Too little Too Late

With Cam having played just one game in the last 6 weeks, coupled with a rather disrupted training schedule in January due to the inclement conditions, the trip to Bournemouth always threatened to be a banana skin game and this proved to be the case as a lack lustre 60 minutes against a very committed home side left them just too much to do to claim the win and so in dropping 4 points they made their promotion chances just that bit more difficult.

The game saw Cam start proceedings playing up the slope into a slight breeze and The Fireman was soon in action as he ran Bournemouth's defensive clearance back to half way but lacking support the home side then put together a few phases until a couple of scrum pens saw Cam move into the home 22 where, surprisingly, they lost their lineout which enabled the home side to clear the danger.
At this stage the game was very scrappy and we saw flanker Hamish collect a lose ball and make good yards only for the final pass to be butchered.
Approaching the 15 mins mark Bournemouth eventually launched their driving maul but although it was turned over they ran back the resulting defensive kick and some slack defence by the black and ambers saw the home side take the lead and things got worse for Cam when another attack saw the home side chip a lovely ball behind the defence for their winger to tap down for 14 point lead on 20 mins.
Although Cam recovered the restart and set up a good attacking position another lineout turnover by Bournemouth in their red zone relieved the pressure.

Unfortunately Cam were clearly not clicking and although we saw some good interplay between Vic and The Fireman the black and ambers were never able to put together a decent number of phases and this was typified when Ali made a lovely break but again the pass, which appeared to have been knocked on by the home side didn't go to a black and amber hand which would surely have resulted in a try but from yet another pen the driving maul eventually brought success despite the Herculean efforts of the opposition with Ozzie Greg claiming the score.

Bournemouth responded almost from the restart and on 37 mins knocked over a simple penalty to extend their lead and when, on the stroke of half time, we saw a great lineout move from Cam halted when Jos was floored a couple of meters from the line the omens were not good.

The second half started with promise as we saw Bazza charging from halfway to deep inside the Bournemouth 22 but, again, good D saw the black and ambers thwarted and although they had by now claimed complete dominance at scrum time this was not enough to create a decent launchpad for the backs and on 55 mins the home side added to their score with a second penalty.
By now the home side were full of confidence but one beautiful kick/pass by Liam 10m from his line saw winger Max take the ball 60m into the Bournemouth redzone but again the final finish was not there but this increasing pressure by Cam eventually saw them camped on the Bournemouth line and following a series of pens followed by a yellow card to the home 9 we saw Bazza finally break away from a driving maul to crash over for a well deserved try.
We then saw Cam show how dangerous they can be when they concentrate as, from a Bournemouth scrum on the Cam 22, we firstly had the home side pack being driven back so fast that the ball was picked up by Ed at #8 and it was quickly shipped to The Fiery Fireman who charged into the opposition half beating several rather tired defender in the process before letting young Vic take the last 20m to dot down for a converted try and a 20-17 scoreline but with only a couple of minutes on the clock, this new found urgency just couldn't produce another score and that is how the game ended.

This was clearly the worst performance of the season by the black and ambers who lost their way at lineout time and whose error count particularly in the first half was horrendous, none of this, however, should take anything away from Bournemouth who played their hearts out with courageous D great legal? mauling and rucking techniques and one just had to admire how they managed the clock as they cleverly let the seconds tick by at every opportunity, restarts, pens, scrums etc while clearly keeping the official happy, which in the end possibly proved vital for who knows what Cam might have achieved with another 5 mins?

So clearly this week will be tough at Watchetts with coaches scratching heads and players needing to work twice as hard as they all know that if they want to be in with a shout at the end of the season they cannot afford any more performances like today.

Next week the 1s play the first of their catch up games away at Sutton and Epsom who despite being in the bottom 2 will be desperate for points.

Pic shows young openside Hamish on the charge