Much Changed Cam still Claim 5 Points

With Head Coach Voighty taking a well earned break, Brizzle's ankle being rested, both regular #9s unavailable with #15 Vic moving up to take on the role and loose head Ozzie Greg still sidelined, the black and ambers took on a fresh new look with youngster Finn starting at loose head, Ben Stevens taking the #10 jersey , veteran TommyA returning at 15 and with new boy James Richardson on the bench many of our pink blazered supporters were just a tad confused.com. In the event, on this unseasonably warm late October Saturday, we witnessed, not for the first time, the Jekyll and Hyde nature of this exciting but also frustrating Camberley 15. On the one hand they scored 9 tries, some displaying real quality, while also managing to concede 4 tries, including 2 soft interceptions to a spirited and workmanlike Bournemouth side.

With Cam defending the clubhouse end in the first half we got off to an interesting start when, at the first scrum the black and amber 8 were, to the surprise of many, penalised, and with just 3 mins on the clock the visitors took the lead with a simple pen.
As we see so often however, the Cam response was rapid and telling as, from the restart, they mounted their first attack and a penalty saw them 5m from the visitors line and moments later following a great catch and drive young prop Bazza crashed over for his first of the afternoon and so with Liam adding the extras the score was 7-3 after 7 mins.

The restart saw Cam win a scrum pen and Liam again pushed play up to the visitors 10m line and an excellent move saw blindside winger Jos join the line before releasing Alex who set The Fireman up to score in the corner and so on 10 mins the score had moved to 14-3.

And as if to emphasise the point again, straight from the restart we saw another great move involving Bazza, Hughsey and TommyA before The Flying Fijian was first to dab down the fullback's chip ahead to extend the lead to 16 points with only 12 on the clock.

If this wasn't enough excitement, again, direct from the restart, we saw Our Fireman again making great meters into the visitors half and some brilliant champagne rugby between him and Vic. When the young scrumhalf was stopped in the visitors 22 it was inevitably, it seemed, George who acted as the link to recycle the ball which, via the Flying Fijian saw Hamish, on his home debut, dotting down for the try plus bonus point on 19 mins with the visitors having hardly laid a finger on the ball for 10 mins when the score had moved from 0-3 to 24-3.

To their credit the visitors came back and from this their fourth restart they forced Cam into conceding a pen and from the resultant attacking lineout they scored a converted try with just 22 mins played.

Again we saw Cam react immediately from their restart with Jos taking play into the red zone but despite a very fancy hitch kick from hooker Clarkey the black and ambers were not able to find a way through however when they were held up over the line we saw great vision when young Ben fielded the drop out around halfway and his long pass to our Smoking Fireman created sufficient space for him to dot down in the corner for another unconverted try with less than 30 mins on the clock.

With all of this excitement it was inevitable that things would calm down and the only significant action in the last 10 mins of the half saw the visitors add 3 points to their total. Leaving the score 29-13 at the break.

The second period saw Cam kicking off towards the clubhouse and following a scrum on the visitors 10m line a great miss pass by Ben to TommyA saw the veteran take play forward before releasing George for his 3rd of the game and with Liam adding the extras the score had moved to 36-13 with barely 2 mins of the half played.

We then saw the visitors fight back and despite some solid defence they eventually dotted down from a driving maul to make the score 36-20 and in addition seeing Cam reduced to 14 for 10 mins.

In this case the Cam reply took just a tad longer than the previous ones but a period of pressure by the black and ambers, with Jos taking play into the red zone, and a great break by skipper Birdy eventually created gaps in the defence with Bazza forcing his way over and the young prop was to join the Fireman with a hat trick when, on 60 mins, he again forced his way over and moved the score to 48-20.

Clearly Cam believed that it was job done and following a soft pen conceded at the lineout, an over ambitious pass on half way was eagerly accepted by Bournemouth who scampered over for their third try.

This clearly stung Cam who immediately returned to the Bournemouth 22 and following another scrum time pen they saw Birdy, who had moved mountains all afternoon, crash over for another unconverted try and the half century with around 5 mins on the clock.
However this was not the last of the scoring as the plucky visitors again took advantage of some over optimistic play deep in the Cam 22 and again accepted a soft interception to collect their tbp.

So overall a very satisfying result for the coaching team with a number of new young faces in the side much of the afternoon saw them clearly dominant although they will no doubt be working hard on tightening things up a tad as stronger opposition may well have made more of the opportunities offered by the home side.
It was also very promising to see prop Finn and openside Hamish having their second run outs and looking increasingly comfortable while Vic did a sterling job at 9 while Ben Stevens had an excellent first run out at 10 and I'm sure that the pace of young winger James will bring its rewards in the very near future.
So next week the 1s travel to Old Deer Park to take on London Welsh in what promises to be a tough encounter with the Welsh beginning to find some form.

Meanwhile the 2s had a very convincing victory over Horsham 2s 43-5 which consolidates their position in the Reserve League.

And Finally – well a sold out Castle Grim saw the C&Ws complete their West Country treble by beating Exeter 38-22 and moving into the playoff places following a very physical game and some special magic from LRZ.

Pic shows Bazza over for one of his hat trick - pic by Dinger