RUGBY UNION
REIGNING champion and top seed Jurja Vlasic heads into this weekend’s BUCS Beach Volleyball championships confident Northumbria University can dominate on the sands of Bournemouth.
The Croatian partnered with Sarah Blomgren last summer to lift the 2017 women’s championship title.
And Vlasic is convinced she can repeat the trick 12 months down the line alongside team-mate Julia Tokarenko.
“We’ve been training in Tynemouth for the last four weeks and slowly but surely we’ve made the transition from indoor to beach,” she said.
“I’ve played beach for a number of years and represented my country on the sand.
“But if you don’t play it all year round then you need that time to adjust. It’s completely different to the indoor game.
“Julia and I work well together and just like Sarah she’s another great blocker. I have a lot of trust in our partnership and I’m looking forward to defending the title.
“I think we can win it but that’s just words. We have to go out there and prove it – regardless of the weather conditions or the strength of our opponents.”
Three of Northumbria’s five pairs are seeded first and the dominant force in the English indoor game are expected to contest the medals on the south coast.
The Sport Central club has two pairs entered in the women’s Trophy with top seeds Sam Cash and Annie Reiswig in Pool E and third seeds Kayla Bastian and Blair Ehrlich looking to emerge from a tough Pool G.
In the men’s Championship event second seeds Andy Clayton and Alex Ukkelberg are going for gold with Northumbria’s England captain Adam Bradbury and partner Federico Pagliara seeded first in the Trophy competition.
“Across the board the team should do well,” added Vlasic. “We’ve worked hard on our strength and conditioning on the sand and honed the skills required for beach.
“Tynemouth has thrown everything at us on the Longsands in the last few weeks so we’re ready for anything weather-wise!
“Going into the competition as top seed is an exciting position to be in. I don’t feel any extra pressure but I know everyone will want to beat us.
“Both the men’s and women’s pairs have prepared well and we’re looking good.
“We have two full days in Bournemouth before the competition gets under way so we’ll be more than ready.”
Vlasic and Tokarenko open their account against 17th seeds Cranfield before facing Derby, Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam in their remaining group games.
Cash and Reiswig face Birmingham, Warwick, Bath and University College London in Pool E of the women’s Trophy. Northumbria team-mates Bastian and Ehrlich look to exit Pool G with wins against Sheffield, Bournemouth, Surrey and Derby.
In the men’s Championship Clayton and Ukkelberg are drawn against pairs from Bath, Birmingham, Nottingham and Gloucester in Group B. Pagliara and Bradbury begin their men’s Trophy campaign against derby rivals Newcastle before taking on Cambridge, East Anglia and Anglia Ruskin. BRAD Shields has been fasttracked into England’s match-day squad for the opening Test against South Africa on Saturday.
The uncapped New Zealandborn forward, who is to join Wasps once his Super Rugby commitments are complete next month, is named on the bench as the replacement lock despite only joining up with Eddie Jones’ men for the first time on Sunday.
The 27-year-old Hurricanes captain and blindside flanker, who qualifies for England through his English parents, missed training on Monday due to jet lag, having made the 7,655-mile journey from Wellington to Durban.
Joe Launchbury has failed a fitness test on his calf injury so Nick Isiekwe partners Maro Itoje in the second row, making his first Test start having won two caps as a replacement in Argentina 12 months ago.
Billy Vunipola makes his first start for England since the end of the 2017 NatWest 6 Nations due to an injury-ravaged 18 months and is joined in the back row by 19-year-old openside Tom Curry.
Kyle Sinckler has won the battle of the tighthead props to start alongside Mako Vunipola and Jamie George in the front row with Harry Williams supplying cover from the bench.
Danny Cipriani has been overlooked completely for the 23 despite an outstanding season at Wasps with Piers Francis offering centre and fly-half cover from the bench.
Elliot Daly has been selected at full-back, the position he also filled in last month’s rout by the Barbarians at Twickenham, and once more Mike Brown is consigned to the left wing.
The outside centre slot will be filled by Henry Slade, who has edged Alex Lozowski, with Denny Solomona supplying wing cover from the bench.
“We have had a really good week in preparation for this weekend and we are pleased with the way the squad has come together,” head coach Jones said.
“Owen Farrell has settled in well to his new role as captain with the senior players supporting him, and there is a good feeling within the camp.
“We want to do something special on this tour and the players are all incredibly excited about this challenge and opportunity we have.
“Ellis Park is the spiritual homeland of South African rugby and the Springboks play to another level on that ground, so we know we have to raise our game physically early on and be enormously accurate in the way we play.”