Cambridge head coach Richie Williams announces his squad for Championship round 7 against Nottingham. Kick off is at 2pm this Saturday 7th December.
Here’s Richie:
“We welcome Nottingham to Ellgia Fields, looking to bounce back from our heavy loss against Doncaster Knights last Saturday. It was a game in which we made far too many errors. As a result, we didn’t manage to build any momentum and allowed Doncaster and their dangerous individuals too much time and space on the ball. We started the game quite brightly and took an early 0-3 lead. Then through a combination of ill-discipline and losing field position, we were 21-3 down after 30 mins. We gave ourselves an opportunity towards half time, but were unable to capitalise on a number of goal line attacks. There was a lot of rustiness in our game last week which manifested itself in some poor skill errors. Conversely, Doncaster looked cohesive after their Premiership Cup appearances and were deserved winners.
“One of the positives from our game was to see Eli Caven back on the field and doing what he does best; scoring tries. I was also delighted to see young scrum-half Jimmy Thompson make his first championship appearance off the bench. All of the players have been looking forward to this weekend’s fixture for a long time. Nottingham are coming off the back of a disappointing loss to Bedford, a game that they will have targeted to win. They are one of the better attacking teams in the league and will look to impose their identity on us.
“I’d like to congratulate captain George Bretag-Norris, who makes his 200th appearance for the club. This is a fantastic achievement for any individual and I am delighted that George will be able to lead the team out on this landmark occasion. He has been a mainstay in this team for a number of seasons and has led the team superbly for the last 5 seasons”.
Centre Ollie Betteridge misses out this week, as do Gareth Baxter and Matt Dawson. Pete White is unavailable. Youngster Jimmy Thompson keeps his place on the bench. Northampton Saints England U20s wing Will Glister starts – clubmates Ollie Scola and Archie Benson are among the replacements in a 5/3 split. Jake Ellwood is injured. Joe Tarrant and Josh Skelcey are the other two finishers in the backs.
Cambridge Line Up:
15-Eli Caven 14-Joe Green 13-Sam Hanks 12-Matt Hema 11- Will Glister 10-Louis Grimoldby (CC) 9- Ruaridh Dawson 1- Seb Brownhill 2- Ben Brownlie 3- Billy Walker 4- George Bretag-Norris (CC) 5- Iestyn Rees 6- Kayde Sylvester 7- Ben Adams 8- Jack Bartlett 16-Morgan Veness 17- Oliver Scola 18-Zac Nearchou 19- Archie Benson 20-Jared Cardew 21- Jimmy Thompson 22- Joe Tarrant 23- Josh Skelcey