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Sat 14 Mar 2015
Battersea Ironsides
1st XV
23
11
Dream Dashed by Ironsides Dogged Defence of Trophy
Roger Berry14 Mar 2015 - 20:56
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Current Holders Battersea Ironsides prove just too strong for Cam in their attempt to win the Junior Vase
For the keen of eye (sober?) amongst you I must firstly highlight the difference between the score on our website and that which is currently appearing on the RFU's official site (20-14) although of course this has no real effect on the course of events from here on in.
Following the spring like conditions of the previous couple of Saturdays, players and supporters were faced with a grey sky and biting wind for the majority of a match which had plenty of effort and commitment but, perhaps unsurprisingly, lacked somewhat in flair.
Cams first League game of this season saw us well and truly beaten by Ironsides who are still heading our League with an impressive 6 months unbeaten record and so with the possibility of having to play them 3 times before the end of the season this was clearly going to be a significant game.
In the event, for the first time in their 15 game unbeaten run, Cam were denied possession by a very good opposition pack and so the black and ambers had very limited opportunities to play their brand of exciting open rugby which has brought them so much success since October and without ball its very difficult to win. In addition they were not helped by a couple of key decisions which went against them.
Cam started the game kicking into the stiff breeze and were soon under the cosh after conceding 2 scrum penalties, the second of which was converted after just 4 mins.
Again from the restart the young Cam 8 were pinged by the ref and on 10mins they were down to 14 men following what appeared to be a 'team' yellow.
The resulting scrum on the Cam 5m line was driven over by the hosts for a converted try on 11 mins.
Cam were still under pressure in the tight but with ball in hand they were already causing Ironsides some headaches and a break by Tommy Dunn saw the game move into the visitors red zone and with Hoff just 5m short the home side hooker cynically decided to concede 3 points and a yellow rather than the try on 25 mins.
For the rest of the half play remained fairly scrappy with the hosts playing most of their rugby through their pack and the black and ambers trying to move the ball wide and the good news was that the string of penalties awarded at scrum time against the black and ambers had almost dried up.
In fact from our scrum on our 22 young Mac picked up and sliced through the Ironsides defence taking play up to the home side's 10m line and the support then continued the attack to within 10m of the whitewash and although this didn't result in a score the half time score of 10-3 represented a good recovery for Cam who then had the wins at their backs for the second period.
However the second half started in a similar vein to the 1st with the hosts adding a converted try from a driving lineout maul with only 3 mins played making the score 17-3 and yet another 10min period with the black and ambers down to 14 men.
Cam if nothing else find it hard to accept defeat and despite being a man down they used the wind to gain territory and launch a series of attacks and when they forced a poor defensive kick from Ironsides the ball was moved quickly across field for Oddjob (Marc Odejobi ) to crash over in the corner making the score 17-8 after 50 mins.
In fact whenever the Cam backs had the ball through Joe, Oddjob or Liam they managed to create some panic in the home defence and good work again by Oddjob and Liam produced a penalty on 55 mins which was kicked by Tom bringing the gap to within 1 score at 17-11.
However Ironsides, through their impressive pack, worked play back into the Cam 22 and extended their lead with a pen on 60 mins.
Cam were not rolling over however and a good penalty attempt by Tom in these difficult conditions sailed just wide but with the resulting 22 drop going into touch Cam won the lineout with a great throw by Magoo, Hoff won the ball and made 20m on the charge to take play into the home 22 again and the black and ambers were clearly denied a try when the home winger deliberately knocked on less than 10m from his line with Phil Andrews set to trot over for a try - in most other games an obvious penalty try which, if awarded would have brought the gap down to 2 points.
Still Cam were taking play to Ironsides and another easier penalty, awarded to the pack after they managed at last to put the squeeze on the home 8, was again pushed just wide by Tommy but this proved to be the final push by Cam as again through the hard work of their pack the hosts took play up into our 22 and when Josh Watson who had run and tackled his socks off all day was harshly adjudged to have high tackled the Ironsides 10 who then got up, brushed himself down and kicked the penalty this was pretty much the last action of the game.
So it was a tough day at the office for the young black and ambers who stuck gallantly to their task against a good side whose excellent pack, with their skipper O'Keefe and #8 Hale outstanding, proving just too much on this occasion and on behalf of all at Camberley we wish them all the best for the next round and hope that this season they will make it to the final at Twickenham.
This result is clearly a serious improvement from our game at the start of the season against Ironsides and speaks volumes for the development of the squad since September. It clearly was a really tough ask for this young pack with an average age of only 20/21 but, against a very experienced and well drilled 8, they again stuck at it and in the second half started to provide better ball from scrums and lineouts even winning a scrum time penalty.
The backs spent most of the afternoon living off scraps but whenever they did have the ball they caused problems with Joe and Oddjob always requiring more than one defender to stop them.
For Risey and his team that now clears the decks a little so that they can now concentrate on their push for promotion and also winning the Surrey Shield - both of which will almost certainly involve further fixtures with Ironsides.
Next weekend we are back to League action away at Old Wimbledonians - ko to be confirmed.
With no action at Kingsholm this weekend I just have a couple of other notices.
Firstly JJ was very successful last weekend in his first 1/2 marathon with a time of 1.41 - in fact he enjoyed it so much he must be looking at attempting a full marathon soon - he needs lots of encouragement though!!!!
