Cam Claim 5 Points in Entertaining game at KCS

So on another very grey November Saturday the good news for the spectators was that there was no wind and no rain as we have endured for the last few games.
KCS, who were promoted into the League this season, have, after a seemingly sketchy start, begun to put some decent results together and, of course, over the years have always proved to be tough opponents particularly at home.

The game got off to a blistering start when within a couple of mins the home side's backs sliced through a static Cam defence to dot down for a converted try.
With both sides testing each other out the next 15 mins or so saw both sides at various times mount attacks but when with 18 mins gone Cam set up stall in the KCS red zone and a patient build up eventually saw Big Dom make the first break before giving Oyoni the scoring pass and although Smarty was unable to add the extras the score was 7-5.

KCS then had their period of dominance when almost from the restart they slotted a pen and when some sloppy play by the Cam outfield handed possession to KCS on the Cam 22 for the home side's centre to trot in under the posts the score had moved rather rapidly to 17-5 with less than 30 mins played.

This acted as a wake up call for the black and ambers and after Jayde crossed for a disallowed try they disrupted a KCS defensive 5m scrum and turned the ball over and the long miss pass saw the other Jaid cross for a try which Smarty converted .
Cam then again managed to forget the simple exit procedure process from restarts but slowly took play up into the KCS half and with their scrum gaining real dominance the home side came under increasing pressure and in time added on quick thinking by skipper Tom saw the lively scrum half take a quick pen on the KCS 22 and he was able to put Hughsey through for a try which levelled the scores on the stroke of half time.

The second half saw Cam upping their pace and intensity and despite some excellent defence by KCS the black and ambers had a period of dominance but for 15 mins or so their patient play was thwarted until, on 55 mins, the pressure told on the home side and a great midfield break by Hughsey saw Ash on his shoulder to dot down under the posts for the bonus point and a score of 24-17 and the try bonus secured.

The remainder of the game saw both sides attacking strongly and defending fiercely but as the pace and physicality of the game began to take it's toll the errors increased for both teams there was no further score in what had been a enthralling encounter between 2 well matched sides.

Again the black and ambers' forward power and disciplined defensive sets saw them through against a side whose game plan seemed very similar to that of ourselves a couple of years ago, spin it wide to the pacey backs at every opportunity.
However despite all of this energy on the field it became necessary in the closing minutes to utilise the floodlights.

So again the front 3 of Ozzie Greg, TJ (who is on a massive run in the 1s due to Dyl's injury) and of course Bazza, had a great afternoon, especially when they had sorted things out to keep their opponents 'honest' while Lurch and Dom provided the grunt in the set piece. Dom has also become the 'go to' man in the lineout and seems to enjoy going forward with ball in hand.
This was certainly the sort of game and conditions which asks a lot of the back row and Voighty, Ryan and Hughsey again produced the goods both in attack and defence.

The 'Hinge' of Tom and Smarty again worked well and they were generally very controlled and Tom as skipper also had the task of managing the official who unfortunately appeared a tad out of his depth at times.

Again the backs as a unit played well with Big Jayde looking really solid under the high balls and his confidence is clearly growing while TommyA pulled off several try saving tackles among some other TommyA 'moments'.

So next week we entertain Cornish in what I am sure will be a close fought game.

The 2s squad was a bit light due to lots of unavailability again this weekend and lost 44-12 having led 10-12 at the break.

And Finally – So it wasn't too good on Friday at Castle Grim when they entertained Toulouse in the first European Cup game of the season. Basically apart from the second quarter in which they had some ball and scored a couple of amazing tries they were generally outmuscled across the park – so next week they are off to Montpellier for what will be another tough game.