round berth are Aireborough, who are at Doncaster Phoenix in another all-Yorkshire Division Three contest.

Aireborough's player-coach Simon Carbutt said: "It is going to be a difficult game, especially as it is at their place.

"When we played them at our place in September, they had a strong side out, including a couple of changes from last season, and won 24-23.

"But I think we can do reasonably well if we match them in the forwards, because that is where the game will be won and lost. But if we win this one I can see us going all the way to the final."

Carbutt added that Aireborough, who like to play an expansive game via their backs, have been working on things in training to try and combat the wind and the rain.

Phoenix are fifth in the table, four points above sixth-placed Aireborough.

Bradford Salem (at Briudlington): R Langhorn; C Savva, P Drake, J Robinson, C Luxton; M Booth, D Howcroft; C Buxton, S Fields, S Davies, D Cope, J Morrell, S Dagg, K Falwasser, S Cowman. Replacements: I Woodwiss, S Markey, M Viner, S Thomas.