Cam do the Double over OTs

With temperatures only just managing to move into the positive region allied with a biting wind, conditions were hardly conducive to playing expansive rugby but that's just not the mentality of this young black and ambers side and so from the off at Richmond Park they proceeded to run everything from everywhere on the park - a strategy which, for their supporters, creates moments of great enjoyment when the extravagant flip pass goes to hand to one of even greater despair when the speculative miss pass deep within their 22 goes astray.
So the spectators saw the skills of this young side straight from the kick off when, after a couple of good, quick phases, they crossed the line only to be called back for a forward pass.
The OTs defence managed to recover and kick the ball to halfway but a quick throw by HT saw Oyoni and Ash take play straight back to the home side's 22.
From this pressure we saw Hughsey cross in that same far right hand corner but the ref called that back for an infringement. However the Cam scrum was going well and with 8 mins on the clock their efforts were rewarded with a penalty which was slotted by HT.
Straight from the restart prop Dan Harvey collected the ball and made good yards before the ball was released to young Smarty whose kick again took play again deep into the opposition half.
At this stage it was all Cam with attacks coming from both flanks being repelled by some excellent OT's defence but on 15 mins HT doubled the lead with another penalty.
Again from the restart Cam made good progress into the opposition half when the kick was collected by Hughsey who took play into the home sides 22 before the ball was released and we saw TommyA held up just short of the whitewash.
So this first quarter had been all Cam with the black and ambers playing some outstanding attacking rugby but often with the final pass going astray and so several scoring opportunities were missed and against such a good side as OTs these misses can often come back and bite you.
The start of the second quarter saw the hosts win some possession and take play into the Cam 22 and despite the OTs lock clearly holding a camberley player round the neck while their driving maul progressed towards the line - something only the official appeared to miss - the resultant lineout drive saw OTs driving maul cross for a converted try and the lead 7-6 with 35 mins of the first half played.
Cam were not to be denied however and when they were awarded a penalty TommyD, returning after a long injury layoff, put the ball deep into the home side's 22 and we saw great interplay between Ash and Oyoni with Ash crossing for the try converted by TommyD with the last kick of the half.
Cam started the second half well but silly errors seemed to be creeping into their play and when an OTs penalty took play to a 5m lineout the black and ambers had no answer again to OTs driving maul and the hosts scored an unconverted try to bring the game back to a single point after 50 mins.
As is their trademark this young confident black and ambers squad came straight back and within 3 mins they had extended their lead with a well struck penalty by TommyD but straight from the restart a mistake saw OTs again win a lineout 5m from the Cam line and their excellent driving maul saw them take the lead again on 55 mins.
Again, straight from the restart Cam were awarded a penalty about 30m out but pretty straight on and HT was called upon to do the honours putting his side back in front on 58 mins.
The final quarter saw a tiring OTs still desperate to win but despite a couple of forays into the Cam 22 increasingly play was kept in the OTs 22, largely as a result of some penetrative running by the Cam backs and despite seeing several scoring opportunities butchered they eventually put the game to bed on 75 mins when, yet another great break took play to within 10m of the OTs line and a good scrum by Cam saw them win the ball against the head. Quick thinking by Mac Duaibe, who had been immense both in attack and defence for the whole game, saw him pick up the ball at the base of the scrum and his quick dart drew the last defender before he allowed HT to perform his 'Ashton' type swallow dive into the corner. With a tremendous conversion from the touchline by TommyD this effectively wrapped things up for Cam with a final score 26-17.
Overall a really good performance by Cam although I suspect that Risey and his coaches will be rueing the lack of a try bonus with the number of good chances his side created but OTs are clearly one of the better sides in this league as we know from our encounters with them last season and with them beating Reigatians last weekend and Reigatians losing again this Saturday the 4 points sees Cam move into second place with runaway leaders Cornish due at Watchetts on the 28th - should be a good game although I suspect that Cam will need to take every single opportunity they create if they want a result.
And Finally good news again for all you C&W followers - despite them having to change pitches in Treviso at the 11th hour they still managed a 6 try win and, as a result, now top their pool following La Rochelle's failure to claim a bonus point on Friday and with some quality signings for 2017/18 already announced the future is definitely Cherry and White (at least for a week!!!)

Photo album courtesy of Richard Wright