The Weekend Ahead
Football – Cambridge United entertain Halifax at the Abbey stadium on Saturday and will look to continue there excellent home form against the top team of the conference. In the Cambridge Evening News last night Andy Duncan stated that we as a team now have the steel to play in the conference. Whilst some may say it’s about time, I think this is an important statement to be made from a defender. The past few seasons have seen us struggle at the back, but with the extra consistency this year, at the back at least we have shown that we can dig in and grind out a result. I’d like to see us win more games and start to build an established strike partnership. Hopefully Craig Westcarr can keep his scoring form going to lead us to victory tomorrow. Halifax will not be an easy team to beat, but as long as we set out to attack them and can get an early goal like we have in the past couple of games then we can beat them. In team news David Bridges is still out and Rob Newman is waiting to here from Colchester to see if Jamie guy will return. If not expect Medine or Onibuje to partner Westcarr upfront.
Cricket – It’s the last test of the winter tours and already a major body blow has rocked England with Steve Harmison being ruled out of the final test. This does not bode well for England as Harmison has shown a knack of digging in at the tail and scoring some much needed runs. No news yet on who will replace him but he will be a hard act to follow. This is being billed as a must win test for England, and really we only have one chance of winning it and that’s to win the toss and build a big score. The bowlers have been carrying the batsmen for far to long now and on the harsh wickets of the sub-continent that’s just not good enough. The following batsmen owe us a big score: Strauss, Bell, Pieterson, Geraint Jones. If all four of them can hit big scores and not throw away their wickets the bowlers will have half a chance. Of course now I’ve said that India will win the toss and bat for three days freezing us out and winning the test series
Rugby Union – Wellington Hurricanes take on the Bulls on Friday evening. This will be the hardest game of their South African tour and was the one I most expected that they would lose. In the corresponding fixture last year the Bulls won and both sides went on to qualify for the last four. A similar result this year would be OK. There is one thing for certain though, this week the Hurricanes can not leave it until the very last minute to score the points they need. Whilst it is always good to see teams come from behind in the dying seconds of a match to snatch victory I do not expect the Bulls to be as generous as the Stormier were last week. There is one change to the Hurricanes team from last week, with John Schaller replacing Joe McDonnell at loose head prop for his second start. This is positive that they can play virtually the same team two weeks running, it helps bring consistency to the team and builds a very effective team unit. As optimistic as I am this year about the Hurricanes I think they will lose this game by 1-12 points. The good news is that now I have the lovely SKY+ installed I can record this early evening game and watch it at my own leisure.
England take on Ireland to try and ruin their chances of winning the six nations. The “sweeping” changes made by Andy Robinson are really about using the bench. I have discussed these in depth on this blog and see no need to add further comment. Expect Ireland to spoil Andy’s day and nick this by 1-12 points
In Rugby League Warrington take on the Catalan Dragons. On paper this should be an easy win for the Wolves and with the Saints and Bulls playing each other this weekend should offer them a chance to bridge the points gap at the top. The trick will be not to get too complacent and the claim the easy victory.I am expecting a comfortable win of well over 13 points.
The NZ Warriors take on the Eels in hamilton this weekend knowing that a win will leave them on -2 points. After an opening round defeat the coach has called for better execution and ball retention. So really it is back to basics for them. This will be a very hard game, despite their first round defeat the Eels will still be a hard team to beat and will certainly make the top eight. If the Warriors can keep hold of the ball and not concede early tries in the first half they will have a chance. If they start like they did last week there will be only one result. Lets try and be positive here and cheer them on to an unlikely victory
Cricket – It’s the last test of the winter tours and already a major body blow has rocked England with Steve Harmison being ruled out of the final test. This does not bode well for England as Harmison has shown a knack of digging in at the tail and scoring some much needed runs. No news yet on who will replace him but he will be a hard act to follow. This is being billed as a must win test for England, and really we only have one chance of winning it and that’s to win the toss and build a big score. The bowlers have been carrying the batsmen for far to long now and on the harsh wickets of the sub-continent that’s just not good enough. The following batsmen owe us a big score: Strauss, Bell, Pieterson, Geraint Jones. If all four of them can hit big scores and not throw away their wickets the bowlers will have half a chance. Of course now I’ve said that India will win the toss and bat for three days freezing us out and winning the test series
Rugby Union – Wellington Hurricanes take on the Bulls on Friday evening. This will be the hardest game of their South African tour and was the one I most expected that they would lose. In the corresponding fixture last year the Bulls won and both sides went on to qualify for the last four. A similar result this year would be OK. There is one thing for certain though, this week the Hurricanes can not leave it until the very last minute to score the points they need. Whilst it is always good to see teams come from behind in the dying seconds of a match to snatch victory I do not expect the Bulls to be as generous as the Stormier were last week. There is one change to the Hurricanes team from last week, with John Schaller replacing Joe McDonnell at loose head prop for his second start. This is positive that they can play virtually the same team two weeks running, it helps bring consistency to the team and builds a very effective team unit. As optimistic as I am this year about the Hurricanes I think they will lose this game by 1-12 points. The good news is that now I have the lovely SKY+ installed I can record this early evening game and watch it at my own leisure.
England take on Ireland to try and ruin their chances of winning the six nations. The “sweeping” changes made by Andy Robinson are really about using the bench. I have discussed these in depth on this blog and see no need to add further comment. Expect Ireland to spoil Andy’s day and nick this by 1-12 points
In Rugby League Warrington take on the Catalan Dragons. On paper this should be an easy win for the Wolves and with the Saints and Bulls playing each other this weekend should offer them a chance to bridge the points gap at the top. The trick will be not to get too complacent and the claim the easy victory.I am expecting a comfortable win of well over 13 points.
The NZ Warriors take on the Eels in hamilton this weekend knowing that a win will leave them on -2 points. After an opening round defeat the coach has called for better execution and ball retention. So really it is back to basics for them. This will be a very hard game, despite their first round defeat the Eels will still be a hard team to beat and will certainly make the top eight. If the Warriors can keep hold of the ball and not concede early tries in the first half they will have a chance. If they start like they did last week there will be only one result. Lets try and be positive here and cheer them on to an unlikely victory
posted by Sports Potato at 6:34 PM
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