Cam unable to clinch title against OTs

Although this game was played at Watchetts, this was in fact Cam's reverse fixture against OTs due to lack of pitch availability at Richmond Park.
The first game at Watchetts in December saw Cam come back from a 21 point deficit to win 22-21 and so with OTs second in the League a very close encounter was anticipated.
In the event we saw a somewhat lack lustre Cam, admittedly missing a few key players, outplayed for large parts of the game by OTs who, before the game, still had some work to do to guarantee their promotion and the black and ambers were eventually beaten 18-20 although in the dying moments of the game Cam did manage to butcher a clear try scoring opportunity (these things are so much easier from the touchline!) which considering the overall game would have been very tough on the OTs.
So Cam, with 3 games to go, still lead by 11 points with home games against bottom club PJF and Trojans and a trip to Teddington to come.
The game kicked off with Cam playing away from the club house with the benefit of yet another cool breeze and were soon struggling in the scrum and it was also clear that the rock solid defence we have come to expect this season had somehow disappeared.
The first quarter of the game was very scrappy and somewhat against the run of play a turnover by Alex Hughes in his own 22 saw a great kick and chase and when Ash played the ball forward Laz touched down. Such was the delight of the crowd that JJ ran on with the kicking tee and the scorer had already recorded the score when the official decided that one of the 3 guys had been offside.
So with the first quarter coming to a close the Cam scrum seemed to solidify somewhat but hard fought yards were still being given away by sloppy ball retention and poor defensive drills but on 26 mins the stalemate was broken when TommyD kicked a penalty and in quick time he added a second when, although they lost the restart, the black and ambers soon regained possession and took play again up into the opposition 22.
The restart was taken well by young Ed Grosvenor who made some decent yards until setting the ball up but from the resultant lineout the visitors took the ball off the top and their winger ran a great line to carve his way through a very porous defensive line to touch down under the posts making the score 6-5 on 33 mins, the conversion being missed as our Welsh Wizard was quickly off the blocks to charge down the kick (with no reported damage).
Cam were still not playing at the intensity that Risey demands and despite good breaks by Dan Neal and Alex Hughes the visitors were always in control and on the stroke of half time they scored a second try out wide to bring the score at the break to 6-10.
Unfortunately for the Cam faithful the early part of the second half did not prove to be much better, despite Risey deciding to call on his bench earlier than usual, and the visitors extended their lead with a penalty after 58 mins after Cam had missed a chance moments earlier.
Then things got to look a tad better for the home supporters when from a good lineout catch and drive on the OTs 22 the ball was swung wide and one of Risey's half time replacements, Joe Wood, ran a great line and crossed for a try which was converted by TommyD to level the scores.
This parity was, however relatively shortlived when, from another strike against the head, OTs moved the ball quickly and scored another converted try on 70 mins.
At this late stage in proceedings Cam seemed to come to life and soon found themselves running through a series of phases with the ref playing an advantage and finally we saw Ash crash over in the corner and with the conversion just dropping short the score was 18-20.
Again with Cam at last showing some real intent in the final seconds they took the game to OTs who seemed to be tiring a little and when Ash broke through with Flying Phil outside and only one defender to beat it seemed to be game over but somehow the ball went loose, its always easier from the touchline, and the ref blew for full time.
Clearly this was not the result that Risey and the supporters wanted everyone knew that this was going to be a tough game against a team who are by some distance the best team we have faced in the league this season and on the day clearly 'wanted it' more than the black and ambers.
The backs had a strange day with some good things happening but a lack of defensive discipline let them down.
The half backs were simply outplayed by their opposite numbers and despite Rog barking orders to his forwards for the full 80 mins it was clearly not as effective as in previous games.
Young Mac was, despite the problems of a retreating pack, outstanding at 8 and with ball in hand was always a threat as were tight head Dan and openside Alex but the overall performance on the day was just not good enough to topple a very competent OTs side who look good for the second promotion place.
Clearly Risey and his coaches will now be working hard to get their squad back on track to ensure that they claim the League title at the earliest opportunity although to be fair to the squad their performances have been pretty consistent this season with only a couple of hiccups along the way.
Our next game is against PJF at Watchetts ko 3.00.
Finally, it is somewhat easier for us Shed Heads to understand today's performance as the C&Ws have provided these huge peaks and troughs of performance every week for several seasons of late so following their trough at Sixways last Sat we are all hoping for a peak at the Mad Jet Ski tomorrow to get them back into the fight for a top 6 finish.