Cam Rise and send EASTleigh WEST

Following their defeat at local rivals Farnham 2 weeks previously the Watchetts faithful approached this game against Eastleigh with some concern however a tightly fought first half clearly took much more out of the visitors than the young black and ambers and a narrow 8-3 lead at the break was eventually converted into a well deserved 33-13 win at full time.
Despite the horrendous weather conditions of the last few days the pitch was in remarkably good condition and for the supporters brave enough to venture onto the park the rain actually stopped at 2.30 although both sides had to contend with a stiff breeze blowing almost across the pitch for the entire 80 mins.
The game started with Cam playing away from the clubhouse and they quickly moved the ball into the opposition half and a good scrum saw skipper Roger Wood break with #8 Alex Hughes in support and an almost certain try scoring opportunity was gone when the pass was knocked on. However it was not too long before the black and ambers took the lead when a good scrum saw crisp handling in the backs and debutant Ash crossed for an unconverted try on 5 mins.
The visitors then had a period of possession in the Cam red zone and were awarded 3 penalties in quick succession but the #10 was unable to convert any of them.
Following the third miss from in front on the 22, Cam came more into the game and took play deep into the visitors half only to throw possession away again with a poor pass which allowed the visitors to again move onto the black and ambers 22 but they missed the opportunity to get onto the scoreboard pushing a penalty wide.
The game became very scrappy for a period and with Cam down to 14 their defensive drills were put to the test but in fact although the visitors had the majority of possession in that 10 min period they showed very little creativity and the black and amber defensive wall was not breached.
So with Eastleigh not able to capitalise on the extra man the game remained scrappy and the visitors much vaunted scrum was getting no change from the young Cam front 5 something which the some of the visiting supporters had not expected.
With both sides scrapping hard but also making too many errors the next score came in time added on when at last the visitors managed to convert a penalty.
However the black and ambers were not to be outdone when, from the restart prop Chris Parnaby, sporting his newly acquired Mohican, made a great steal and the visitors could only stop the advance of the home side illegally and full back Oscar Ulander claimed the 3 points with the last kick of the half.
The second half saw the visitors convert another penalty after 45 mins to narrow the gap to 2 points but from the restart Cam camped in the visitors half and Tom Dunn extended the lead on 52 mins with a well taken penalty.
Almost from the restart Cam extended their lead when great handling between forwards and backs saw Gareth Wedgwood, Alex Hughes and Ash all making ground before Tommy A dotted down with 55 mins gone.
The restart saw Eastleigh mount an attack on the Cam line but they conceded a penalty which took play down to halfway. Cam then won their lineout and drove it 10m - a move which also won a yellow card for the visiting prop.
So with the visitors a man down the black and ambers, who were beginning to gain the upper hand in the scrums, turned over possession and when Mac playing on the flank made a break and fed prop Chris Parnaby the lead was extended to 15 points on 67 mins.
The restart saw Eastleigh mount an attack and only a great last ditch tackle by Tommy A, which earned a penalty, saved a certain try and when another good Cam scrum resulted in a penalty for the home side a quick tap and go by skipper Roger Wood saw him make 20m before passing to #8 Alex who cruised over for an unconverted try.
To their credit the visitors fought back again and when Cam 'won' another card, Eastleigh were able to drive the 5m scrum over the line for a try which was converted giving a score of 26-13 after 78 mins.
With the bonus point already secured Cam were not finished and from the restart Alex Hughes pounced on some poor drills by the visitors and collected the ball 30m from the line powering through a very ragged defence to score a converted try and with only moments left this was the final score of the afternoon.
Overall this was a good performance from the young black and ambers who managed to bounce back from their disappointing performance at Farnham although Risey will no doubt be expecting them to up their level again next week on their visit to US Portsmouth.
Again the relatively inexperienced front five put in a great shift and ended up dominant in the scrum causing great confusion amongst a number of the visiting supporters who had predicted that they would be toast by half time.
The back row worked tirelessly and were a major reason that the visitors, despite plentiful possession, could only cross the whitewash by pushing over a 7 man scrum.
Skipper Roger Wood at 9 did a sterling job in keeping his team focussed on the game plan and his partnership with Will O'M and latterly with Tommy D was a key factor in the result.
Tommy A and debutant Ash in the centre worked extremely well together and Gareth and Oscar who found themselves in the 1s due to non availabilities acquitted themselves well in such a tight game however my MoM was undoubtedly winger Phil Cresswell who has made enormous strides this season. We always knew that with ball in hand he is very pacey and a real threat to most opponents but to that he has now added a really destructive tackle which on several occasions today saved almost certain tries.
Next week the team visit Portsmouth again looking to avenge their defeat in the National Cup in September.
Finally for those C&W supporters out there, after a very successful RWC at Kingsholm, the lads have made a promising start to the Premiership and are looking to continuing with a win at the Ricoh tomorrow.