CAS first XV coach Kyle Newbury says his side is preparing for a tough upfront battle in slippery conditions tomorrow evening when they take on GPS I at Knox. 

CAS have named a big side featuring five players from Waverley’s impressive forward pack and Newbury says they’ll look to use that to their advantage tomorrow evening. 

“Looking at the CAS v GPS games played at Knox under lights over the past few years, it’s going to be slippery regardless of how much rain there is,” Newbury told Rugby News. 

“We trained there on Monday night and finished around 6-6:30  and the boys were starting to slip around by the end of that. Even without rain, we’re preparing for the ball and ground to be fairly slippery and wet. 

“We’ve got a bigger forward pack compared to GPS. They’ve probably gone with a lighter more mobile pack so in the wet, they’ll probably look to turn our forwards around and put the ball behind us. 

“As the bigger pack, our forwards will need to focus on getting across the gain line to get our side on the front foot.”

Newbury said CAS’ combinations up front should help come set piece time but admitted his side will need to be at their best at the breakdown to combat the mobile GPS pack. 

“Our lineout is actually run by Ned (Slack-Smith) from Barker but Clem (Halohalo) and Fritz (Jahnke-Tavana) have played a lot together at Waverley. Then there’s a combination there with Darcy (Sullivan) at hooker so hopefully that helps with some timing. 

“I’m pretty sure the Joeys No.1 and No.3 have both been converted from backrowers in recent years and they’re No.6 and No.7 are both good over the ball. 

“We’ve got the size in the pack but they’re going to be really quick around the park and we’ll need to be quick to the breakdown.”

There are fewer combinations in the CAS backline, with four schools represented, but Newbury seemed confident in the ability of those picked. 

“Our No.9 Klayton Thorn is a great organiser and knows how to draw in defenders around the ruck. 

“Isaiya Katoa is at No.10 from Barker and he has a lot of talent. His combination with Charlie Worthington at No.12 will be interesting to watch, Charlie is a former No.10 as well. 

“Having two playmakers there should help us control the game and kick well around the park in the wet.

“Since I’ve been involved going back to 2017, it’s been really tight between the two sides. We lost both matches in 2019 but weren’t far off it and then we missed these games last year so it’l be interesting to see the difference two years on from the last match. 

“The CAS schools – Barker, Waverley and Knox all had some good wins over the GPS schools in the trials but this is a different game and we only get one opportunity to perform at this level.”

CAS take on GPS in the first XV fixture at Knox at 7pm on Thursday.