Cumbria team manager Mark Richardson (pictured) is excited about the initial squad that has been put together for this season’s County Championship Shield.

Over 40 players will be written to by the team secretary Kevin Johnston asking if they will be available for the training sessions and the Shield programme in May.

This season only players below a certain level will be involved in the Championship and as far as Cumbria is concerned they can pick from Penrith (National Three North) down to the Cumbria League.

Richardson said: “Although we will obviously miss any input from Kendal I’m very pleased with the players we still have to choose from. If we can get the players we want from this particular squad to make themselves available then I think we can make an impression.”

This season Cumbria will play in Pool Two – at home to Staffordshire on May 8 and away to Notts, Lincs and Derby on May 15. The four Pool winners then contest the semi-finals and the final is at Twickenham on May 30.

Team secretary Johnston said: “It’s a real county based squad and from what we saw last year I think it has a better chance of gelling together. In the past we have had four or five players from bigger clubs, mixing in with the Cumbria-based players and it hasn’t really worked.

“I’m going to write personally to all the players to ask if they will commit themselves to the training and the Championship matches, and then the coaches and manager will take it from there when we see what responses we’ve had.”

Richardson, who lifted the County Championship Trophy in 1997 when Cumbria played at the top level of the competition, will be team manager; Dan Bowman, who captained the side last year and who will again be in the squad, will be in charge of the forwards and the county is in discussions about a backs coach.

The backs who will be invited are: Paul Newton (Penrith), Jack Clegg (Aspatria), George Graham (Carlisle), Matty Roper (Keswick), Steve Wood (Penrith), Glen Weightman (Carlisle), John Hine (Keswick), Joe Nattrass (Penrith), Tom Armstrong (Penrith), Mike Hawley (Penrith), Sandy Kerridge (Penrith), Gavin Cartmel (Penrith), Chris Harris (Carlisle), Lewis Boyd (Carlisle), Tom Gardner (Wigton), David Barton (Kirkby Lonsdale), Jamie McKenzie (Keswick), Martin Armstrong (Workington).

The forwards are: Graeme Andrews (Aspatria), Andries Venter (Furness), David Cooper-Dunn (Kirkby Lonsdale), Steve Stamper (Carlisle), Glen Carr (Penrith), James Thornton (Penrith), Neil Hastings (Workington), Ben Lanigan (Workington), Tom Graham (Carlisle), Stephen Carruthers (Wigton), Ian Gowing (Upper Eden), David Todhunter (Workington), Richard Miller (Aspatria), Rob Dawson (Penrith),  Drew Quarry (Upper Eden), Carrick Wharmby (Keswick), Simon Dowker (Kirkby Lonsdale), Ryan Johnson (Penrith), Mike Raine (Penrith), Mike Stephens (Penrith), Dan Bowman (Workington), Matthew Atkinson (Wigton), Andrew Bowe (Workington), Tom Voke (Kirkby Lonsdale).

Rolling substitutions will be trialled in this season's RFU's County Championship.

The Bill Beaumont Cup and the County Championship Shield will both feature a maximum of 12 player interchanges per team per game - the first competition in England to use the system.

The trial follows a recommendation from the RFU's Image of the Game Task Group in September that the use of rolling replacements could simplify game management, improve player welfare and increase participation.

The International Rugby Board sanctioned such a trial at its Council meeting in May 2009 and its use in the County Championship has now been approved by the RFU Council.

The County Championship Shield will start on the weekend of May 1, followed by the Bill Beaumont Cup, currently held by Lancashire, the week after - with the finals at Twickenham Stadium on May 30.

IRB Vice-Chairman Bill Beaumont said: "The County Championship is an ideal tournament to trial rolling substitutions, as it has done with the ELVs in the past. You don't know whether things will work unless you try them and I am looking forward to seeing how this one goes."

Rob Briers, Chair of the County Championship Review Group and RFU Competitions, said: "All the coaches I have spoken to are saying 'Bring it on' so there is certainly an appetite to try things. Using a finite, one-month competition at the end of the season gives people a chance to see how it may or may not work at a reasonable level of rugby."

Interchanges will only take place at stoppages and the full regulations will be available in due course.

Chris Cuthbertson, Chair of the RFU Laws Sub-Committee, said: "This is a wonderful opportunity to trial rolling substitutions in a single end of season competition to assess whether game management can be simplified and, as has been found in Scotland, participation can be increased by giving players more game time.

"There will be consultation at all levels of the game and there will not be a blanket implementation across England. It would be for each level of the game to determine if such a system would be beneficial for them."

Fixtures

County Championship 2009/10

Bill Beaumont Cup
May 8: North Division One - Northumberland v Yorkshire, Lancashire v Cheshire; South Division One - Cornwall v Devon, Gloucestershire v Hertfordshire. North Division Two - Warwickshire v Eastern Counties, North Midlands v Durham; South Division Two - Middlesex v Somerset, Hampshire v Kent.

May 15: North Division One - Northumberland v Lancashire, Cheshire v Yorkshire; South Division One - Devon v Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire v Cornwall. North Division Two - North Midlands v Eastern Counties, Durham v Warwickshire; South Division Two - Somerset v Kent, Middlesex v Hampshire.

May 22: North Division One - Cheshire v Northumberland, Yorkshire v Lancashire; South Division One - Hertfordshire v Devon, Cornwall v Gloucestershire. North Division Two - Eastern Counties v Durham, Warwickshire v North Midlands. South Division Two - Hampshire v Somerset, Kent v Middlesex.

May 29: Division Two Plate final - Winners of South Division Two v Winners of North Division Two.

May 30: Cup final: Winners of North Division One v Winners of South Division One at Twickenham

County Championship Shield
May 1: Pool 1 - East Midlands v Oxfordshire, Leicestershire v Essex; Pool 2 - Staffordshire v Notts, Lincs & Derby; Pool 3 - Dorset & Wilts v Buckinghamshire, Berkshire v Sussex.

May 8: Pool 1 - Leicestershire v Oxfordshire, Essex v East Midlands; Pool 2 - Cumbria v Staffordshire; Pool 3 - Dorset & Wilts v Berkshire, Buckinghamshire v Sussex.

May 15: Pool 1 - East Midlands v Leicestershire, Oxfordshire v Essex; Pool 2 - Notts, Lincs & Derby v Cumbria; Pool 3 - Sussex v Dorset & Wilts, Buckingham v Berkshire.

May 22: Shield Semi-finals - Pools 1 & 3 have home advantage

May 30: Shield Final at Twickenham

The players pictured in descending order are Ryan Johnson, Dickie Miller and Matthew Atkinson.

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