Teenage creator Chris Bell will make his full debut at fly half as Huddersfield RU hunt a third successive National II North victory at Caldy on Saturday.
The 18-year-old takes the No10 shirt after impressing as a replacement in the victory at Leicester Lions, with Joel Hinchliffe switching to scrum half in place of Dan Jeffrey, who reverts to the bench.
Field, who beat Stourbridge the previous week, are however without wingman Elliot Hodgson, who is struggling to overcome a broken toe as they face a Caldy side including former England Sevens winger Nick Royle and second row Louis McGowan, who was signed from Sedgley Tigers – both players recruited in the off season.
“Chris Bell put in an accomplished performance when he went on for the final 20 minutes last week and he has an excellent kicking game for such a young lad,” said head coach Gareth Lewis.
“He is very confident and a bit more of a traditional fly half who can dictate the play and bring players into the game, which is what we want to do with our back line.
“Joel moves to his more accustomed position of scrum half and it’s at the expense of Dan Jeffrey, who has done brilliantly so far for only a young lad and will benefit from a rest to the bench this week.”
In the forwards, Lewis starts club captain Alex Battye at tighthead prop in place of Lawrence Sanderson, while Henry Walker makes his full debut at hooker, Adam Malthouse returns at blindside flanker and Nick Rhodes is on the bench.
“Henry Walker has been on the bench for the first five league matches, but he has done well when he’s gone on and deserves a chance,” added Lewis, who has brought in ex-Lockwood Park player Ben Harris from Yorkshire Carnegie this week to do some coaching to help the scrum.
“We struggled in the scrum last week, so we are tapping into Ben’s experience both with the scrum and the line-out.
“I didn’t think we played particularly well at Leicester, but we won and now we are looking to make it three wins on the bounce.
“We have won at Caldy before, so we know we are capable, and we are in confident mood having come through last week and then trained well since.
“There are aspects of our game we have identified we need to focus on, and it’s important we make best use of our ball-carrying armoury in the likes of Austin Thompson, Adam Malthouse, Richard Brown and Nick Sharpe, so they can be as effective as possible.
“We are well aware of the threat Caldy pose through the likes of Nick Royle, who has worn the Sevens shirt and played for the likes of Sale Sharks and Fylde – he scores some very good tries – but if we play to our strength of getting the ball to our best carrying men, then we will have some real go-forward.”
