Eastern Counties U20s, with Cambridge players Gareth Baxter and Elliot Fraser, overcame Surrey in the Quarter Final of the RFU National Shield, recording an impressive 55-12 victory.

They now face Cambridge University U20s in the semi-finals on 21st April, and must be hopeful of progressing to the Final, having already beaten the university 43-14 in the pool stages.

Young Cambridge lock, Gareth Baxter, who played for London & South East U20s in the Divisional Festival over Easter, has been selected for the England Counties U20 for a two-match tour of Georgia in May.

Gareth is a product of the Clubs Mini & Youth system and has this season broken into the 1XV so far making 8 appearances.

Rowland Winter, Director of Rugby, is delighted at the news.

"As a club we are striving to nurture talent across all age groups, and we pride ourselves in being able to offer a positive learning and development environment for all players to progress. Gareth is a great product of this, and will be highlighted as an example of yet another talented player to develop through the ranks of Cambridge RFC. He has had a great season, and has become an integral part of the first team set up. Representing his country is a great reward for many years of hard work."

Stay tuned for news of how England and Gareth perform in Georgia in May.

Congratulations to Mike Bellamy, Reece Harry, Tom Powell and Andy Howard who have been selected to represent the senior Cambridgeshire side to face Suffolk.

The match is this evening, Wed 13th March, at Stowmarket with a 7.45 kickoff.

Those of you at Volac Park to watch the Blood & Sand take on Blackheath saw three players who have progressed through the Cambridge Mini & Youth system take the field for the 1st XV. Gareth Baxter and James Palmer both started while Will Hooley played the second half, capping his debut with a last minute try gaining Cambridge a hard earned bonus point.

Gareth (20) and James (19), played together in what must have been a dominant pack, while Will Hooley (19) is an age group younger, playing in a very successful team with Will McGahey, Tom Bailey and Elliot Fraser, all of whom now play for the Wanderers.

And if you had been at Bedford last Tuesday you would have seen a number of this year's Colts, Michael Brennan, Michael Burnford, Josh Gray and Rhys Roberts, take the field for the Wanderers against the Bedford Academy side.

This Sunday saw the Colts field a number of U17s in their convincing win against Diss to progress further in the Eastern Counties cup, one of three competitions they are currently still part of.

And more success is on the way.  The Under 13s won their county cup final this Sunday, while the U14s, U15s and U16s are preparing to play in theirs. U17s will be playing in the Eastern Counties cup final. And the Wanderers have progressed in the senior county cup and will face local rivals Shelford in the semi-final this Friday.

When Rowland Winter (new Director of Rugby) is asked about the vision for the club and player development he says.

"Our aim is to become a standard setting community club in everything we do and across all age groups, from playing performance and player pathways, to coach education and development. The foundations are already in place, and there is an excited buzz around the club from top to bottom.

"Having a clear pathway for progression is vital for us to achieve our aims, and expect to see more home grown players continue to step up the ladder towards 1st XV rugby and beyond."

With the academy now in place, recent coaching appointments, and further appointments coming to build the team around the team the long term future of Cambridge Rugby is looking in very bright.

Cambridge RUFC are beginning a process of rebuilding on and off the pitch. With the process of development in mind we are looking to add to the 'team around the team' and have three job opportunities for the right candidates.

• Development Coach
  Click here for details. Closing date 22 Mar 13
  
  
• 1st XV Performance Analyst Internship
  Click here for details. Closing date 15 Mar 13
  
  
• Development Team Performance Analyst Internship
  Click here for details. Closing date 15 Mar 13

Follow the above links for details on how to apply.

RFU National Under-20s Shield

Eastern Counties powered their way into the quarter-finals, scoring seven tries in a dominant display in the wind and rain at Sudbury on Sunday. A couple of brief spells in the second half apart, Cambridge University were always second best.

Counties, with the strong wind at their backs, ran up 26 unanswered points in the first half, taking the lead in the seventh minute and rarely letting Cambridge out of their own half. They mixed up their game well, using the forwards to set up the backs to keep constant pressure on the visitors.

Cambridge, inevitably, hit back in the second half, scoring two tries. But Counties defended superbly, and hit back two minutes after Cambridge’s second try to end the threatened revival. Two further tries merely underlined their superiority in all aspects of the game.

Adam White dummied his way over after seven minutes to put Counties ahead, and landed the conversion.

Barry Aluvanze went over in the 15th minute after a powerful run by Rhys Hartley. White again converting.

