Cam slide their way to another 5 points

Following the chaos caused by Storm Henk there were many of the Watchetts faithful absolutely certain that the game would be postponed but, in the event, a very muddy 2nd XV pitch, which would have been considered very heavy going in racing circles, was just about up to the challenge although, I suspect, it suited the enormous visiting team a tad more than the black and ambers.

In the event in a very scrappy, error strewn game, Cam, perhaps a little fortuitously, did enough to claim the 5 points while Marlborough did at least return with a lbp.

The game saw Cam starting proceedings and following a period of kick tennis, which the visitors won, we ended up with a lineout in the Cam 22 and Marlborough reacted quickest to the situation and claimed their first try after just 4 mins.
Direct from the restart Cam applied pressure in the visitors 22 but in the conditions their error rate grew and with the Marlborough defence very aggressive and effective the black and ambers struggled to get into their rhythm.
However on 20 mins, yet another attack saw #9 Max make a superb break timing the final pass to Tony for the loosehead to crash over near the posts and with Max adding the extras it was all square after 20 mins.

With both sides struggling with the conditions underfoot it was the visitors who nudged the scoreboard along when they converted a penalty from the Cam 10m and their policy to truck most things up via their XL sized pack plus generally winning the kicking game saw them add to their total in time added on making the score at the break 7-13.

Despite Cam disappearing into the warm changing room, presumably for a warm drink and hot water bottles, things still took time to improve in the second period and it took some good a old fashioned rugby brain, Jaid who, when given the opportunity, played a lovely kick deep into the redzone and following more good pressure and some unforced errors by the visitors we saw Voighty claiming the touchdown and with Max again adding the extras the black and ambers had just reclaimed the lead 14-13.
This lead was not to last too long as the visitors claimed another pen although at the expense of their kicker who unfortunately injured himself while claiming the 3 points.
The restart saw just a bit of what Cam were capable of when 2 or 3 pens saw them move into the redzone again and an unstoppable drive from the lineout saw Spencer claim the score which Max converted from wide out moving the score to 21-16 as the game moved into the final quarter.

With the Marlborough restart not making the 10m Cam again applied pressure a great break by Youngy again took the black and ambers into the redzone and from the resultant lineout, and also playing an advantage, we saw Birdy cross for the tbp and with Max making it 4 from 4 the score had moved to 28-16.
To their credit the visitors had one more score in them as they broke away and, benefiting from a couple of lucky decisions, they managed to collect their lbp with a try in the closing minutes.

So in the end it was job done with 5 more points but, as with the Bracknell game, the black and ambers seemed to struggle with adjusting the game plan to the opposition and conditions as this was clearly a day to cut out the risky passes and just rely on the pack to trundle it up the park.

Again, this was a predominantly a forward battle with all eight putting in a big shift despite Bazza and Macca being replaced fairly early in the proceedings, with the front row again with Tony and Spencer outstanding both with their charges and also in defence, while Big Dom and Sam in the row worked tirelessly and managed to sneak several lineouts while the back row of Macca, Shed and Birdy showed an amazing workrate with Shed winning my MoM award.

Max, at# 9 worked very hard all afternoon and made several telling breaks and his place kicking was outstanding while Luke at #15 had a steady debut following the departure of Vic to the other side of the world. Both centres and wingers had their moments too but it really was a day for 10 man, up the jumper rugby today, but again it should prove to be a good workout for the squad as training time has been very limited since before Xmas.

So next week we travel to Havant for what could be the season defining game for both sides and, realistically, a must win game for Cam if they are to get anywhere close to challenging for #1 spot at the end of the season.

And Finally – well the sorry tale at Castle Grim continues and tomorrow they face a resurgent Bath side still smarting from the 64-0 drubbing they suffered at Kingsholm last season so this is clearly another when the heart does not agree with the head if you are a C&W supporter.

Pic by Tracey Wickens shows Shed on the charge