The game takes place at Ellgia Fields, Grantchester Road, Cambridge and kicks off at 3pm on Saturday 25th September 2026
Here’s Craig…
“We’ve played well enough to win all three of our games so far. We’re scoring enough points to win games of rugby. We’re averaging mid-thirties, that would be enough to win most games. It’s the time of year for high-scoring matches, the grounds are hard, but we’ve got to learn really quickly around our attacking ambition, which is great, but also we’ve got to have a defensive focus and have the ability to make tackles and be in the right spots to make those tackles. That’s something we’ll be working really work hard at this week. Leeds Tykes come to town, and they’re in red hot form and they’ll score some tries too. They got a lot of points last weekend, that was their first win of the season.
“There’ve been some high scores in National One. Now the laws have become favourable to the attack and everyone wants to see high-scoring and high-running and free-flowing rugby. The laws have changed a little bit to support that, but we can’t concede eight tries in a game of rugby and expect to win. It’s just not how it works and, you know, could we have won on the weekend? Yeah, we probably could have and TJs would be probably sitting here thinking the same and that they got away with one probably. Apart from lapses in concentration five minutes before half time and ten minutes after half time, we were probably the better team.
“We need to focus now more around the drive and understanding of how we can defend – score a try and defend for the next five, ten minutes – and we don’t just give them a try back to chalk off our good work. So, we’ve got to build pressure and score two, three, four tries in a row and then maybe let one in, and then that cycle of one-for-one get’s broken. The scrum is good. Obviously Billy’s a seasoned vet and he knows how to scrum and he’s enjoying that side of the game, but he can’t do it on his own. So we’ve had good buy-in and we’ve got a good process around our scrum and that’s a weapon for us. Our maul is the same, but on the flip side, we’ve conceded a few maul tries, so we’ve got to tidy that up as well.
“The set piece is a big part of rugby and we’ve got to get that right and continue to work at that. The line out was good against Bury – I think 90 something percent win rate. Against TJs we were down into the mid-50s so that’s not good enough, and when some of those misses cost you in terms of scoring tries or maybe cost you in terms of conceding it becomes really important. We’re trying to compete for every moment. And the more you can win of those in a row, the better off you’re going to be.
“I’m expecting Leeds to come down here smelling blood. They’re a side that has probably traditionally been very strong and competitive at home. We need to match that mentality. We’ve got to turn up here, and front up to a Leeds team that are going to be hungry for it. We’ve got to be just as hungry, or if not more hungry, being at home, zero from three, and under pressure. So, we’ve got to be the hungrier side.”
Cambridge Squad
- Eli Caven 14. Kieran O’Meara 13. Jacob Cusick 12. Jasper Sorrell 11. Ethan Thorne 10. Luke Bouchier 9. Ruaridh Dawson
- Callum Smyth 2. Jude White 3. Billy Walker 4. Jake McCay 5. Nile Dacres 6. Ted Warner 7. Chris Mills 8. Ben Adams (C)
Reinforcements
- Harry Nicholls 17. Sam Turner 18. Tom Campbell 19. Benji Ritson 20. Jesse Cotterill