Cup Disappointment fo Camberley

With almost 40 players unavailable or injured, this game in South East London was always going to be a challenge for Risey's squad, and when the final fifteen took the field it included just 6 players who had started in the game last week against Warlingham.
So it was not completely surprising that this inexperienced Camberley squad would be made to struggle by a big, physical and vastly more experienced side who, the previous week, had scored 70 points away from home.
In fact the game can be simply broken down into 3 phases.
The first 30 mins when the home side were clearly on top and with more accuracy could have put the game away but which ended with the score 20-5.
The second period of 40 mins either side of half time saw much more parity between the sides with no points scored and chances on both sides going begging and the final 10 mins when the exertions of the day finally caught up with the black and ambers and the hosts helped themselves to a further 17 points.
The game started badly for Cam when they failed to handle the kick off resulting in a lineout 10m from their line and within 3 mins the hosts had driven over from a similar lineout to record their first score. Cam were already struggling at the set piece and conceded 3 points with 10 mins played and Old Colfs went further ahead when they drove Cam off the ball at a 5m scrum for another converted try on 20 mins.
Then a piece of quick thinking by scrum half Jake saw him release Mac who broke through the retreating defence before setting up Musa for a sprint to the corner with 25 played. However Colfs came straight back and won another scrum time penalty to extend their lead to 15 points with about 30 mins played.
Cam then started to play with a little more confidence and a searing break down the blindside by Ben Harrison saw the lock pulled down by a great tackle just a couple of metres short of the line after making 40m. Ben was later voted Man of the Match by his team mates for his 80mins of great aggressive rugby despite the challenges of being at the heart of a scrum which spent much of its time going backwards
The second half started much brighter for Cam with them trying to move the ball around and we saw breaks by backs Kiwi Hoggard, Musa and HT together with some aggressive running by Mac, Sam and Hoff and even two short bursts from TJ was making his first start for the side.
We then had a bit of early Christmas 'pantomime humour' when young Musa decided to take a quick throw in following a penalty kick by OCs and, despite loud protestations from the home supporters, the official, seemingly oblivious to their advice and the RFU laws, allowed Cam to proceed up field and so move themselves out of the red zone.
However despite their valiant efforts the effects of the physicality of the encounter began to show on the black and ambers and in the last 10 mins they conceded a couple of converted tries and a penalty making the final score 37-5.
So not the result that Risey was planning for last Sunday but probably not a disaster based on the final side he was able to field. Clearly this was a big step up for some of the younger players and hopefully they will treat it as another set of lessons learnt particularly when for 40 mins they pretty much matched their opponents.
So next week we return to League action with the 1s away to KCS Old Boys, while the 2s and 3s both play Farnham at Watchetts.
And Finally for you C&W supporters the side, made up largely of Academy players, lost away at Franklins Gardens to a Saints side containing a number of players with international experience and had to settle for a losing bonus point in the AWL – next week we return to the premiership when high flying Wasps visit The Holm.