Cam do just enough to claim first W in New League.

So on this bright Saturday afternoon rugby restarted with Cam entertaining Wimbledon 1s and 2s but with Watchetts still more brown than green all of the action took place on the 2nd XV pitch.
With the 2s game kicking off proceedings we saw the visitors eventually coming out on top with a a 35-5 win.
All eyes were then on the main event with the black and ambers faced the Wombles's 1s in the newly created Regional 1 South Central league, which in old money would have been National 3.
This was always going to be a good test for Cam particularly as the visitors had played at this level or above since the 2015 season and so were well versed in what teams need to be successful at Level 5.

In general the visitors were clearly in charge in the first quarter but when they were reduced to 14 following a reckless clothes line tackle by their #15, Cam slowly warmed to the increased pace and intensity required and werein fact leading 25-15 until the 77 the minute when a try by the visitors added some 'interest' in the last 3 minutes but the black and ambers managed thiss well, to claim the win.

The first 10 mins of play saw both sides testing each other out until some Cam pressure won them a pen and Liam gratefully claimed the 3 points.
Then we saw what you need to succeed at this level as the visitors regained their restart and quickly won a penalty which their 10 placed 5m from the Cam line. From there a perfectly executed driving maul saw them take the lead with an unconverted try and just 12 mins on the clock.
Cam, to their credit hit back almost immediately when a great break by our Fiery Fireman took play into the visitors and a no arms tackle won the black and ambers another pen which Liam slotted to regain the lead.
The next 20 mins or so saw the visitors slowly squeezing Cam both in the tight and at lineout time but huge defence kept the visitors out until they eventually broke through for a converted try and a lead of 6-12 on 30 mins. This massive defensive effort also cost the black and ambers Tom Chennell who looked to have a nasty ankle injury which saw Vic moving from 15 to 9 and the introduction of The Flying Fijian.
Cam certainly upped their tempo from the restart and came close to crossing the whitewash and this pressure eventually told when Vic, with a lovely break race in from almost halfway to bring the score to 11-12 on 37 mins and then almost immediately we saw new boy Gabe flying down the wing for certainly score when the visiting 15, in desperation, stuck out his arm and managed to clothes line the winger which earned him a red card and from the resulting penalty kick, which Liam put to within 5m of the visitors line, after several pick and goes the ball was played wide and there was no stopping our Fireman and with Liam adding the extras the ref blew for half time with Cam leading 18-12.
The second half saw the visitors immediately on the attack and despite another period of great D Cam eventually conceded a penalty which took the score to 18-15 with just 5 mins played in the second half.
We then had a period where both sides struggled to maintain any fluidity and with the visitors playing with 14 the number of injury breaks seemed to increase significantly but Cam now seemed to be managing both the scrums and lineouts much better and on 70 minutes, after several periods of pressure, we saw Woody racing down the touchline to dot down in the corner, and with Liam again adding the extras from the touchline the lead had grown to 10 points with just 10 mins left on the clock.
To their credit, the 14 men of Wimbledon did not roll over, and with 3 mins to go they closed the gap with a great lineout drive for another unconverted try but that was going to be the last time the scorer was troubled as Cam cooly closed out the game.
So an excellent start to the new season which will please DoR Risey and new Head Coach Voighty and their coaching group although they will already be planning the workons to be sorted this week in training before another tough challenge at Havant next Saturday.
Post match celebrations for a change continued outside in the warm summer sun and it was fun to see Liam winning MoM by the visitors and being awarded DotD by his own team which must be a first time someone wins both in the same game.

Pic by Dinger shows Vic Hardwicke racing away to score