OWW Match Report

Between storms of biblical proportions, Camberley U15’s took on OWW in the second round of matches in the Waterfall Cup. Despite the earlier storms and a minis festival which left the rest of Watchett looking like a particularly rough year at Glastonbury, the conditions at on pitch one were perfect.
Team selection proved a headache for head coaches Jackson and Bray with injuries, sickness and holidays taking their toll on player availability. However, with A team debutants including wingers Issac and Myles and Dan in the second row, we were able to field a strong, if slightly inexperienced team.
In a most unusual turn of events, Cambo were unbelievably fast out of the blocks! Aggressive, physical and creative play saw them camped in OWW territory for the first quarter. In the 10th minute, the dominance of our pack eventually saw No 8 Joel power over from close range for a well deserved team try converted by Ollie.
Having scored from close range only minutes before, Joel picked up from the breakdown on the half way line, smashed through 3 poor tackles and showed OWW a clean pair of heels to run half the length of the pitch to touch down between the posts.
Things then went from merely good to absolutely great! A poor clearance kick from OWW in their own 22 was expertly fielded by Myles who had the presence of mind to turn, step and score our third try. Given the closeness of the same fixture last season, to see Cambo running away with the match was a big (but very welcome) surprise.
Alas, it wasn’t to all be plain sailing. OWW backs who had looked threatening at times, managed to create an overlap and just before halftime opened their account with a converted try. Not only did they score but the Alex and Harrison, who had both played really well up to that point, suffered an accidental clash of heads between them putting them out of the rest of the match. Nevertheless a superb half from our boys and a richly deserved half-time score of 21 – 7.
Coach Jackson provided his usual inspirational half time team talk with the emphasis on the continued support at the breakdown and securing our ball. A quick reshuffle introduced Tom and Henry for the second half.
Just as Cambo had started the first half fast, so did OWW in the second. Our old habit of missing tackles again resurfaced and with their dangerous back line, OWW were able to fashion two quick scores to bring the game back into the balance. Were we going to see all out hard work disappear? Had OWW got ‘better legs’ than us? How was this titanic struggle going to end? Things got even more dispiriting for Cambo when Joel and Henry became our 3rd and 4th players to leave the pitch with head knocks. Was it to be a case of ‘hard luck boys, we’ll do better next time?’
Absolutely not! Our never say die attitude came to the fore with our backs (much to the consternation of coaches Jackson and Bray) tried to run everything until Gethin’s fabulous clearing kick along the touch-line was brilliantly chased up by fullback Ollie who gathered, stepped and offloaded to the superbly supporting Bailey who galloped in to score our fourth try. As usual, Ollie slotted the conversion giving him a 100% record in the match. 28 -17 with 10 minutes to go. It was in the bag surely!
Well, as is usual for us, nothing was that simple. OWW scored almost immediately from the restart – possibly due to a lack of concentration from Cambo. And then followed 10 minutes of sterling Cambo defence but handing possession back OWW as we gave away penalty after penalty. The tension was palpable, fingernails were chewed to the quick, coach Woody was pulling his hair out (metaphorically, obviously).
But finally, as the clock went into the red, Dexter, with an almighty show of strength, ripped the ball from the opposition and had the presence of mind to hoof it far into touch. The final whistle blew, the crowd roared, the opposition collapsed into a heap of utter despondency. Against the odds, we had won!
Back to reality though. It could have been so much easier without the breakdown infringements and the high(ish) tackles – areas that will be the focus of the next few training sessions. We had 2 man of the match awards – Joel for his barnstorming first half and Issac M for his massive performance in the second half – he was immense, everywhere! But in reality, no-one had a poor match. Everyone played their part and stepped up to play their part in a real team performance.
To quote coach Jackson’s typically unstated(!) and subtle(!) one word match summary – “DECENT!”