Birmingham & Solihull to take early look at Cup rivals

Feb 13 2009 by Brian Dick, Birmingham Mail

SECRET agent Eugene Martin will go on a spying mission for Birmingham & Solihull ahead of Sunday’s EDF Trophy fifth-round clash with Cinderford.

Somewhat obligingly, the Gloucestershire outfit are playing their National Two fixture with Waterloo the day before they travel to Sharmans Cross Road and backs coach Martin will go down to The Recreation Ground tomorrow to check out the opposition.

“I’m going to see what game they play and what shape they have,” Martin said.

“I don’t know how they’ll approach playing twice in a weekend, but they have two teams so everyone in the club can get some footie. The guys who play will either be regular starters or up to prove they deserve one.”

Martin, who is still in charge due to Russell Earnshaw’s absence with the England Sevens squad, will use the cup match to rotate the XV before they resume their push for promotion.

With seven, as opposed to five, replacements allowed in cup competition Martin expects to give all 22 of his players a run. But that does not mean they will take their visitors lightly – even though Bees beat them 53-3 when the sides met in November.

“That game is no indicator,” he said. “We compared results when we went up to Wharfedale earlier in the season and look what happened to us up there [they lost 41-12, then beat the Yorkshiremen 55-13 at Sharmans Cross last weekend].”

The Kiwi will also not allow his men to be distracted by the possibility of facing National One champions-elect Leeds Carnegie in the quarter-finals.

“One of the boys rung up and asked if I’d seen who we’d got in the next round. I said Cinderford because there’ll be no Leeds if we don’t beat them,” he said.