On 6th September, Camberley Senior Men's 1st XV hosted London Scottish Lions at Watchetts Park for the first game of the league season! Alex Seers led the side onto the pitch, in what might have been the last of the summer sun, against a strong London Scottish Lions team who had had a successful pre-season.

The visitors kicked off the game with the ball going deep into Camberley’s half where ‘Cambo’ were awarded the first scrum of the game. After showing some scrum dominance, the home side earned territory just outside the visitors 22m creating a strong platform to launch from. With the ball exchanging hands, Camberley strung a series of phases together to get over the visitor’s line, however the Lions’ desperate defence allowed them to hold the ball up over the line. The stagnant scoreline was broken first by the visitors, after exploiting a gap in the Camberley defence, resulting in them to go under the posts. However, the home side’s response was lightning , with lock Harry Martyn charging down a clearance kick for scrum half Chris Ballard to score in the corner. (CAM 7 - LDN SCOTS 5).

The visitors won the next period, after an unlucky interception attempt saw the Camberley 10 sin binned with a yellow and the opposition slot the ball through the uprights to take them ahead. (CAM 7 – LDN SCOTS 8). Camberley saw themselves on their own line repelling numerous attempts, before finally winning a scrum penalty to clear their lines. However, the reprieve was short lived with the visitors spreading the ball to the edge, to score in the corner, establishing a solid lead (CAM 7 - LDN SCOT 15). With the momentum on the visitor’s side, they successfully picked off Camberley defenders, to again score in the corner (CAM – 7 LDN SCOT 20). However, the home side struck back quickly, with Alex Seers delicate grubber kick through the defence for Kyan Cherwayko, getting over the line to score Cambo’s second (CAM 14 – LDN SCOTS 20). Finally, a failed attempted penalty at the posts closed off the half with the visitors ahead. HT CAM 14 - LDN SCOTS 20.

Camberley kicked off the second half quickly winning a scrum penalty which they used to kick the ball deep in the opposition’s 22m. Some fast reactions saw Jak Rossiter reclaim the ball, where Camberley went on to earn a penalty with Alex Seers slotting the ball between the uprights (CAM 17 - LDN SCOTS 20). After going through a few phases, the visitors broke through the home side’s defence to score under the posts for an easy conversion (CAM 17 – LDN SCOTS 27). Shortly after, Camberley won a penalty just behind the half way line and Alex Seers stepped up with the kicking tee to strike the ball a monstrous distance through the posts from 51m out (CAM 20 - LDN SCOTS 27). The visitors responded quickly kicking off and reclaiming the ball before scoring another under the post with some impressive handling (CAM 20 - LDN SCOTS 34). London Scottish, enjoying their momentum, used their shape to break through the line once again offloading to oncoming runners who then spread the ball to the edge to dot the ball down in the corner (CAM 20 – LDN SCOTS 41).

Camberley were seemingly out of the running, until winning a series of penalties to maintain possession. Chris Ballard snipped through to score under the posts and get Camberley back on the board (CAM 27 – LDN SCOTS 41). With Camberley now with the momentum, Matt Bowers flew up the wing to get deep into the 22m. Alex Seers then linked wing to wing with a cross-field kick to Kyan Cherwayko to dot the ball down in the opposite corner (CAM 32 - LDN SCOTS 41). With a visiting player cutting through the Camberley defence, another try seemed inevitable, however, with some last ditch defence the ball was turned over. After some well-timed offloads, Camberley got the ball all the way over the visitors try line only to be slapped down, however a yellow card sent an opposing player off the pitch and a scrum penalty to Camberley. A strong scrum allowed the ball to spread to the edge with Kyan Cherwayko scoring his third of the game to get the hat-trick (CAM 39 - LDN SCOTS 41). With the end of the game in sight, and the scores tight the visiting side exploited an overthrown lineout to fly up the pitch. After putting the Camberley’s defence on the back foot they were able to spread to the ball to the edge to get over the line for the final time (CAM 39 – LDN SCOTS 46). As the game came to a close, Camberley got a last-minute penalty where Alex Seers stepped up to have the final say on the score board, as he nailed the kick bringing the final score to Camberley 42 - London Scottish 46.

The men’s team head down to Worthing next week who are currently in 6th place in the Regional 1 South Central League after beating Bracknell 29 – 27. Overall, a solid start to the season against a strong opposition, but with a whole season to come Camberley will look first to Worthing to start their climb up the league table.