BACK TO THE FUTURE

Squeezed in between Showdown 2 and a Friday Night in Salford against Sale is the final Premiership Cup game which is on Tuesday at the Coventry BS Arena (formerly The Ricoh).

Despite a valiant performance the other week, Sarries’ youngsters lost to Northampton in the previous round and are therefore out of the Cup so will only be playing for pride. Wasps have minimal chance of going through either so for both sides it will just be a chance to let the youngsters show what they can do.

Sarries, like most of the top clubs, tend to use this competition to give their Academy players some big match experience (even more important with no “A” League this season”). Even when Sarries have got through to the latter stages, they have stayed true to these values, not so some clubs. I have long thought that the Premiership Cup, assuming this format remains, should have something built into its rules regarding who can play. Limit the number of first teamers and insist on a core group of young/inexperienced players. At least that would make it a level playing field and a competition worth winning.

I expect Sarries will field a similar team to the one which took on Saints although with a big game on Friday, we will probably not see the likes of Theo and Jackson (who played on Saturday anyway) and Andy Christie (who looked pretty good when he came on for both Earl and Wray). Still all the better for the youngsters to show what they can do – some of them may be playing for a contract next year so although the game doesn’t mean a lot in the great wash of things, it could mean the world to them.

Good luck everyone. None of your reporters are going so a match report is highly unlikely unless we have a volunteer out there somewhere.