Cam Power and Pace prove too much for unbeaten visitors

On another bright but very cold Saturday Cam entertained Rochford Hundred in the Divisional semi final of the Intermediate Cup.
The Visitors arrived with a 100% record for the season and a phenomenal points difference having won their last League game 103-7.
In the event after a bruising 35mins during which time each side workd hard to establish superiority Cam went ahead and then showed their superiority by adding 6 more tries without response playing some exhilarating rugby in the process.
The game began with Cam playing towards the clubhouse with a stiff cross breeze making things difficult for kickers and we saw both sdes put in some bruising tackles until the visitors crossed for a try in the corner to open the scoring after 10 mins.
Cam then started to warm to the task but each good move seemed to be halted by either losing possession or conceding a penalty but on 20 mins a great break by Oli shredded the opposition defence and his final pass to Oyoni saw the winger over for a try and with HT adding the extras Cam crept into the lead.
From the restart we again saw Oli tear through the opposition but the black and ambers conceded another pen and the visitors took full advantage of the field position to win yet another pen and retake the lead on 29 mins.
At this time the game was still pretty even and when Oli was injured the omens were not too promissing for the home side but with 36 mins played HT converted a penalty to edge Cam in front again.
However things changed from the restart when great hands saw Hughsey charge into the visitors 22 and when he was eventually tackled he was able to pop the ball to Ash who cantered over.
The restart again showed Cam at their best as TommyA took the ball into the visitors 22 again and after several powerful drives the ball was swung out wide to find prop Hasty who crashed over in the corner making the score 20-8 at the break.
By now the game was rapidly moving towards Cam as they began to dominate in the loose and also drive the visitors scrum backwards although poor hands repeatedly let them down.
We then saw Oyoni collect the ball in midfield and his sheer physicality allowed him to make good yards before releasing the Flying Fijian who was held up just short but the next score was not too long in coming when a Rochford Hundred penalty failed to make touch and running the ball back from their 22 Cam moved the ball wide to JoshL and his great run saw him brush of a number of defenders before popping the ball to Hughsey in support who dotted down and with HT adding the extras the score had moved to 27-8.
However Cam still kept conceding penalties at this stage and although the visitors did not seem to have a clear plan on how the could score they did spend some time in the Cam 22 but the black and ambers defence was just too good and when the visitors scrum was driven back at a rate of knots to win a penalty which clearly so upset the visiting eight that their comments to the official cost them another 10m the writing really was on the wall and from the subsequent lineout we saw Dyl charging through to the red zone but although the ball was lost Cam earned a pen which HT calmly slotted.
Then straight from the restart Ash intercepted a loose pass and stormed up field only to be stopped on the line, although the official again decided it was illegal and so with HT again doing the honours the score was now 33-8 after 70 mins.
By now the visitors were clearly tiring and totally at a loss as to how to stop this onslaught and again, following the restart, Cam were soon back in the visitors 22 and after a couple of darts the ball was swung wide again and with Smarty picking the ball up off his toes his long pass to JoshL saw the winger brush off several attempted tackles to score and with Oyoni adding the extras it was now 40-8 and more was to come as, from the restart a great break by Hughsey saw the ball moved sweetly to Ash who rounded off the scoring with another great team try.
This was a superb performance by this young side who clearly grow in character and confidence every game. There is no doubt that the visitors are a quality, if a tad one dimensional team, who have enjoyed immense success this season but who were not able to handle a team which continually changed the point of attack, stuck to their processes and whose defence proved to be so miserly.
As to the black and ambers there were outstanding performances throughout the team with the front row Hasty, Dyl, Nick, together with finishers Mua and Dan eventually winning their private battle with the very experienced opposition. Sam and Ben in the second row may well have come second in the size stakes but clearly won their battle all over the park and the visitors had no answer to The Warrior, Hughsey and Mac who were everywhere around the park in attack and defence.
The back three also excelled and although TommyA occasionally had us holding our breath the veteran is clearly really enjoying his rugby at the moment and, supported by the physical and pacey Oyoni, Ash and our Flying Fijian, they are guaranteed to cause problems to any opposition.
The centres were also key solid in defence and losing Oli with his great attacking vision was a great blow to the side.
However we must not forger 'The Hinge' with HT at 9 playing a blinder and Smarty, despite taking a team yellow, again showed his ability to manage the game and some of his handling was exquisite.
So its back to League rugby for the next couple of weeks before the Divisional final which will be against Charlton Park – details will be available later this week.
And Finally – Well the C&Ws seem to have managed to give up a 18-6 half time lead by conceding a last minute try to end up sharing the spoils with The Pests, a result that drops them to 5th so the next game at Castle Grim against that side from the frozen North takes on more significance now.

Erratum - This note is solely for Dyls Mum and is my sincere apology for reporting last week that her special son had spent 10 mins on the naughty step – in fact it was another guy who is covered with war paint and wears a #6 jersey – how I managed to get them mixed up remains a mystery.