Cambridge Rugby Head Coach Richie Williams has revealed his side to face Ealing Trailfinders in Saturday’s round four Premiership Cup clash at Ellgia Fields.
Hosting Ealing for their second home match of the season, Cambridge are looking to take their learnings from last week’s defeat to Cornish Pirates into this week’s match up;
“The first 40 minutes last week was our best half of rugby this season, as we managed to transfer a lot of the lessons from round one and round two. Unfortunately, we were unable to generate the same momentum in the second half. There is a clear expectation that this will be far better in round four against another full-time professional team in Ealing Trailfinders.” Williams said.
Williams is certain however that the Premiership Cup competition is helping his side to build ahead of the Championship season starting;
“Amidst the frustrations, we must remind ourselves that our priority this season remains finishing as high up the league as we can. As tough as the last few weeks have been, this competition remains an excellent opportunity to refine our game model and adapt to the requirements of playing against higher resourced teams.”
Looking ahead to round four, Williams made a nod to the opposition’s set up;
“This weekend we face unbeaten Ealing Trailfinders who finished runners up in last year’s Championship. They are a team that boast a full-time professional squad of 50+ players, which is more than most Premiership clubs. It will be a huge test for us, and we expect them to pick a squad that may contain ex International players, Billy Twelvetrees, Lloyd Williams and Jonah Holmes. It will challenge our character and bravery and will also quickly show how much we have learned from the humbling loss from round three.”
On his selected line up for this week, Williams commented;
“Some of the positives for me on Saturday were a clear improvement in our attacking game; highlighted by the fact that we scored three tries. The pick of the bunch was the finish from winger Eli Caven, who has now scored five tries in as many games.”
“Both Matt Hema and Matt Dawson brought a hunger and desire to our attack and Morgan Veness had another accomplished display at hooker and is growing in every game. A special mention should also go to tight-head Billy Walker who managed to get through a full 80 minutes, a very rare thing for a prop at this level.”
Changes for this week include Eli Caven shifting to full-back, with Rian Hamilton starting on the wing. Prop Jake Elwood returns to the starting team in what is the only change up front. On the bench, Corey Lewis will make his first appearance of the season. Sam Hanks also returns to the squad after a short-term injury.
“Unfortunately, we suffered an injury to Joe Tarrant early in the first half against Pirates which leaves him unavailable for selection. On more positive news, other members of the squad such as Kwaku Asiedu, Joe Green, Benji Hoppe and Seb Brownhill are progressing positively through their recovery from injury, and we should expect to see them back on the pitch in the coming weeks.”
Cambridge will step out against Ealing at 3pm on Saturday 30 September at Ellgia Fields. Tickets to the clash are still available to purchase and fans are advised to buy early to make the most of pre-sale prices. Visit our website to buy now.
Cambridge Rugby line-up:
15 – Eli Caven
14 – Matt Hema
13 – Matty Williams
12 – Tom Hoppe
11 – Rian Hamilton
10 – Steff James
9 – Kieran Duffin
1 – Jake Elwood
2 – Morgan Veness
3 – Billy Walker
4 – Kieran Frost
5 – Gareth Baxter
6 – George Bretag Norris ©
7 – Matt Dawson
8 – Jared Cardew
16 – Corey Lewis
17 – Harry Morley
18 – Billy Walker
19 – Noah Sloot
20 – Archie Strath
21 – Toby Dabell
22 – Lawrence Rayner
23 – Sam Hanks