Mike Stanway made it three tries in the 24th minute, set up by Chris Lord, who did well to pick up a poor pass off his toes. White narrowly missed, but made no mistake in the 32nd minute after Gareth Baxter had rounded off a rolling maul.

George Smith reduced the arrears in the 51st minute, George Williams converting, and Jack Baker got a second after 69 minutes, Williams adding the extra points.

But Malcolm Onsando powered his way over two minutes later to put Counties in control again.

Shaq Meyers, one of seven second-half changes by Counties, burst through following an 80th minute lineout, Tom Summers converting.

And deep into injury time Stanway got his second, going over in the corner after Counties’ pack had set up the opportunity.

Eastern Counties: Rhys Hartley (Colchester), Sam Bixby – Bury St Edmunds, Sean Davis (Bury St Edmunds), Gareth Baxter (Cambridge), Malcolm Onsando (Culford School), David Micklethwaite (Norwich), Barry Aluvanze (Culford School), Matthew Norfolk-Clarke (North Walsham ), Henry Dewing (North Walsham ), Adam White (Shelford), Mike Stanway (Bedford Blues), Harry Downing (North Walsham), James Crossley (Leeds University), Lewis Green (Shelford), Chris Lord (Bedford Blues). Replacements: Aaron Cole (Holt), Curtis Weaver (Cambridge), Chas Hays-Burt (Colchester), Shaq Meyers (Bedford Blues), George Teeboon (Shelford), Tom Summers (Sudbury), Jonty Rawcliffe (Culford School).

Cambridge University: Tim Jones, Tom Pasco, Sam Alderson, Oliver Exton, Jack Baker, Matt Hall, James Thompson, Harry McAleer, Gideon Levitt, George Williams, Dave Sparkhall, Ben Wylie, Will Burrow, Louis Tapper, George Smith. Replacements: Patrick Calvert, Theo Collier, Ezra Neil, Henry Rose, Max Burrows, Muhammad Jaffer.

On behalf of the Committee, we are extremely pleased and excited to announce the appointments of Rowland Winter as our Director of Rugby and Craig Newby as our 1st XV Coach!

Rowland Winter

In his five years at Northampton Saints, Rowland Winter has built up a coaching CV which includes a Divisional Championship title with Midlands Under-20 and working with the club’s upcoming stars in the Elite Player Development Group and AASE programme based at Moulton College. As Community Manager, Winter has also established a number of programmes which have won national awards and played a key role in the growth and development of the Saints’ Premiership Rugby Academies, which take place throughout the east of England.

An RFU accredited selector and with a first class honours Sports Science degree to his name, Rowland joins Cambridge from Bedford Athletic, where as head coach he turned around a club that had been relegated and was at risk of folding, to becoming one that is on the verge of promotion to the National Leagues and now has a thriving adult section, with feeder links to Bedford Blues.

In his role Rowland will also assist Craig as the backs coach.

Craig Newby

Born in Rotorua, New Zealand Craig’s playing credentials speak for themselves. As a back-row all-rounder he won a Commonwealth Games gold medal with New Zealand Sevens and played most of his provincial rugby at blindside or No8, but earned his All Black caps as an open side flanker, making his debut against England at Eden Park in 2004. Craig has played for and skippered Auckland Blues, the Highlanders, Otago and Leicester and had it not been for a knee injury would still be playing today. Craig works at Pitsford School and is an active member of the Leicester Tigers Community Coaching Team.

Craig joins Cambridge on his journey to becoming a Premiership Coach. He brings with him a wealth of playing experience and having been coached and “skippered” at such high levels is looking to pass on his experience to a young and talented squad.

We hope that you are as excited as we are of the prospect of this new coaching partnership. We believe that their strengths complement one another and that together they will be able to realise and consolidate the huge potential of our young and talented squad!

We look forward to introducing them to you all at Volac Park on Saturday 2nd February.

As a club our aim is to develop players to the highest possible standards.  So when contacted by the Blues and Saracens to boost their playing squads we were only too happy to give our players the opportunity to show their skills.

Jack Elborn represented Saracens Academy against Exeter on Saturday 26th in their fixture agianst Exeter, playing 60 minutes.  

Gareth Baxter and Harry Key provided some old boy experience for the Bedford Blues Academy in their match against Nottingham U21s on Tuesday 29th. 

Unfortunately Exeter won 10-5 and Nottingham won 31-21, but it is great experience and great to see our players contributing at clubs one or two leagues above..