1stXV v Caldy, Sat Feb 17 2018, National 1, Match Preview
Ampthill welcome Caldy to Dillingham Park this coming Saturday.
Old Caldeians RFC were formed in 1924 by a group of Caldy School old boys who decided to carry on playing rugby together.
A year later, Sir Alfred Paton, an old boy of the school, gave 20 acres of land to The National Trust 20 with the a binding requirement that it was to be available to the rugby club to use as a playing area in perpetuity, hence Paton Field.
In 1928 the club finally took possession of Paton Field and built a clubhouse which, despite being constrcted from wood, remains a major part of the current clubhouse some 90 years later!
On the field, the club have risen steadily up the pyramid since the formation of league rugby in 1987, winning the North West Two league title in 1997. Promoted to North One in 2005 and then, just two tears later, to National Two North where they remained for a decade before securing promotion to National 1, their highest ever level, at the end of the 2016-17 season by narrowly defeating Sale in front of their biggest ever crowd numbering 1432. In addition they secured their 6th Cheshire Cup by beating Sandbach to add the icing on a well deserved cake.
Caldy were one of the pioneer ‘RFU Seal of Approval’ clubs with their strong Mini & Youth system a cornerstone of the clubs development.
Caldy currently lie 9th in National One with a played 21 won 9 record having won five of their last seven games. In the reverse fixture earlier this season Ampthill secured a 22-39 victory at Paton field.
Last week Cambridge completed the double over Ampthill, winning at Volac Park by 20-8, compounding the poor home draw against Loughborough a week earlier. Still lying 3rd in the table Amps must expect the clubs with games in hand to overtake them before the end of the season unless form dramatically improves.
A’s squad sees multiple changes this week, up front Matt Collins starts at tighthead, Josh Walker at lock and Billy Johnson moves to eighthman. The backs see Stef Liebenberg start at scrum half while the bench includes Josh Taylor covering hooker and Gavin Williams scrum half.
Director of Rugby Mark Lavery comments “Caldy are a great club and very similar to the maroon and gold in as much as first and foremost a community club with many senior teams and a thriving mini and youth.
Caldys first team now clearly established and thriving in Nat 1 with a great run of form including a complete dismantling of Rosslyn Park last weekend at home so they offer a real threat to Ampthill.
From a Maroon and Gold point of view whilst we sit third in the table Plymouth have games in hand and it’s important to bounce back from a very disappointing result last weekend away at Cambridge.
The current inconsistency can only be put down to three things attitude,application or concentration but probably a combination of all three. If we play like we have been doing recently and only play for a portion of the game Caldy will win its that simple.
Over to the first fifteen it’s down to them to play for 80 mins and regain some momentum into the Campaign.”
