Cam enjoy their visit to Seven Sisters

So following last week's warmup game versus local rivals Chobham which saw the black and ambers outscore their visitors by 6 tries to 2 the coaching team decided on some 'International' opposition and so a squad af about 30 made the journey to Seven Sisters, a former mining town deep in the Welsh valleys – and also Alun Rise's former club before moving to Camberley in the 80s.
For many of the players this was their first experience of playing in Wales with some even questioning if they needed passports.
Others clearly less committed felt that a coach journey to Swansea on Bank Holiday Saturday was a 'bridge' too far.
However the trip was pretty uneventful and the squad arrived in time for the 1s game which kicked off at 1.30pm.
With Cam kicking off playing towards 'cemetery' corner we didn't have long to wait for the action when, following a tremendous scrum which turned over Sevens put in, play ended up with a Cam lineout 5m out and a perfect catch and drive saw the black and ambers touch down. Cam then proceeded to repeat the process on 15 mins when again great turnover ball at the scrum saw another Cam lineout in Cemetery corner and another superb catch and drive put the black and ambers 2 tries to the good.
At this time Seven had seen little or no possession but with 20 mins gone they replied with their first try of the afternoon when their winger went over for a try.
Play then went trough a bit of a scrappy period when the Cam boys were introduced to the physicality of Welsh rugby but on 35 mins they went further ahead with their 3rd try following a break from the base of a maul.
The home side were clearly rattled by this score and play in the closing minutes of the half became a tad fiesty with several cases of handbag throwing around the field which finally, on the stroke of half time, resulted in a penalty try being awarded to Seven, 3 yellow cards 1 to the hosts and 2 to the black and ambers and Cam being awarded a penalty at the restart. When this penalty was pushed wide the ref was able to call half time and the players and coaches all had a chance to take a deep breath.
So with the inevitable changes at half time and the lack of 3 players for ten minutes the game became a little fragmented in the second period but the hosts were soon on the attack and poor concentration by Cam saw them quickly bring the score to 3 tries each after only 3 mins of the second half.
Cam then were reduced to 12 following a no arms contest in the air and spent much of the second half defending their lines however neither side was able to score the deciding try and so it ended all square at 3 tries apiece which I guess suited neither side but was probably a fair reflection on the game.
The 2s game which followed really did look like men v boys with Cam fielding several U17 Academy players but despite having to move to uncontested scrums for a good part of the game both sides played some enjoyable rugby with Cam scoring 2 tries, both from a long way out, to register a 2 tries to 1 victory.
So overall a really positive day for Risey's squad which was celebrated in style on the coach ride home.
Despite the disappointment in the size of the squad, probably only to be expected when you arrange away fixtures on Bank Holidays, this was a really good day for the 2016/17 squad who will have learned plenty about themselves and also Welsh Rugby on their trip and it was another big positive in the build up to the new League Season with our final warm up game v Tadley next Saturday at Watchetts.
On a lighter note I'm not sure how much it cost Rise snr but if I had had a pint for every Seven Sisters supporter who wanted to tell me what a good player Alun was when he played for them then they would have run out of beer – what they all seemed to forget however is that I saw him play many times for Cam from the 80s onwards when he was in his prime.