Sandbach welcome Wirral to Bradwall Road on Saturday, as they look to defend the Cheshire Cup that they won in late April. It is always with a degree of excitement and anxiety when a new season kicks off, to see how well the club has prepared for the new campaign. Saturday will be a good marker in this regard, with Wirral being an established team in the former North Premier league and will be contending in the new formed Regional 1 North West League, in which Sandbach will return. Always a difficult side to beat are the boys from Clatterbridge, with Sandbach last playing them in the Cheshire Vase Final four years ago, where despite edging both territory and possession, they were unable to fully overcome a poor start in difficult conditions and lost 17 v 14.

Wirral have a lot of similarities as Sandbach, both being formed as Old Boys clubs from the local school and still having the major benefit in that those schools still play and provide a rich source of talent that each club has benefitted from. As Sandbach, Wirral have a close relationship with the school and their new club captain Chris Crowley, is son of the legendary Phil Crowley the long-term Head of Physical Education at Wirral Grammar School. Phil has also recently joined Wirral’s management team and will be concentrating on player recruitment and development.

This is not the only change at Wirral with Sandbach’s former coach Simon Verbickas moving on over the summer to join Matt Beesley’s Wharfdale and accordingly they have appointed Paul Lewis and Craig Harvey as joint 1st team coaches to replace him. Sandbach have also reinforced their coaching team, with the return of former player and Sale Shark Tom Holmes and with some exciting new faces also being seen at pre-season training, Sandbach are optimistic of another good season.

Despite all this, the acid test is when the players get out on the paddock, so it will be interesting to see how new players bed in and how fitness levels stand up, under true match conditions. The weather forecast is predicted for sunny intervals and a gentle breeze, so ideal conditions for running rugby. So, lets all get down to support the lads and hopefully get off to a winning start, to what all being well will be another successful season.