CAMBRIDGE are seeing the fruits of their recruitment labours in their National 1 form, says director of rugby Richie Williams.
The Blood and Sand headed into the weekend unbeaten in their last seven games to sit three points off the top four after losing their first three.
And Williams, into his third season at the helm, puts this down to solving a key problem.
He told TRP: “What we've managed to do with our recruitment is identify our shortcomings with our set piece and scrum.
“Now, we've assembled a stronger front five which has enabled us to play the type of rugby that we want and we've got a strong driving lineout game.”
At the heart of this has been Ben Brownlie, returning to Cambridge after five years with Championship side Nottingham, to score 15 tries in ten games this season.
And Williams was full of praise for the 26-year-old, adding: “It's a real art to do what he's doing. From the outside, people probably see him at the back of these driving mauls and scoring lots of tries but there's still a lot of work that has to be done.
“He's orchestrating things from the back of that maul.”
Cambridge have been in the third tier for five years, having spent four in National 2 South following relegation. But Williams is only looking up, continuing: “We know what we're capable of and it's an exciting time to be involved.
“For us, it's making sure we're consistent in our performances and we carry on performing to the level that we've shown over the last two months.
“If we can do that, we're certainly a top-five team in National 1.”
Cambridge have never been beyond the third tier but their recruitment for this season has taken players from Jersey, Ampthill and Nottingham.
With the Blood and Sand in such strong form and reaping the rewards of their three-year-old academy, second-tier whispers are growing louder.
Williams added: “What we've demonstrated over the last 12 months is a club that has aspirations to make that next step up but we're realistic in terms of where we're at as well.
“We are ambitious and there are big plans to progress, potentially up to the next league with it being our centenary year in 2023.
“We're definitely heading in the right direction.”
