Match Report - Camberley U15 vs London Welsh

Bright and breezy conditions met the two teams as they ran out at Watchetts for the third Waterfall cup fixture of the season. Hopes were high that with a strong team, Cambo could build on the recent excellent performances and produce another positive result against quality opposition.

However, an old Cambo malaise quickly became evident as the squad seemed to sleep walk through the first half with little in the way of the communication and energy that had been so encouraging in our previous matches. It came as no surprise therefore when London Welsh banged over a penalty and then quickly (albeit with the help of a lucky bounce) scored a try. 10 – 0 and things weren’t going our way. We had problems securing the ball at the breakdown, were going backwards at the scrum and giving away soft penalties. Then there were the missed tackles which lead to a plaintive wail echoing across Watchetts with coach Jackson crying “Will somebody please tackle someone!”. We won’t dwell on the subsequent theatrical, diva-like throwing down of his bobble hat and sun-glasses in disgust! But despite the coaches’ frustration, things weren’t all bleak. We should mention the brilliant spoiling work carried out by Harry J who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Harry B was catch-perfect at the lineout, Bailey was always dangerous on the break and Elliot looked assured in the centre.

Halftime gave us some respite and the ability to bring on the ‘finishers’ for the second half. It was only at this stage when we decided to wake up and play ball. Despite Dexter having to go off with an injured shoulder and Joel with a knock to his knee, we began to remember how to play. Nick S and Adam demonstrated their strength in shoring up the scrum, Ollie M was composed at 10 and able to launch Gethin into some exciting breaks from inside centre. Cambo began to use their possession wisely and the very first time we released the ball to the wing, James S was able to use his speed and determination to finish off a terrific try in the corner.

Unfortunately, Welsh struck back quickly with a very well-worked try that, in all honesty, Cambo were never going to prevent making it 15 – 5 going into the final quarter. One of the defining characteristics of the squad is our never-say-die attitude and this was again evident as we now began to dominate possession and territory. Our forwards secured the ball on the opponents 22 and then simple and accurate passing through the backs finally released Alex C on the left wing to score. Simple, basic rugby doing all the things we practice week in and week out resulting in a great try that even the opposition’s coach praised. Ollie R banged over the conversion to make it 15 – 12 with 5 minutes to go. All of a sudden it was game on!

The final few minutes were spent camped in LW’s 22. Three times we came close to scoring but each time, the Welsh held on. With the clock in the red, the referee awarded LW a slightly harsh penalty which was kicked into touch. Their relief at the final whistle was obvious as they knew Cambo had come mighty close to nicking this one.

So another narrow loss with everyone knowing that IF ONLY we’d played with the same determination and desire in the first half, the result may have been much different.

And therein is the lesson from this match and a resulting plea from the coaches. Rugby is a game where you can’t simply rock up and play. A decent warm up, both physically and mentally, is absolutely necessary before any team take to the pitch. All the London Welsh squad were there for their warm up a good hour before kick-off and were patently much more ready to go and ‘on it’ than Cambo was. We were at 70% for much of the first half and, as our previous results will testify, we win when we are ‘in the zone’ from the first whistle. Match day preparation means that we need the boys warming up ideally an hour before kick-off. If we can please make every effort to be at the club with rugby kit (including boots) on at the published meet time, it would be hugely appreciated by the coaching staff.

A cup game against Old Cranleighans away awaits us next Sunday with a current meet time of 1145am. Onwards!