‘It’s important we get points’
WILLIAMS WANTS TO SEE BLOOD & SAND BOUNCE BACK TODAY
CAMBRIDGE director of rugby Richie Williams is looking for his side to pick up points against Nottingham this afternoon after they have been left “empty-handed” from recent encounters.
The Blood & Sand return to action at Volac Park today following a twoweek gap in their schedule, having been beaten 22-12 by Bedford Blues last time out on March 9.
Cambridge have also been unable to pick up points against Hartpury University, Ealing Trailfinders and Doncaster Knights in their previous three matches, leaving Williams eager to take something from this afternoon’s clash.
“When we travelled to Lady Bay before Christmas (a 22-19 defeat), it’s a game that we could’ve won on another evening,” Williams told the Richie & Jacko Podcast.
“We put ourselves in a position at the end, we had a lineout five to ten metres out, and we were a little bit inaccurate there and lost the ball.
“We were very competitive against them, and they’ve made some changes. I think they’ve strengthened in some positions, but I think for us, it’s important that we get points from that game.
“We’ve had a disappointing block of three games against Ealing, Hartpury and Bedford where we’ve come away empty-handed, so it’s pretty clear what our focus is going to be now for that game.”
The second-from-bottom Blood & Sand suffered a 57-7 defeat to league leaders Ealing and a 61-10 loss at sixth-placed Hartpury, but put in an improved display against fifthplaced Bedford last time out.
Williams feels that the last three matches provide a condensed summary of how their season has played out to date.
“[If we] go back to that Ealing game in particular, that’s one of the most physical games I’ve had the pleasure of watching,” the director of rugby added.
“I don’t know if it was pleasurable at any point, but they were coming off the back of a narrow loss to Leicester Tigers in the semi-final of the Prem Cup.
“They could count themselves unlucky not to win that, and then we played them the following week, they had a very similar squad to what they selected for that game, and it was hard.
“It reminded me a bit of the Prem Cup game down in Bristol Bears (a 98-14 defeat in October).
“It was a real challenge looking at the difference in physicality, the personnel that they had playing, but we got a lot from that.
“Then the second game, we’ve spoken a lot about the Hartpury game, that’s not a performance that
Jake Jarman of Huntingdon Gymnastics Club competes in pommel horse during men’s artistic senior - apparatus final we ever want to produce again as a group, and then that Bedford game was more about us and what we’re capable of doing, other than the fact that we didn’t get anything from it. “Those three games there have probably highlighted how our season’s gone this year.
“We’ve been really competitive, there have been some games where we’ve not quite been at the races, and there have been other ends of the spectrum where you’re playing a team like Ealing and you just have to accept the resources that they’ve got, it’s always going to be a difficult game.
“These are all experiences that will definitely put us in good stead, not only for the rest of this season but more so next year.”
Those three games there have probably highlighted how our season’s gone this year.
Richie Williams