Camberley's Pace and Power keep Eagles Grounded

The visit to Effingham and Leatherhead was always a difficult game to call with the hosts having propped up the table until the New Year at last finding some form and starting to climb away from the relegation area.
In the event a patchy Cam performance was met by some resolute defence but little or no attacking capability and we saw the black and ambers score 9 tries while keeping a clean slate.
When E&L kicked off into the sun and slight breeze things did not look good for the travelling support as the ball was allowed to bounce and it was reclaimed by the hosts but this moment of possession was soon over as the aggressive Cam defence ripped the ball free and sent JamieT flying down the left wing to simply draw the last defender and pass to Ash who crossed for the first try with barely a minute played.
This time the restart was handled well with Rory taking responsibility and play soon moved into the E&L half and with the Cam scrum already driving the hosts backwards at a rate of knots the writing seemed on the cards but over elaboration by the black and ambers plus some very stern defence kept the scoreboard quiet until the 13th minute when a brilliant offload by prop Nick Barry saw Steve (I am a winger) Hasty crash over for his first try in a whlle again to be converted by Smarty.
The rest of the half saw Cam with 90% possession, the E&L scrum being pushed all around the park, every player in a black and amber shirt believing he was next to score and some very loose passing. To their credit the hosts defended extremely well and began to find that the countless solo attempts to cross their line could be rebuffed.
We then saw TommyA being called back for offside following a kick ahead which seemed a tad harsh for the veteran who to his credit had worked hard to get to the ball and in the chaos of the quickly taken pen Dyl experienced a red mist moment while running back from the previous phase and so spent 10mins on the naughty step.
For this 25 min period there was never any danger of Cam conceding a score but they seemed incapable of adding to theirs until on the stroke of half time after another series of attempts to force their way over the whitewash the ball was eventually swung wide and a good miss pass by Smarty saw Mac over in the corner.
So with just 3 mins played of the second period, and still with 14 men, The Warrior and then Steve Hasty put in blistering physical runs with defenders just falling off them before giving Oyoni the glory of touching down for an unconverted try.
At this time HT had moved from 9 to 10 with young James Armstrong on at 9 and with Young Pickett on for the errant Dyl the 7 man pack was still pushing the E&L eight and the black and ambers, having already claimed the bonus went further ahead when a speculative punt by Ash was collected by Hasty who set up HT for a try which he also converted moving the score to 31-0.
And the scoring continued when almost from the restart we saw Hughsey on halfway bounce a couple of defenders before charging over for another unconverted try.
The scoring would have continued with JamieT away only to be called back for a forward pass but we soon saw the rejuvenated Dyl charging through the middle and young Shawa carrying on the attack and when the home side were penalised Cam went for a 5m lineout.
The resultant drive was a bit scrappy but eventually the ball was moved away and a couple of phases saw Hasty cross for his second.
The restart saw E&L with some possession but the net result was they went backwards and so in desperation they resorted to the boot which HT marked. The young (I'll Play anywhere in the backs) player took the free kick quickly and with Ash at his side charged up the touchline interchanging passes with his skipper before all he had in front of him was green grass and 50m for a try which he converted.
We then saw great hands release Oyoni on the right only for him to be brought down just metres short but then on 70 mins Ben Harrison tore through a lineout and made 30m before great hands saw Dyl finish off with a try and with HT adding the extras that proved to be the last score of the afternoon.
So to the regular supporters a bit of a strange game with less structure and discipline but still plenty to showcase their pace and skills and also their defensive prowess and again with outstanding work by the pack who destroyed the opposition scrum ball, except when we had to revert to uncontested scrums, and whose defensive structures worked well whenever the hosts chose to pick and drive.
The backs also had periods when they were called upon to defend but again their pace and running skills were always outstanding.

So now the focus will be on next Saturday when we entertain unbeaten Rochford Hundred from Essex in the London and SE semi final and so we really do need a huge number of supporters to cheer our side on – currently ko will be 2.00 so either sign up for the pre match lunch or just come down and enjoy what promises to be a great game of rugby between 2 sides who are both heading for promotion to London 1.

And Finally – well not such a good resut for the C&Ws at 6Ways but with the other results they remsin 4th although the opportunity to put a bit of light between the chasing pack has been lost at this time but with their next to games at Castle Grim hope among the faithfull is still high.

Pics provided by Grahame Larter