CAMBRIDGE SHUFFLE THE PACK AHEAD OF FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS AT COVENTRY IN CHAMP RUGBY ROUND 24
Head Coach Craig Newby has named his side for the trip to Coventry – the game takes place at the Nick Newbold Stadium on Friday 17th April and kicks off at 8pm
Here’s Craig:
“I think last Saturday’s performance against Ealing is probably a credit to the process and the programme we’ve built this year and the foundation that we’ve got in place on and off the field. Our infrastructure off the field has been excellent this year and whilst the quality on the field hasn’t always been up to standard or where we want, it was on Saturday. And against the best team in the league, they are a country mile better than everyone else, So it was nice to push them for 70 minutes. And then also still wanting to be better. And the guys are already in the building questioning and asking and working on how we can be better and we could have tipped them over. It would have been amazing, but it wasn’t to be. But I’m extremely proud. And I’m not going to take the credit; it’s down to the players – they dig themselves in and out of these holes. And they continue to bring the shovel to work on Monday.
“We have another big test this week against Coventry away. It’s a tough place to go but historically as a club we tend to play well there. I think our guys have a real attraction to energy and hostility and noise – at Worcester, when it was sunny with 5,000 people watching, and the mud at Nottingham and on Saturday against Ealing it was probably the loudest I’ve ever heard this crowd. We asked for that support and that die-hard mentality and we got it. So I think that’s what we thrive on and the challenge for our young guys and some of our older guys is how we can how we can rise to that intensity on a Tuesday and a Thursday when there’s no noise and in patches where it is quiet out there, how do we rise and internally motivate ourselves. So yeah, we’re looking forward to the Friday and they play good rugby and again, it’s one of those games we’re looking forward to: this is what we’re going to do and this is how we can compete and beat those guys, but if we get it wrong, in a blink of an eye, it could be all over.
“Under Alex Rae,they play to score tries, so that gives us opportunities but also there’s a lot of threats there. I want to see us win. That’s it. I want to see the boys win. I think they deserve it. They’ve earned it. They’ve worked hard. I say it all the time, rugby doesn’t care what you think you deserve, but I’d love to see them win. It would be a really nice reward for those guys. And then we have a week off and take that into the last two games. So that’s what I want to see on Friday night”.
Billy Walker, Jack Lawrence and Jasper Sorrell miss out this weekend through injury – Jake McCay starts at second row, Taitusi Qaniuci returns at centre. Leicester Tigers ten Tom Threlfall starts outside Ruaridh Dawson.
Cambridge squad
15 Ben Currie
14 Kesena Izu
13 Levi Reweti
12 Taitusi Qaniuci
11 Eli Caven
10 Tom Threlfall
9 Ruaridh Dawson
1 Jake Ellwood
2 John Stewart
3 Paul Wulf-Masoe
4 Jake McCay
5 Gareth Baxter
6 Rhys Fulford
7 Dan Eckersley
8 Ben Adams (C)
Reinforcements
16 Jack Doorey-Palmer 17 Tabuna Maka 18 Francois Rossouw 19 Charlie Friend 20 Arthur Thomas 21 Charlie Bemand 22 Ethan Thorne 23 Sam Johnson