Pair of threes busts Kingston's Flush

This regional quarter final brought a late change of opposition as our original opponents, London Welsh Amateurs, were replaced this week by fellow Surrey 1 side Kingston who had been beaten by the Welsh in the previous round.
On a beautiful January Saturday - sunny, cold and breezy Cam, kicking off playing away from the clubhouse with a strong breeze in their favour, got off to an outstanding start.
A great chase from the kick off forced the visitors into a string of errors and when a defensive kick was collected by winger Frank Priest the ball was moved swiftly across the backs with Alex Hughes, standing in as centre this week due to the number of injuries, unlucky to step into touch just a metre out. However the pressure soon paid off when, following a 5m lineout, the ball was played wide to flanker (and try machine) Jono whose aggressive run from the 22 saw him cross for the first score with less than 3 mins played - Tom Dunn added the extras on a day when kicking was extremely difficult due to the wind.
Cam relaunched their offensive straight from the restart but poor hands plus a couple of soft penalties gave the visitors a lineout in the Cam half and they showed their strength in the forwards by controlling a lineout drive for at least 20m and from the resultant 5m scrum their winger touched down wide out on 10mins.
Cam were stung into action and a great run by #8 Mac took play to within 5m however Kingston proved to be no walkover and they repelled the attacks for a few more minutes until another loose defensive kick was collected by Mac who made good yards before feeding Alex Hughes who romped over for the second try which was also converted by Tom.
Cam were soon back in the visitors red zone and when they were held up over the line a tremendous 5m scrum saw #8 Mac cross the whitewash to reward the front 5 for their efforts.
At this stage it was pretty much all Camberley who were playing some outstanding rugby and with Tom Dunn using the breeze to take play deep into the visitors half a great set of drives from a 5m lineout saw, Jono, who else? cross for another try for the forwards on 33 mins.
Then from the restart the spectators were treated to a piece of outstanding rugby when the ball was fed to Mac who made good yards before off loading to prop Max Fiddimore. Max, a young player still learning the ropes at loosehead, has always looked very comfortable with ball in hand and he timed his pass to Jono to perfection on about halfway with plenty still to be done. However Jono, with only the 5m channel to work in, used his pace and strength to great effect and beat 4 defenders to cross for a stunning 75m try and complete his hattrick with Tommy Dunn adding the extras.
Kingston were clearly stung by this and launched their our attack which saw their centre almost force his way through but the black and amber defence was well marshalled and the half closed with ex Academy hooker Greg Simmonds, who is enjoying his first season of senior rugby, claiming a mark and then kicking to touch to bring an end to proceedings with the score 31-5.
With Cam now playing into the breeze their supporters were probably anticipating the need for more of a defensive approach from their side but instead were treated to 2 outstanding tries in the first 4 minutes which effectively put the game out of sight..
With the visitors restarting the Cam drills worked well and play moved quickly to the Kingston 22 and a great break by hooker Greg saw Alex Hughes take the final pass to touch down wide out.
Although Tom missed this very difficult shot he had another chance within 3 mins when again, direct from the restart, great rugby with the ball going through at least half a dozen hands saw Alex run through under the posts for his third and with the extras the score was 43-5 after 45 mins.
At this time Risey decided to make some personnel changes but Cam continued with their desire to play open rugby and the restart nearly produced another sparkling try but a knock on gave Kingston a bit of relief and with this much needed possession they set up a series of pick and go through their main weapon, their pack, and scored a deserved try on 55 mins.
Its always difficult at this level when you have a big lead and also have made a series of changes but, from their restart Chris Parnaby, on as a replacement, won the ball which was quickly shipped to winger Phil Cresswell who dotted down in the corner,
Again, probably needing a bit of a breather Cam took their foot off the gas and for the next 10 mins or so play seemed to move between the two 22s and it was good to see that the Cam front 5 had now gained the upper hand after a tough afternoon and were able to drive the much heavier visitors pack backwards at scrum time.
From one of these efforts the ball was hacked forward to the opposition 22 but the visitors managed to repel this attack but a good break by James Armstrong again took play down deep into the Kingston 22 and good hands saw Jono turn provider as he released Will O'Meara to touch down on 75 mins.
In fact there was just time for one more score when centre Joe Wood who had worked his socks off all afternoon both in attack and defence touched down under the posts for a converted try and a final score of 60-10.
This was an outstanding performance by the black and ambers who, despite missing a number of 1s regulars through unavailability or injury, played some fabulous open rugby and also showed some fierce defence when it was required.
The pack, particularly the front 5 put in an amazing shift against a much bigger pack who had dominated them in the League game earlier in the season, creating the platform for the free running backs (plus Jono!) and it was good to see how the visitors very effective driving mauls were neutralised during the course of the game.
The Cam faithful were, to a man, effusive about this performance and the improvement in many aspects of their play during the season is clear to see and much credit must go to Risey and his coaching team of Mark, JJ and Alun.
Next week we return to League action with a home game against Old Paulines who just shaded the fixture earlier in the season so Risey and his coaches will be looking to build on the progress which they have made so far this season and reverse that result to stay in the hunt.
So for the 4th weekend in a row I am able to report that both the C&Ws and B&As remain unbeaten in 2015 although the C&Ws have a couple of weeks off the B&As will be keento extend that record next Sat - ko 2.00.