Cambridge Rugby Club make two new prop additions
Cambridge Rugby Club have turbo-charged their front row options with the addition of two new props.
Having recently announced the additions of coaches Anthony Allen and Neil Harris, the club are now building their squad for the new 2022/23 National League
One campaign.
Props Seb Brownhill and Matt Collins are the first confirmed arrivals.
Brownhill, 25, has joined from Bishop’s Stortford, having initially come through the Saracens academy where he played alongside Cambridge’s Billy Walker.
“One of the reasons we brought in Neil as a scrummaging coach is because we wanted to get a bit more strength in depth to our front row,” said Cambridge director of rugby Richie Williams.
“I think we were fortunate last season that we didn’t suffer many injuries to our props.
“We didn’t have much depth underneath the likes of Billy Walker, Harry Morley and Henry Peck so we have brought in a loose-head and a tight-head prop.
“One of those is a prop that can play both sides of the scrum, who is Seb Brownhill.
“I coached him at England Counties under-20s for two seasons. He is a good scrummager, he is very prominent around the pitch as well.
“He likes to get his hands on the ball to express himself and has certainly attracted a lot of Championship interest so that is a good signing for us to give us a bit of strength in depth on both sides of the scrum.
“Seb, in particular, has got a lot of growth in him still, and one of the reasons he wanted to come to Cambridge was that he felt that he would get specialist coaching.
“He is one player that whenever we have played Stortford in the past he has caused us a few issues at the set piece because of his size, physicality and athleticism.”
Tight-head prop Matt Collins, 28, is the second new addition.
He arrives after a season with Blackheath, but having previously played most of his rugby at Ampthill.
“He played over 150 games for their first team, both in National One and in the Championship. Matt lives in Kettering so is fairly close to Cambridge and has played with a lot of our players before, the likes of Joe Tarrant, Harry Morley, Kieran Duffin,” said Williams.
“I think someone of his experience is going to give us a little bit more strength in depth in those sort of key positions. If we want to focus on our set piece like we did last season, I think both of those players will allow us to rotate Billy, Harry and Henry a little bit more because they played a lot of minutes last season.
“Matt has experience of playing in a strong Ampthill team – who have always been very much a forward-orientated team – and he has anchored their scrum for a number of seasons.
“He had a difficult experience at Blackheath last season. I think the travel from where he was and some of the challenges around Blackheath’s season last year were difficult for him.”
He added: “They are two players that I think are going to enhance us a lot this season, and two players we’re excited about working with.”