Thunder and Lightning announce Cam's first Win of the Season

This opening game at KCS was always going to be challenging as the hosts have a record of good starts to most League seasons and of course there was their 93-12 drubbing at Watchetts in March to reverse.
In the end we witnessed a very good first half performance by the black and ambers whose 5 point lead scarcely reflected their superiority and a second half played for a large part to an accompaniment of the 1812 overture together with torrential rain which certainly challenged the handling skills of both sides but eventually saw Cam pull well ahead finally winning then encounter by 5 tries to 2.
The game got underway in glorious sunshine on an immaculate pitch and the pattern was set very early - Cam wanting to run from every part of the pitch with KCS employing an impressive defence structure.
Cam were soon on the attack and with about 5 mins played a superb long miss pass by Smarty put Oyoni away and when he was held up Cam were awarded a penalty which was duly converted by TommyD.
Again from the restart Cam were soon back in the KCS 22 following a great charge by Hoff and some excellent interplay between Ash and Oyoni but a scrum penalty eased the pressure for the home side. However Cam returned to the home 22 very soon with an incredible touch kick by scrum half Dunn and great pressure from the lineout saw the black and ambers held up short but a quick switch of direction saw young hooker Mua crash over in the corner with just 16 mins played.
The KCS restart was not handled well by Cam but a charged down kick saw Ollie Wright race from his 22m line only to be just muscled out of the touch down.
However the resulting 22 drop out was collected by winger Jamie Taylor who took the ball deep into the red zone yet again and Mua soon added his second of the afternoon when a good drive from a 5m lineout saw the black and ambers force their way over for a try converted by TommyD increasing their lead to 15 points with just 25 mins played.
It seemed that at this time some of the intensity was lost and with 33 mins played KCS kicked a penalty. Despite several good breaks by the Cam backs they were not able to add to their score and on the stroke of half time a series of phases by the hosts saw them cross for a try under the posts making the score 10-15 at the break.
The start of the second half saw a great kickoff by TommyD which resulted in a scrum to Camberley. Winning the scrum Cam a planned move saw Jamie come in off his wing and almost breach the KCS defence but when he was held up quick recycling saw Oyoni on the opposite wing cross for a converted try with just 3 mins played.
The fourth try was not long coming as, from the restart, Smarty found a beautiful touch on the home side's 22 and quick ball off the top was moved swiftly across the backs and an outrageous piece of skill saw Ash's 'out of the back' pass to Oyoni cross in the corner and with TommyD adding the extras from the touch line with the rain pouring down, this made the score 10-29 after 46 mins.
With the storm in full flow understandably play on both sides became a bit scrappy and when KCS were awarded a pen on the Cam 22 their 9 took it quickly and scampered over for a converted try.
Again, from the restart Cam won back possession and eventually forced a penalty which was converted by TommyD to make the score 17-32 as the game entered the final quarter.
The game then became a tad more scrappy at this time with the storm and the physicality of the game beginning to take its toll but Cam were unlucky not to score when Jamie Taylor on the wing had a great break down the touchline only to be held up - at least according to the official, however on the stroke of full time Cam again turned over KCS ball and a great charge by Hoff saw TommyA with enough left in those 'old' legs to dot down under the posts and and with Smarty dong the honours the final whistle went with the core 17-39.
Overall this was a good game of rugby with both sides showing great skills particularly in the first half and I am sure that Risey will be satisfied that he has got this first League outing under his belt with such a performance and 5 precious League points.
On a difficult day against a side who made many, many tackles but who never shirked and of course some very violent weather all of the squad performed extremely well and the good thing is that they all recognise the things which didn't quite work and I'm sure will be working hard during the week to put them right.
The pack worked very hard and it was good to see young prop Nick get a good run - interestingly the loose head who started this game in November last season was himself learning the dark arts of scrummaging then and suffered a bit of a mauling as I recall. Well today he returned and clearly won his private battle in the front row quite convincingly - well done Steve - the hard work does pay off!!!
Also it was really good to see Tom Keith play a full on 80 mins (apart from the 10 he spent warming the bench!!) after suffering a nasty injury a few seasons ago he has battled back and against all medical opinion worked hard to play again and today proved them all wrong.
So next week we entertain local rivals Farnham both 1s and 2s and it will be interesting to see who holds bragging rights at 5.00pm next Saturday.
For those of you who may have forgotten it is the Presidents Lunch on Saturday (even though the President will be dancing somewhere in Spain) so our Immediate PP Derek Olsen will be king for another day.
And Finally not such a good result for the C&Ws at the Stoop where they also played through the storm but lost 28- 17 - having just watched Ackermann's post match interview I suspect that training will be full on next week down at Castle Grim.