Encouraging Start to New Season for Cam

So on this glorious summers day, much more suited to cricket,we welcomed CS Stags to Watchetts for the opening round of the 2023/24 season with a good crowd and expectations, as always, very high amongst the Watchetts faithful.

Naturally there was much interest in the debutants, Kiwis Tony and Razor, one of Sam's ex students from 6F, Matt Bowers and the returning Macca plus, of course the new coaching set up led by Clarkey and Big Sam.
In the event I am sure that they were not disappointed as they witnessed a well disciplined performance by the black and ambers as they weathered early pressure from the visitors before overwhelming them and scoring 7 unanswered tries.

The game started with the visitors kicking off towards the clubhouse and we saw them quickly put pressure on the black and ambers, pressure allowed them to convert a pen after just 5 mins of play. Cam responded almost immediately when they won back possession from the restart and and a great lineout drive saw the official decide that the ball was held up. However Cam were soon back in the red zone and after a number of pick and goes we saw the ball swung wide by young #9 Max and a majestic dive into the corner by Fireman George saw the seasons first try and a magnificent conversion by #10 Razor put the black and ambers into the lead after just 10 mins.

At this stage the visitors were not prepared to lie down and pressure from the restart plus a couple of silly pens from Cam saw them score their first try of the season which was unconverted but made the score 7-8 after 17 mins.

As it turned out this was to be the last time that they troubled the scoreboard as pressure at scrum time plus some great defence really sapped their energy and this despite Bazza having to be replaced due to an ankle injury,
So with 25 mins gone, having moved into the visitors half again following a scrum pen we saw #8 Macca collect the ball from a lineout 22 meters out and somehow force his way through the Stags defence to score with Razor adding the extras.

The Cam pressure again began to take its toll on the visitors and despite losing Bazza our Ozzie Mole was always going to be an able replacement and was very unfortunate not to have scored when a typical lineout drive was deemed to have been held up. However the visitors were not able to withstand this pressure and with half time approaching Cam were awarded a penalty try for persistent offending in the red zone making the score 21-8 at the break.

The second half started with an excellent try which saw firstly Cam steal the visitors lineout and great hands saw young Bowers force his way over in clubhouse corner for his debut try to move the score to 26-8 and the try bonus point secured.

Then, from the restart, we saw backrower Hughsey at his majestic best as he claimed the ball and then carved through the visitors defence taking play back up to their 10m line and great support eventually saw #9 Max cross for an excellent team try and with Razor again kicking immaculately the score had move to 33-8 after 47 mins.
With a consistent flow of injuries and lots of the players feeling the heat play was a tad scrappy for a period but on 60 mins we saw Murph secure the visitors lineout ball on halfway and great recycling saw Ben use his pace to cross in the corner and with the game becoming very loose as the players on both sides tired we saw the final score on 70 mins when, this time it was Wright the younger benefitting from great hands to dot down and with Razor adding the extras yet again this brought proceedings to a close with the final score 47-8.

This was a very promising start for the black and ambers to what will almost certainly prove to be a very tough season. Great performances by Tony our Kiwi at loosehead who has some engine believe me , Razor, recently from Rotorua, who showed amazing control at 10 without using the boot once and Macca returning home after his spell at Rochford, showing his strength and rugby brain which we all admired so much when he was with us before. And finally young Bowers who was a real revelation on the wing both in attack and defence and who clearly is desperate to make the 14 shirt his own.
Overall the pack went very well with Murph having his best game for the club with an almost perfect set of arrows while Big Dom and Sam served up what we have come to expect from the best second row combination in the league and the backrow of Hughsey, skipper Birdy and Macca were immense. Max at #9 probably had his best game for the club as well and Brizzle and Josh in the centres were very physical in attack and defence while Fireman George and Vic both showed what talented players they are – and with great performances by Ozzie Greg, Ben and BLS from the bench this was undoubtedly a very satisfying team performance.
Clarkey and Laids were quietly pleased with the team as their objectives set out at the team meeting on Thursday, to protect the ball, to manage the restarts and to have patience in D and offence in particular as eventually space will appear on the edges, worked extremely well and both were already planning for next week's visit to Maidenhead.

Today also saw success for the 2s away at Maidenhead where they won 56-12 and the 3s just lost a close game with Farnham 29-24, probably the first time we have fielded 3 competitive teams in September for many years.

And Finally aka my C&W update – So the World Cup has delayed the start of the Prem and we now have the Premiership Cup where Prem and Championship teams compete against each other. We welcome Nottingham to The Holm next weekend in what should be the start of a very interesting set of games with many of the Prem teams losing a significant number of players to the WC. The C&Ws will be missing 7 but hope to see a number of their senior guys who were seriously injured last season back in action together with their big summer signings Zac Mercer and Max Llewellyn who both just missed out on a trip to France.

The pic shows the smart new changing room courtesy of Head Coach Sam and his Dad