THE Somerset Rebels will be looking to crown their season with silverware as they take on the Edinburgh Monarchs in the Premier League Championship final, with the first leg taking place this Friday night at the Oaktree Arena.

The second leg at Edinburgh’s Scotwaste Arena follows just 24 hours later – and club promoter Debbie Hancock is expecting a close contest.

She said: “This is what we have been battling for all season, having won the title last year, we are determined to make a successful defence of our crown, but by the same token Edinburgh will be looking to avenge last year’s final defeat.

“Our two matches against Edinburgh already this year have shown that there is little to choose between the two sides on aggregate and there is no reason to believe that the final will be any different.

“I would imagine that there will be a good number of Edinburgh fans planning to make the trip down to the Oaktree Arena for Friday’s first leg, and I would like to think that the Somerset fans will turn out in force for the match as well to really get behind the team, so there should be a tremendous atmosphere on the night before we then head up to Edinburgh for the deciding second leg of the tie.”

Somerset, the defending Champions, have already created Premier League history by qualifying through for their third successive Championship Grand final.

In a reversal of last year’s final, it is Edinburgh who come into the tie having headed the regular season league table with Somerset in second place, with both teams boasting a 100% home record.

The regular league meetings between the two sides saw them both win their respective home matches, but when the aggregate scores are taken into consideration, there was very little to choose between them - which all points to it being a very close affair come this weekend’s matches.