Knox head in to the opening round of the 2021 CAS season full of confidence on the back of consecutive victories over Riverview and Newington.

Cam Blades has welcomed back a number of players from last year’s campaign and appears to be quietly confident about his side’s chances in a tight CAS competition this year.

Overview with Cam Blades: 

“We’ve had a good trial season. Every game has been really competitive and that’s helped us build the way we want to play and I think all the boys are really keen for round one against Waverley at Waverley,” Blades told Rugby News.

“Our results through the preseason have been a bit mixed but every game has been super competitive.”

“We’ve won four and lost two, but the two we lost were only by a few points. Every game has been a real challenge and that’s what you want in the preseason, you want to find out where you are at and what you need to build on and we’ve been able to do that.

“We probably still haven’t strung together a complete performance yet but it feels like we’re working towards that and showing glimpses of our best.

“I think everyone will look back on last year and be thankful that we did get to play some rugby, even if it was only four or five games.

“It was great that the boys got to experience a season and I think it’ll be remembered for that. It was a very long preseason followed by a very short season. It could have been a lot worse though.”

What style of rugby can we expect to see from your side? 

“We’re trying to play a pretty expansive game and so far we’ve shown to be pretty potent with our attack off set piece. We’ve scored some good tries on first phase with some strike plays. Our phase play has been reasonably good but that’s still a bit of a work in progress.

“We want to be nice and physical in the areas where we need to be combative but our mindset is that we want to try and open up the field and give our backs plenty of space to do their thing.

“We hope it’ll be quite an open and entertaining style of rugby.”

2021 Squad: 

“It’s a little bit of a mixed bag. We’ve got maybe four or so forwards back from last year and three backs, so it’s a pretty even split in terms of guys with and without first XV experience.

“A few of the boys that didn’t play first XV last year are year 12 boys though so while they might not have experienced the top grade yet, they’re at the top of their age group.

“Then we’ve got a few year 11 boys and one year 10 boy who are all pretty exciting prospects as well.”

Player(s) to watch: 

“I don’t really want to single anyone out to be honest, we’re taking a real team based approach to the season ahead.

“We’ve got plenty of strong players across the squad but in the game of rugby, that doesn’t mean much unless you’ve got a cohesive unit working together as one.

“As I said earlier, we’ve been pretty strong with our set piece attack and we’ve scored a number of tries from first phase in our trials.

“Our set piece will provide a good launch pad to attack. Our scrum has been solid so far and that’s allowed us to play on the front foot, but sometimes that part of the game can be a bit of a week by week proposition.

“Our aim is to have a really balanced attack so that we can launch from first phase, counter attack or our phase play but at the moment it’s probably been that first phase attack that has really shone through.”

Bold prediction for the season ahead: 

“In terms of what we’ve seen in the trials so far, I think all the CAS schools are going to be really strong on the back of some really good preseason results,” Blades told Rugby News.

“It’s going to be a really red hot competition and hopefully there are a few surprises throughout the year so that it’s not just the usual suspects competing for the title.

“I’d hope that we will be right up there and amongst it and that’s certainly the belief and the intent from the group. We want to be challenging in all five rounds and hopefully end up in a position to challenge for the title at the end of the year.”