Last updated at 11:45, Friday, 27 April 2012

Cumbria plan to take a firm step on the road that leads to Twickenham when they host Staffordshire tomorrow.

Cumbria’s opening game is at Workington’s Ellis Sports Ground (ko 3pm) and if they get through to the semi-final it will be played at Bower Park, Aspatria.

After a series of successful training sessions, and a vibrant squad which was trimmed to 23 this week, the Cumbrian management team has high hopes of going all the way in the County Plate competition.

It would have been 24 but Hawcoat Park centre Matt Sayle had to pull-out with a head injury picked-up playing for his club last week-end.

Team manager Mark Richardson said: “The sessions have been well supported and the squad looks in good trim, looking forward to what lies ahead.

“We won well in Staffordshire last season and obviously want to follow-up to get us off to a good start. We travel to Mansfield to play Notts, Lincs and Derby in the follow-up game and if we get through to the semi-final we will have a home tie, so there’s every incentive.”

Head coach Malcolm Brown, and coaches Mike Scott and Dan Bowman, have come-up with a competitive squad which has a solid core of nine Penrith players.

Brown said: “There are eight new caps in the squad of 23 and five of those came from the trial game we had at Workington which was made-up of players from the lower levels.

“We put 40 points on Staffordshire at Stoke last year but we are not expecting an easy game. They were unable to use players from three clubs who were involved in play-off games, and they can select them this time. Like ourselves they have a new coaching team so we expect it to be tougher.”

Cumbria: Backs: Greg Smith, David Hanabury (both Wigton); Kurt Maudling (St. Benedict’s), Mike Hawley, Jon Fell, Paul Newton (all Penrith); Paul Lancaster (Whitehaven); Jack Clegg (Aspatria); Mike Fearon (Workington).

Forwards: Gary Hodgson, Ryan Johnston, Ian McDowell, Rob Dawson, Mike Raine, James Thornton (all Penrith); Andrew Bell, Matthew Atkinson,. Robert Marrs, John Story (all Wigton); Chris Tweddle, Andrew Bowe (both Workington); Graeme Andrews (Aspatria); Cornie Els (Furness).

Lancaster’s inclusion in the county squad means he will miss Whitehaven’s promotion play-off game against Trafford MV.

It’s being played at the Recreation Ground – where Lancaster had a spell as a rugby league pro before returning to the 15-a-side code.

First published at 11:25, Friday, 27 April 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk