The visit to Coulsdon to play bottom of the table Purley John Fisher was always going to be a potential banana skin but a performance which at times lacked precision and concentration saw the black and ambers come away with 5 points although they did suffer a couple of nasty looking injuries ahead of their home fixture against second placed Teddington next Saturday.
As was the case last week the teams needed to handle a strong breeze which was blowing diagonally across the pitch and also the added challenge of a greasy pitch and Cam, starting with the elements, were soon on the offensive with Laz, making the first of many searing runs through the opposition, but having set up a good attacking position the support wasted a big overlap with a poor final pass.
However it was not long before Cam were on the score board when another great passage of play between Laz and Phil took play deep into the home 22 and although the move was initially stopped sloppy defence saw the ever alert Jono pounce on the ball to register the first try which Laz duly converted.
From the restart there was a period of quite scrappy play and some interesting penalty decisions but on 16 mins a big hit by the Camberley centres saw the ball pop lose and again Jono was there to take the final pass and dot down and with Laz again adding the extras in very difficult conditions the score moved to 0-14.
With the restart again failing to make 10m the resultant scrum proved to be somewhat of a disaster for the black and ambers as, following its collapse, the ref was seen striding down the pitch eventually halting on the Cam 22 and then producing a yellow card to a Camberley player who had allegedly ''Looked strangely' at him?? - unfortunately this just proved to be the start of one of the most erratic displays by an official I have witnessed for a number of years.
The resultant penalty was kicked to touch and thereafter followed a further string of penalties to the home side but despite this 'assistance' they were unable to make any headway against the Cam D and when Ash intercepted a sloppy pass and raced from within his 22 to touch down wide out the Cam supporters felt that justice had been done.
Again the restart into the wind did not make the requisite distance and from the scrum the ball found its way to Laz who again completely outwitted and outpaced the home defence to score making the score 0-24 with 26 mins gone and the bonus point secured.
The restart again proved to be fatal for the home side when Laz again made great yards before the ball, passing through many hands, found its way to the other winger Phil who touched down and with Laz adding the extras this time the score had moved to 0-31.
As so often happens with Camberley sides, the foot eases from the throttle and concentration and physicality levels dip and the home side scored a converted try on 33 mins to give them encouragement.
Then we witnessed the sickening sight of two Cam players, Wil and Ash clashing heads when trying a switch move - which clearly didn't work – the good news was that both players were able to walk off the pitch after a few minutes but clearly they were not able to take any further part in the game and with Josh already sidelined with a stud injury to his eye the lack of these 3 key players was clearly felt for the remainder of the game.
The second half started very scrappily and PJF soon added a penalty to their score and now they had the elements in their favour they found themselves more often in the Cam half. However another dazzling break by Laz, this time up the slope!!, saw him feed Tommy A who was just forced into touch with 5m to go.
Having turned over the possession Cam then set up a series of pick and drives and despite knocking on they retrieved possession from a 5m lineout and a great take and drive by Hoff, who was now jumping at his old position of 2, saw Jono being forced over for an unconverted try.
With PJF now more confident we witnessed yet another piece of magic from the Cam back three when Dan caught a PJF chip ahead deep in his 22 and although he was tackled almost immediately his offload to Laz saw the winger slash his way through the PJF defence and eventually pass to Joe who touched down for a try which was converted by Tom Dunn.
The final few minutes saw Cam struggling with props playing flanker and even second row and to their credit PJF kept up the pressure and sneaked an unconverted try following a 5m scrum making the final score 15-43.
So in difficult conditions and suffering a number of serious injuries to key players together with the 'interesting' performance of the official who strangely, at the end of the game, ignored the traditional players tunnel and headed off to his car without a word to either team, Cam again delivered the 5 points in a game which could best be described as scrappy with moments of outstanding skill – provided particularly by the back three who were the standout performers on the day. Dan, Phil and in particular Laz tore the hosts to ribbons on numerous occasion where their pace, their ability to shred defences and also their ability to link up shone through.
The forwards worked hard but with all of the enforced changes before and during the game they could never claim any dominance although Hoff, back at #8, was almost back to his best and provided a bit of the dawg which the whole squad will need to show next week in the top of the table clash with Teddington.
Clearly Gareth supported by Alun and Oddjob will be working hard with the squad this week preparing for what promises to be one of the key encounters of the season.
With both clubs 2s also playing at Watchetts and a full house for lunch we all anticipation is high for this last game of 2015.