ALEX Rae faces some tough selection choices ahead of Coventry Rugby’s Premiership Rugby Cup opener against Nottingham.
With 36 players, including some under-18s, involved in Cov’s training sessions Rae has plenty of faces to choose from with only Jake Henry sitting out of the sessions.
And Rae is relishing the challenge of selecting the right team for Friday night’s clash as he targets a place in the quarter-finals.
Rae said: “We’ve got really good numbers at the moment and forwards-wise we’ve pretty much got a full house this week.
“It was also great to have a couple of the academy lads with the senior squad for the first time.
“It’s a really healthy situation to have so much competition in training although that does then give us some selection problems.
“We’ve been having tough conversations all week about who is going to play at Nottingham but we’d much rather be in that position than turning up and already knowing who will be in the team.
“The players all know if they put their hand up in training they’ve got every chance of being involved. We’ll pick what we think is the right team to win the game each week based on who is performing well in training and on match day.
“We want to do really well in the cup and our priority is qualifying for the quarter-finals. We’re definitely not therefore in a position where we approach it like pre-season and give everyone a game.”
Cov beat Nottingham home and away in the Championship last season following an early-season draw in the Premiership Rugby Cup at Butts Park Arena.
And Rae is expecting a tough test at the Lady Bay Ground against a Nottingham side who claimed an impressive away win at Doncaster Knights earlier this season.
Rae added: “Nottingham have lost twice in the league so far but they’re in the top half of the table and they’ve taken a couple of good scalps along the way including Donny.
“They play a good expansive style of rugby and are always looking to offload in contact and keep the ball alive.
“They also seem to have gone much better up front this season than in the recent past so they have a decent all-round game and we’re expecting a bit of a battle.
“They’ve had the same group of players together now for a year or two, they’re comfortable in their style of rugby and seem to have a good buzz about them.
“I’m expecting a really hard game – in fact it could end up being the toughest game of the three in this first three-round cup block.”
Coventry begin their Premiership Rugby Cup campaign against Nottingham on Friday, November 1 with kick-off at 7.45pm at the Lady Bay Ground.
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