Cambridge coach James Shanahan has invited former England Sevens international and Heineken Cup winner Russell Earnshaw to pass on his experience to the current crop of Light Blues on how to beat Oxford as they try to find a way to end a run of six successive Varsity Match defeats.
Earnshaw was twice a winner over the Dark Blues in 1995 and 1996. He went on to play for Bath when they became European champions in 1998 and also played for and coached the England sevens side. These days he is involved in the England Academy.
“I’ve known Russell for some time and have been hugely impressed by what he has got to offer. I’ve asked him to come and talk to the players before they head to Twickenham for the Varsity Match,” said Shanahan.
“We’ve won three games in a row and that has helped to build confidence. Now we want to finish on a high against the Steele-Bodger’s XV and head to Twickenham full of belief.
“We picked our fixtures this season with a view to developing our game over the 12 weeks in the build-up to the Varsity Match. Having lost the last six games we needed to pick up a few wins to instil some confidence in the side.
“I’ve watched four or five videos of Oxford in action this season and they are very physical, well organised and strong defensively. They have probably had a tougher fixture list, with four games against Premiership opposition, but I’m hoping it will be third time lucky for me as coach.”
To his credit, Shanahan’s teams have come close on both occasions he has been in charge and also enjoyed good build-ups to Twickenham. He will be missing scrum half Seb Tullie as a precaution, but will get a final chance to run the rule over the final few candidates for a Blue in the game at Grange Road on Wednesday, 23 November (kick-off 3.00pm).
The invitation side contains two international players in Canadian full back James Pritchard and Samoan lock Dan Leo, as well as former Wales Sevens captain Johnathan Edwards.
The 135th Varsity Match and the 30th Women’s Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge will return to Twickenham on Thursday 8th December, with tickets on sale now. 2 for 1 adult tickets are now available online on all £28 ticket categories.
Cambridge University: Charlie Amesbury; Simon Davies*, George Griffiths, Michael Phillips*, Henry King; Fraser Gillies*, Chris Bell; William Briggs*, Andrew Burnett, Jonny Dixon, Tim Bond, Lola Erogbogbo, Brian Du Toit, Tom Stanley, Daniel Dass* (captain)
Reps: Simon Hugkulstone, Henry Somers, Demitri Moros, Henry Rose, Richard Bartholomew*, Balfour, Rory Triniman, Lare Egbogbo
Steele-Bodger’s XV: James Pritchard (Coventry / Canada); Kristian Cook* (KCS Wimbledon Old Boys), Brendan Burke (Coventry), Chris Lombaard (Old Albanians), Ollie Thorley (Gloucester); Craig Evans (Carmarthen Quins), Stefan Liebenberg (Cambridge); Ben Ibrahim (Cambridge), Matt Miles (Old Albanians), Des Brett* (Southwold), Jack Baker* (Royal Free University Medical College), Rob Hurrell (Stourbridge), Dan Leo (London Cornish / Samoa), Jonathan Edwards (Cardiff), Sam Farmer* (Blackheath)
* Denotes Blue
Pic: Cambridge News
