ONE of the biggest challenges in their 76-year history faces Canterbury Rugby Club as they travel to take on National Division 1 side London Welsh at Old Deer Park on Saturday.

This fifth round Powergen National Trophy tie is a milestone for the city side who have never before reached such an advanced stage of a national cup competition.

Head coach Danny Vaughan said: "We are going to enjoy ourselves and the gulf between National 1 and ourselves is massive but I do not go anywhere to lose."

That confidence is born of Canterbury’s unbeaten record in all competitions this season, including successes against two National Division 3 sides in the Powergen Trophy.

"We know that London Welsh have been looking at videos of our games so they are taking us seriously," added Vaughan, whose side face a league clash with division leaders Richmond on November 12.

"It’s a very tough spell for us at the moment with London Welsh and then Richmond coming up but we’ll be going out very hard to try and win this game.

"The momentum we’ve got going at the moment is fantastic. You wouldn’t have thought 10 or 15 years ago that Canterbury would ever get the chance to compete with a famous name like London Welsh and it’s very exciting for the club."

The coach has named a 22-man squad but will not decide on his starting line-up until fitness checks have been completed on a number of players who are carrying knocks from last week’s bruising encounter with Worthing.

Saturday’s kick-off is at 2pm and Canterbury will not be short of support. A supporters’ coach is fully booked and leaves the club at 11am. The team will be departing an hour earlier at 10am.

Former Plymouth Albion centre Pat Sykes, who scored two tries in the 33-12 fourth round win over Hertford, will be one of those to have played at the Old Deer Park before.

London Welsh coach Martin Jones said he expected to field close to his strongest side despite the club being embroiled in a relegation battle at the foot of National League 1.

He said: "We are in the senior league for the competition so we would hope to have a good run and we will be taking this match very seriously."

Jones said during his inquiries about Canterbury he had heard about the speed and skill of full back Gert De Kock among others.

He said: "I’ve made a couple of phone calls about them and I gather they have an exciting back three and a some experienced boys up front.

"We used to be comfortable in mid-table in our division but most of the other sides have gone full-time, while we just train on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We’ve also had a spate of injuries but we hope to have a couple back for the cup match."

The Old Deer Park ground was graced in the 1970s by Welsh legends like J.P.R. Williams, Mervyn Davies, John Dawes, John Taylor and Gerald Davies, while some of the present squad have junior international honours, and wing James Strong has represented his country at Sevens.

Also at the club is 6ft 5in back row forward Jim Brownrigg, who has played for Bristol, Gloucester and Cardiff.

London Welsh usually attract crowds of between 800 and 1,200 for home games, but the gate might be affected by the clash with the Wales v New Zealand international.