That Friday Feeling – 3rd November 2023

Last Saturday’s 45-5 away defeat against a full time Coventry side demonstrated the clear physical advantage the fully professional Championship sides are able to bring against a team like Caldy which only has two evening training sessions each week to prepare.

This Saturday Caldy’s Head Coach Matt Cairns and his 1st xv squad will face another side with full time athletes in London Scottish. Historically the London Scottish squad has been liberally sprinkled with full time players from Premiership side Harlequins. This ability to draw on a large pool of up and coming professional talent makes the London club unpredictable as Caldy found out in the two hard encounters last season.

Accordingly, this week Cairns has been very much focussed on Caldy’s own performance.

“Preparing for the match against Coventry was relatively straight forward. We could analyse their team and how they were likely to play and try and plan accordingly. London Scottish area different proposition. The composition of their squad can change from week to week but the one thing we do know is that they will be very well prepared by Bryan Redpath and hiscoaching team, very fit, pacy and committed. This week we have very much concentrated on ourselves, looking to improve those areas where we have fallen short in our first two Championship games. This is an important match and I hope the Wirral public turn up in force to support us. It makes a huge difference.”

Last season’s fixture at Paton Field between the two sides, which resulted in a 26-19 win for Caldy was a pivotal win, which enabled the Wirral side to pull away from the relegation zone. Cairns will be hoping that a good home performance against Scottish can kick start Caldy’s Championship season.

London Scottish will go into this game with two weeks rest after their fallow week due to the demise of Jersey. In contrast Caldy, with a number of significant players still out with injury, will need to redouble their efforts after two difficult weeks against Nottingham and Coventry.

A big vociferous home support will go a long way to help the Ravers get a result.

Matt Cairns has selected the following squad for Saturday’s 1st XV Championship fixture at Paton Field against London Scottish which kicks off at the earlier time of 2 pm.

7. C Booth 8. JJ Dickinson 9. C Pilgrim 10. R Hayes 11. M Cartmill 12. M Barlow 13. C Wilkinson

14. W Robinson 15. S Rogers 16. R Higginson 17. O Hearn 18. A Aigbokhae 19. M Gerrard

20. H Crowe 21. J Murray 22. L Barker 23 R Williams

Tonight the second XV take on Wirral at Paton Field in a Cotton Trader’s Premier League clash. This local derby which kicks off at 7.30 pm at Paton Field is sure to be a feisty and committed encounter.