CAMBRIDGE HEAD COACH CRAIG NEWBY MAKES CHANGES AHEAD OF THE VISIT OF EALING TRAILFINDERS IN CHAMP RUGBY ROUND 23
The game takes place at Ellgia Fields, Grantchester Road, Cambridge and kicks off at 3pm on Saturday 12th April
Here’s Craig:
“Chinnor are very good. It was a horrible wind. We had it in the first half and did well with it. They had two opportunities and took those two tries and we were disappointed to be behind at the break. And then four minutes into the second half, they had two tries on the board. We reflected on what we did at halftime, and how we spoke and what our tactics were. And we probably weren’t as clear as we needed to be. The players were in a bit of a grey area and made some mistakes that we could have avoided if we were probably a little bit more clear on what we should be doing.
“So, you know, we go from 14-12 into a really tough wind to being 28-12 down, that was probably it, four minutes into the second half. We had opportunities. We got held up over the line once. We threw the ball into touch two or three times in the 22. So, you know, it was always going to be a one-score game, and we gave ourselves three scores to get, and then they had a couple of opportunities and finished them as well. So, yeah, we gave ourselves too much to do, really, against a very good side. I like how they play, their set piece is strong, they’re exactly everything we expected from them, and they delivered. Our scrum was okay, it started creaking a little bit, Billy and Jake got a bit tired, so we brought the young fellas on and they did well.
“Line outs were, again, an issue, down to 50-51 %, they were at 81%, so that was something that we didn’t deal with particularly well. It was a low ‘ball in play game’, so there wasn’t a lot of rugby in that 80 minutes. When you don’t have a lot of rugby, you’ve got to make the opportunities count. We wanted to try and play with a bit of bravery this year, but the wind didn’t allow it. So it kind of forced us into a bit of a kicking game. And we missed four or five chances to take edges, and use guys like Eli Caven, Ethan Thorne and Levi Reweti. We missed those opportunities. And so that’s one area we’re going to review this week.
“Against Ealing on Saturday, they might only give you one or two opportunities and we’ve got to be brave enough to take them. We want to frustrate them and be niggly like we were at Worcester in the first half. They are a quality side and they come in here with all the form and all the bells and whistles that come with a great and well-run club. So I think they’ve ultimately got more to lose than we do. When we played Ealing away, we fought really hard, we scored some good tries and pressured them in a lot of areas, so I’d love to see that again. I’d like to rattle them. I’d like to stand up to them, I’d like to see our boys really get stuck in, be brave on attack and take the chances that they give us or we create, and go after them”.
Leicester Tigers loan Kesena Izu returns from England U19 duty – Tigers team mate Tabuna Maka returns on the bench. Jamie Annand is injured and Otu Mausia reclaims the starting spot at 10. Back row Sam Johnson makes his first start – and Tigers England U20s back George Pearson will make his Cambridge debut from amongst the reinforcements.
15 Ben Currie
14 Kesena Izu
13 Levi Reweti
12 Jasper Sorrell
11 Eli Caven
10 Otumaka Mausia
9 Rauridh Dawson
1 Jake Ellwood
2 John Stewart
3 Billy Walker
4 Jack Lawrence
5 Gareth Baxter
6 Rhys Fulford
7 Sam Johnson
8 Ben Adams (C)
Reinforcements
16 Jack Doorey-Palmer 17 Tabuna Maka 18 Paul Wulf-Masoe 19 Jake McCay 20 Arthur Thomas 21 Charlie Beamand 22 George Pearson 23 Ardal Yallop