CAMBRIDGE WOMEN’S HEAD COACH ISA SLOOT PREVIEWS SUNDAY’S PROMOTION PARTY AGAINST MILTON KEYNES
“This season’s gone very well for us so far. It’s really built off the back of last season where we had a tough first half, but after Christmas, things really clicked. The work we’d put in in training showed on the pitch. We ended the season second behind Harpenden. And I think that gave us a lot of belief considering how the start of the season went. Coming into this year, we had some honest conversations about what we wanted from the season. Based on the performances we put in at the end of the season last year we definitely felt we could chase for promotion this time out.
“I’ve told them on a number of occasions that I backed them to win the league And, really, the buy-in since preseason has been absolutely outstanding – and the standards the women have set for themselves have been brilliant. We had a slightly later start to the season than usual because of the Women’s Rugby World Cup which was to see how many people were supporting women’s rugby. Our first league game was away at Stockwood Park; I think last season when they came to us at the start of the season, they scored in the region of 30 points and we scored I think one try. This year we went there and it was 35-7 win to us, which for me was a really big statement and that confirmed to me that promotion was on the table.
“Again, the buy-in since then has been absolutely class. Fast forward to last weekend away at Milton Keynes. I think that that game was probably one of our toughest games of the season so far. Their league position doesn’t really reflect, in my opinion, how challenging they were and how competitive as a team they are. They are the only team in the league so far to score more than two tries against us. They stressed us out wide, their backline gave us limited space in the centres and their scramble defence kept us out on a number of occasions. So I’m really looking forward to how the game plays out this weekend against them.
“Obviously, in the week, we’ve been reviewing last week’s game, we’ve looked at where we can improve and what we can exploit with regards to their defence and their attack. I’m looking forward to seeing how our work pans out on Sunday. The players have put in a massive amount of work this season to get to this point and we’ve got a really strong group – and I believe that we’ll be more competitive in the higher league next season”.
This Sunday marks Allegra Sloot’s 50th cap in Cambridge colours, a milestone reached two weeks ago against Olney by skipper Molly Henthorn.
- Cariad Davies
- Abbie Walker
- Ari Talas
- Lyndsey Williams
- Lily Nicol
- Iona Gourlay
- Afroditi Ilioudi
- Vera Schaefer
- Amy Jin
- Allegra Sloot
- Georgia Grand
- Kate Willis
- Jaz Reed
- Princess Marie Salazar
- Molly Henthorn
- Frayr Bridgeman 17. Ashleigh Parsons 18. Whitnye Kerns 19. Sarah Cuffe 20. Margaux Forner 21. Sarah Hamaia 22. Niamh Gilbert