Cam regain their momentum with excellent win at Twickenham

So the big question today was could a very bruised Camberley side, following their performance last week, bounce back against a side who last season were playing 2 levels higher than the black and ambers.
Looking at the starting 15 it was clear that the coaching team were taking last week's defeat seriously as they selected 2 experienced props to provide much needed stability at scrum time and also introduced young fly half Matt Smart to replace TommyD who badly injured his ankle last week and after 80 mins the answer was very positive as the black and ambers came away with a convincing win 28-34 with the hosts adding some respectability to the score line with 14 points in the closing 5 mins as Cam eased off.
However Cam got off to a poor start when they knocked on the kick off and Twickenham took full advantage of this and mounted a concerted attack on the visitors line for at least 5 mins but great defence saw the black and ambers eventually win a scrum penalty and play moved up to halfway and from the lineout Cam launched a series of attacks of their own. The home side then found the Cam defence was just too sharp for them and were unable to move out of their 22 and when Cam regained possession the ball was moved initially to the left and then recycled and quick hands found lock Sam Voight 'loitering' out wide and he forced his way over in the corner with just 12 mins on the clock. Henry Tagg, who had taken over kicking duties in the absence of TommyD produced a perfect kick from the touchline to add the extras.
The restart was handled well and the black and ambers drove into the home 22 but soon found themselves defending their lines again and this to and fro rugby continued with Cam losing a player to the bin while defending their lines. However they managed to disrupt the Twickenham lineout and from the resultant scrum Matt's nudge took play into the home side's half.
Then the black and ambers struck when TommyA collected a kick and his neat 'chip and collect' took play into the Twickenham half again and a great scrum saw the ball moved out quickly and Ash switched on the afterburners to shred the home defence and, although he was brought down about 1m short he was able to feed Oyoni who dotted down and with HTs conversion the score became 0-14 after 35 mins.
Then, on the stroke of halftime an outrageous passage of play from Camberley when Matt collected a kick close to his line and hurled a pass to Mac who was standing underneath his posts.
Mac made 20m before feeding Ash who took the ball to halfway before releasing HT who stormed over for a try which he then converted.
The second half started with a great lineout steal by Sam followed by a good drive but soon play had moved back to halfway and Cam were given another yellow for not retreating but this didn't seem to slow them down as from the next attack they were awarded a penalty for holding on and HT added the 3 points.
To their credit the home side did not roll over and Cam saw a third yellow of the afternoon for a high tackle and with the black and ambers down to 13 men the home side trundled over a 5m scrum and then almost immediately their quality #8 broke clear from a 10m scrum to bring the score to 14-24 with 55 mins played.
Almost from the restart HT added another 3 points and from the subsequent restart we again saw an outstanding try.
Hoff collected the restart kick and it was quickly fed across the park with Oyoni, Dylan, Ash and Josh all showing fantastic hands at pace and when Josh gave the final pass to big brother the move had involved 75m and some of the best passing you could imagine. So with 65mins played the score was 14-34 and the bonus point secured.
Clearly at this stage of the game the black and ambers, who had also played 1 man short for 30 mins, thought it was job done and concentration and physicality levels noticeably dropped and, to their credit, Twickenham took full advantage to score 2 converted tries to earn themselves 2 bonus points.
This was a great result following the disappointment of last week with props Dan and Dave justifying the faith of the coaches that they would provide some stability at scrum time. Dylan, Hoff and Sam all got through mountains of work in attack and defence.
Mac at 8 had an excellent game as he comes to terms with rugby at this level particularly when he is linking play between forwards and backs. Hughsey took a knock early doors but Henry Petch proved to be a more than adequate deputy and Richard at blindside had his best game for the 1s as he grows in confidence.
Skipper Woody was his typical Yorkshire Terrier self, yapping at the feet of his forwards for 80 mins and debutant Matt had a very promising start with good distribution and some excellent kicking from hand.
Centres Josh, Ash and Oyoni were outstanding with ball in hand and with their pace and skill they will always carry a big threat to any defence.
Musa improves every week as he adjusts to first team rugby and HT stepped into TommyD's shoes with a 100% record off the tee, 2 of which were from the touch line and is growing in confidence with ball in hand.
However MoM veteran TommyA had an outstanding game with his 'chip and collect' cameos and some last ditch tackling showing that even if he has lost his hair he hasn't lost his rugby skills.
With next weeks visitors Warlingham (ko 2.30) it is certain that Risey and his coaches will again ring the changes as he slowly develops his young (ish) squad.
And Finally for those C&W fans out there - well the boys came up just short at Franklins Gardens in another game they could/should have won but the signs are there that, despite Paddy's forebodings, they will become more competitive when more of their extensive injury list become available.