Also the Rugby Force project to improve the clubhouse and changing rooms is due to take place on June 27/28th so please make a note in your diaries - your projects will be announced nearer to the date.
Following the spring like conditions of the previous couple of Saturdays, players and supporters were faced with a grey sky and biting wind for the majority of a match which had plenty of effort and commitment but, perhaps unsurprisingly, lacked somewhat in flair.
Cams first League game of this season saw us well and truly beaten by Ironsides who are still heading our League with an impressive 6 months unbeaten record and so with the possibility of having to play them 3 times before the end of the season this was clearly going to be a significant game.
In the event, for the first time in their 15 game unbeaten run, Cam were denied possession by a very good opposition pack and so the black and ambers had very limited opportunities to play their brand of exciting open rugby which has brought them so much success since October and without ball its very difficult to win. In addition they were not helped by a couple of key decisions which went against them.
Cam started the game kicking into the stiff breeze and were soon under the cosh after conceding 2 scrum penalties, the second of which was converted after just 4 mins.
Again from the restart the young Cam 8 were pinged by the ref and on 10mins they were down to 14 men following what appeared to be a 'team' yellow.
The resulting scrum on the Cam 5m line was driven over by the hosts for a converted try on 11 mins.
Cam were still under pressure in the tight but with ball in hand they were already causing Ironsides some headaches and a break by Tommy Dunn saw the game move into the visitors red zone and with Hoff just 5m short the home side hooker cynically decided to concede 3 points and a yellow rather than the try on 25 mins.
For the rest of the half play remained fairly scrappy with the hosts playing most of their rugby through their pack and the black and ambers trying to move the ball wide and the good news was that the string of penalties awarded at scrum time against the black and ambers had almost dried up.
In fact from our scrum on our 22 young Mac picked up and sliced through the Ironsides defence taking play up to the home side's 10m line and the support then continued the attack to within 10m of the whitewash and although this didn't result in a score the half time score of 10-3 represented a good recovery for Cam who then had the wins at their backs for the second period.
However the second half started in a similar vein to the 1st with the hosts adding a converted try from a driving lineout maul with only 3 mins played making the score 17-3 and yet another 10min period with the black and ambers down to 14 men.
Cam if nothing else find it hard to accept defeat and despite being a man down they used the wind to gain territory and launch a series of attacks and when they forced a poor defensive kick from Ironsides the ball was moved quickly across field for Oddjob (Marc Odejobi ) to crash over in the corner making the score 17-8 after 50 mins.
In fact whenever the Cam backs had the ball through Joe, Oddjob or Liam they managed to create some panic in the home defence and good work again by Oddjob and Liam produced a penalty on 55 mins which was kicked by Tom bringing the gap to within 1 score at 17-11.
However Ironsides, through their impressive pack, worked play back into the Cam 22 and extended their lead with a pen on 60 mins.
Cam were not rolling over however and a good penalty attempt by Tom in these difficult conditions sailed just wide but with the resulting 22 drop going into touch Cam won the lineout with a great throw by Magoo, Hoff won the ball and made 20m on the charge to take play into the home 22 again and the black and ambers were clearly denied a try when the home winger deliberately knocked on less than 10m from his line with Phil Andrews set to trot over for a try - in most other games an obvious penalty try which, if awarded would have brought the gap down to 2 points.
Still Cam were taking play to Ironsides and another easier penalty, awarded to the pack after they managed at last to put the squeeze on the home 8, was again pushed just wide by Tommy but this proved to be the final push by Cam as again through the hard work of their pack the hosts took play up into our 22 and when Josh Watson who had run and tackled his socks off all day was harshly adjudged to have high tackled the Ironsides 10 who then got up, brushed himself down and kicked the penalty this was pretty much the last action of the game.
So it was a tough day at the office for the young black and ambers who stuck gallantly to their task against a good side whose excellent pack, with their skipper O'Keefe and #8 Hale outstanding, proving just too much on this occasion and on behalf of all at Camberley we wish them all the best for the next round and hope that this season they will make it to the final at Twickenham.
This result is clearly a serious improvement from our game at the start of the season against Ironsides and speaks volumes for the development of the squad since September. It clearly was a really tough ask for this young pack with an average age of only 20/21 but, against a very experienced and well drilled 8, they again stuck at it and in the second half started to provide better ball from scrums and lineouts even winning a scrum time penalty.
The backs spent most of the afternoon living off scraps but whenever they did have the ball they caused problems with Joe and Oddjob always requiring more than one defender to stop them.
For Risey and his team that now clears the decks a little so that they can now concentrate on their push for promotion and also winning the Surrey Shield - both of which will almost certainly involve further fixtures with Ironsides.
Next weekend we are back to League action away at Old Wimbledonians - ko to be confirmed.
With no action at Kingsholm this weekend I just have a couple of other notices.
Firstly JJ was very successful last weekend in his first 1/2 marathon with a time of 1.41 - in fact he enjoyed it so much he must be looking at attempting a full marathon soon - he needs lots of encouragement though!!!!
Also the Rugby Force project to improve the clubhouse and changing rooms is due to take place on June 27/28th so please make a note in your diaries - your projects will be announced nearer to the date.
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