This Saturday could be the last outing of the season for Nottingham RFC who go into the second leg of their RFU Championship Knock Out Cup match against Bedford Blues this weekend already 24 points in the match down.

The Green & Whites lost their first leg game at Lady Bay by 38-14 a fortnight ago and it’ll be a huge task for Craig Hammond’s side to make the Quarter Finals, especially as Bedford who finished their league season in fifth place have already beaten Nottingham quite convincingly three times this campaign.

For Hammond, this Saturday’s game provides him and his coaching staff the opportunity to take a look at some of the players that will be fighting for first team places next season.

The full team to face Bedford is announced below…

Starting Team: Aniseko Sio, Jake Farnworth, Dan Richardson, Callum Allen, Scott Hall, Jacob Wright, Nathan Tweedy, George Cox, Michael Stronge, Sam Hollingsworth, Harry Graham, Morgan Bunting, Charlie Thacker, David Williams, Jack Stapley.

Replacements: Storm Hanekom, Toby Williams, Liam Bishop, Jack Ramshaw, Lewis Barrett, Josh Goodwin, Elliott Creed, James Peachey.

Whilst Nottingham Rugby’s own season this year hasn’t been particularly great, they have consistent form for working with and bringing players through the local Universities in particularly with NTU and that relationship has paid dividends as such, for also the University of Nottingham who have won their league, cup and playoffs in what has been a remarkable treble winning campaign.

Nottingham’s first team have won their league (the Bucs Mens Premier Division North) and vase final and most recently, the Super Playoff against Northumbria University at Newcastle Falcons Kingston Park Stadium last weekend, the side are now a top ten team in the country and the results are testament to an outstanding programme supported by the coaches for student athletes which is headed by Paul Westgate who’s previously coached England at U17 and U21 level.

Nottingham RFC warmed up against the University team ahead of their first leg match with Bedford, prior to the UON facing Northumbria, and that fifteen on fifteen match would have gone a long way to helping the side achieve the end goal in such a momentous silverware winning campaign.

The Nottingham University Rugby team class of 2022 includes: Henry Low, Ben Sugars, Alex Sabin, Rob Carmichael, Will Kelley, Dan Aldwinckle, Ed Timpson, James Cherry, Ed Mortimer, Max Brown, Will Poland, Freddie Vaughan, Cameron Furley, Connor Moyse, Tom Allen, Lewis Pickford, Archie Van Der Flier, Jed Allen, Ollie Thorneywork, Elijah Hiscock-Smith, Jacob Whelan, Seb May and Tom Wood.

A very big well done indeed to them. Who’s to say one or two won’t be featuring for Nottingham RFC at Lady Bay in some years to come?

For any fans travelling to Bedford tomorrow you can still get tickets on the Nottingham Rugby website here from £13.

*Main image @BedfordBluesRFC Nottingham and Bedford will face off for the final time this season on Saturday.