IF the Scottish Claymores are to have any hope of dousing Rhein Fire in Dusseldorf's Rheinstadion tonight and revive their season then they must first extinguish running back Derrick Clark.

Clark rushed for three second-half touchdowns to bring his all-time tally in the league to 18 in the win over Frankfurt Galaxy last weekend. He currently holds the league record for touchdowns with former Claymore Siran Stacy and will be looking for another tonight to give him the record exclusively.

One player who knows all about Clark from both sides of the fence is the Claymores' defensive back Lee Cole. He played in the Rhein team that lost to Barcelona Dragons in last year's World Bowl and this year was pressed into rushing action himself as he was a makeshift running back in the defeat by England Monarchs in Birmingham when injury took care of the entire Claymores backfield.

''Clark is a very strong running back but he is human. We have to make sure we gang tackle a big back like that. We can't afford to miss tackles,'' Cole pointed out. ''We have to focus on what we have to do in defence and just take it to them. We can't let a team like that get out early.''

The manner of last Sunday's win over Barcelona Dragons has given coach Jim Criner hope that the Claymores can yet turn this wretched season around.

Against Barcelona, the defensive secondary stood tall and, for once, the offence took advantage of their visits to the 20-yard line. Three touchdowns is as ruthless as the Claymores have been for some time. Criner needs more of the same against a Rhein team which is firing on all cylinders, has won all five matches so far and may be just two wins away from booking a World Bowl berth.

Defeat for Claymores would mean their season is all but over. Not that Criner will give anything up. ''I think we all feel there is a chance to get to the Bowl with six wins - with five, it's really tough, nearly impossible,'' he said.

Frankly, the Claymores have to win tonight and keep winning. If they can win their next two matches, then they may be ready to welcome back some of their players on injured reserve and it would give them a healthy team for the final run-in. In what has been his most frustrating season, Criner has had to cope with a 'flu virus among his squad. Running back Carey Bender and tackle Joe Andruzzi are unlikely to feature tonight.

Criner remains the optimist. ''In drawing a parallel with ourselves and Rhein Fire, both of us have moved the ball well offensively. The biggest difference is that we have thrown eight interceptions and they have thrown none,'' he said. ''For us to win the game, we have to - from a defensive standpoint - control their running game. Like ourselves, they have a balanced offence and if we can control their running game, it will enable us to do a good job on the pass. From an offensive standpoint, we have to continue to move the ball well and put points on the boards when we get into the red zone.''

Claymores are the last team to have beaten Rhein in the regular season - Scott Couper clutching a pass in the endzone 15 seconds from time on the Claymores' last visit to Dusseldorf - and they are confident of a repeat. But it will take a performance of the magnitude of Frankfurt two years ago when 'master of defence' Ray Willsey plotted a 20-0 win over Galaxy which meant Claymores hosted the World Bowl.

An impressive 41,123 watched last weekend's Frankfurt v Fire match and the league are looking at starting a new team in Berlin next season. Whether that is at the expense of an existing team is a matter of intense speculation.