The old adage suggests that there’s no substitute for speed in rugby and Trinity Rugby director Mick Snowden is hoping that’s the case this season. 

Trinity will field an experienced and fast first XV outfit in this year’s CAS competition and the early indicators all look fairly positive. 

“We’re looking alright at this stage, we’ve won our first three trials which has been nice. We knocked off St Pat’s, Cranbrook and Oakhill, so it’s been a pretty tidy start to the year to be honest,” Snowden told Rugby News. 

“We’ve got some pretty handy backs. Our flyhalf, Hunter Hannaford, he’s our captain and he’s in his third year playing first XV. He’s getting pretty smart in the way he plays footy. 

“We’ve also got some exciting outside backs. Theo Kidd is a national hurdles champion who has just returned to rugby. Then we’ve got Ollie White at No.13, they’re both lightning quick and they’ve finished off some really good tries in the opening few trials.”

While seven returning players will bolster a fairly experienced Trinity squad, Snowden is particularly excited about some of the young talent pushing into the first XV. 

The former Super Rugby and Shute Shield premiership winning No.9 has been keeping a close eye on 15-year old halfback Orly Hatton-Ward. 

“He doesn’t turn 16 until later in the year but he’s already good and I think he’s going to be seriously good if he keeps developing at this rate. 

“We had a great No.9 in Ky Willoughby at the school last year and when he left I probably thought he might leave a bit of a hole. 

“But Orly has stepped up and is going a great job so far.”

Snowden said the 2020 Trinity side finished last season disappointed and struggled to find consistency throughout the short season. 

“We knocked off Knox at Knox and I think a few of the boys probably got a little ahead of themselves. We played poorly against Cranbrook and lost a week later, then lost to Barker in a real tight one, beat Aloys and then lost to Waverley. 

“We ended up finishing third somehow because other results went our way but for the group we had, we probably underachieved.”

That has left a fire in the belly of this year’s team though who continue to build confidence through strong trial performances. 

Snowden knows things will get a lot tougher when the CAS season begins later this month though and has no doubt who the team to beat will be. 

“Barker, without a doubt. They are well set up to have another good run at it and they’ve got a lot of very good players. They don’t really have any weaknesses across the board and they’ll be very tough to beat. 

“In saying that, you never go out on the park to lose a game of footy and I think we’ll have a good chance in every game we play this year.”

Trinity’s next challenge comes on Saturday against St Pius. 

“I don’t know a whole lot about them to be honest. I watched a little bit of their game against Cranbrook and they looked pretty handy, so it’ll be a good challenge for the boys. 

“It looks like it’s going to be wet and we haven’t really played in poor conditions so far this year so it’ll be a nice challenge.”