Cambridge go to Ealing today with an 0 and 10 record – the hosts have the opposite, having won all ten of their Champ Rugby matches thus far. Craig Newby – a former Ealing Academy Head Coach – raided their youngsters over the summer and three former Trailfinders will face their old club this afternoon. England Under 20s back Eparama Rokodrava will starts in the centre alongside Jasper Sorrell, whilst South African Ben Currie will begin this one at full back.
We caught up with Ben to find out what it’s like to be facing his former club…
“I’m really looking forward to going back down to London to Vallis Way. Craig came in in my final year at Brunel – the Trailfinders Academy side. He initially came as forwards coach, moved up to assistant and then Head Coach and I’ve been coached by him pretty much since then. He’s renowned for his defensive coaching ability – we’ve definitely shown what we can do in parts in defence although not necessarily for the whole 80 minutes. We’re looking forward to showing more of that this weekend. I played for 3 years with Jasper in the Academy – I played primarily as a fly half there with Jasper as inside centre. Epi’s a bit older and played more with the 1st XV squad – Jasper and I never got a chance in the Champ or the Prem Cup. When I heard Craig had taken over at here at Cambridge, and Jasper was coming here, it was a no brainer – I knew exactly what the environment was that he’d be trying to establish and I wanted to be part of that too.”
“A non-negotiable for us this weekend is to go to Ealing and go for four tries and the try bonus point. That’s what we’re really striving to do. Obviously Ealing are a very strong outfit, their position in the table shows that. Not many people will be backing us but it’s a phenomenal opportunity for us to come out and bounce back and show what we’re made of and make a game of it. It’s top versus bottom – that doesn’t always go the way people expect. We’ll try and use that to our advantage – Ealing won’t necessarily be underestimating us but it would be nice to go down there, show what we can do and at the very least ruffle a few feathers”.