EDF Energy Cup - : Tewkesbury's Twickenham dreams continue

Tewkesbury's Twickenham dreams continue

12 March 2008, 10:41 am

By Jonathan McConnell

Tewkesbury RFC are eager not to let another chance of playing at England's Rugby HQ go amiss as they look for victory over Castleford RFC in the semi-finals of the EDF Energy Junior Vase on Saturday.

The Gloucestershire side also made it through to the latter stages of the national cup six years ago, only to have their dreams thwarted by Hoylake RFC.

Shaun Everis, Tewkesbury’s No. 8 and a player who was involved in that Hoylake defeat, said: “There are six members of this squad still playing who were involved in that game against Hoylake RFC. That was a gutting defeat and I can still remember the look of devastation on the players faces, realising that they had lost the opportunity to play at Twickenham.

“Certainly that motivates us as we don’t want to lose this opportunity again, but also it reminds us that we can’t think too far ahead and be over confident going into this game.

“Castleford of course are going to be tough opponents. They are second in the league so there’s no doubt this is going to be a close game. All the teams left in at this stage of the tournament are obviously good, but also we know in cup rugby anything can happen.

“In the past we have done our homework on the opposition and that hasn’t always been helpful so we have decided that we should just concentrate on our own game.

“We take pride in our scrummaging; we have a good pack and I think that is a very strong area for us. We also have some fast backs that can do damage and get the advantage for us. Hopefully we will have a good crowd behind us and that will work to our advantage.”

Indeed Tewkesbury RFC has ever reason to be confident going into the semi-final clash against Castleford RFC. The Gloucestershire One side are third in the league and vying for promotion. They have also lost just one home tie in the EDF Energy Junior Vase and that was back in October 2001.