Cam do just enough to claim another 5 points

Well the Indian summer had definitely arrived at Watchetts on Saturday with clear blue skies and temperatures well into the 20's all to welcome local rivals Cobham. Unfortunately for the supporters the 2nd XV game against Cobham had been called off on Friday with the visitors short of numbers so all attention was on the 1s as they strove to build on their win on the opening weekend.
With the visitors kicking off towards the clubhouse Cam soon showed their intent as the ball was swung wide and Callum was through for what would have been a stunning 1st minute try only to be called back as the final pass was adjudged to be forward.
The first scrum was good as the Cam 8 put their opposition under lots of pressure and Tom was able to bury his opposite number and soon Smarty was able to take play into the red zone following a scrum penalty.
A great take and drive by Dom resulted in yet another pen and when the ball was played out wide there were several half breaks before the irrepressible Oyoni forced himself out of 2 tackles to dot down with just 7 mins played.
However the visitors hit back from the restart when they took advantage of a sleeping defence to score an unconverted try for a 7-5 score on just 8 mins.
The restart this time saw Cobham knock on and from the resulting scrum Oyoni was through again only to be recalled for another fwd pass.
With both sides wanting to throw the ball wide it was not long before winger Jayde was seen storming down the field and from a scrum in the visitors 22 we saw Jayde again powering forward and with Dimples, Callum and Ash in support for the player coach to cross for his first of the season and a score line of 12-5 after 16 mins.
At this stage Cam were definitely on top in the scrum and lineout but the desire of both sides to throw the ball was also creating some mistakes and the next score came on 25 mins when a great dummy by Oyoni allowed the centre to put winger Callum in for a try in the corner and the bonus point try was not long in coming when, with less than 30 mins played, a good break by Ash put Callum away again and when he was held up a beautiful flick pass to Ash saw the centre double his try count on 28 mins making the score 22-5.
And things got even better for Cam when Cam again aggressively ran the restart back at Cobham and took up residence in the visitors half and we then saw a deft chip by Smarty skilfully collected by Jayde who dotted down in the corner.
Again we then suffered the 'Camberley malaise' when training session 7s became the name of the game and Cobham pulled back a converted try on half time.
By this time the frenetic pace had begun to take its toll on Cam with both young props Bazza and Ricky suffering knocks and this took some momentum from the forwards despite Bazza struggling on for the whole second period.
However the second half proved to be much less satisfying for the Cam supporters as they watched their side really drop off the pace and with 60 mins on the clock the visitors had moved back into contention with 2 further tries making the score 27-24.
We then saw Hughsey run a defensive kick by Cobham from his 10m line deep into the visitors 22 and quick ball out wide saw Jayde, playing his first game since returning to Watchetts, crash over for his second of the afternoon and it was not long before we had the sight of Dimples intercepting a poor pass on his 10m line and great support by Ash and Oyoni saw the centre cross for his second and a score of 37-24 with 70 mins played.
Risey then injected some energy into his battered side with the introduction of veterans Rich Haire and TommyA and both players were soon in the thick of it with Rich charging through the visitors tiring defence and the charge continued until the black and ambers conceded a pen on the visitors line.
We then saw TommyA almost over only for the ball to go loose a few metres from the line and a catalogue of missed tackles suddenly saw Cobham break away to score a converted try and a losing bonus point however with about 7 mins on the clock a well taken drop goal by Smarty moved the score to 40-31 and the black and ambers just did enough in those final minutes to ensure that the visitors would only return to Fairmile with a single point.
So again we are treated to a game of 2 halves, this time for large parts of the first half Cam looked good, in control as they built a lead of 27-5 until the dying moments of that half. The second half saw Cam in some disarray for periods, clearly forgetting the script and too often expecting someone else to do the had graft of rucking and tackling however that said this is a young and very new squad and it was good to see them lift their game at points in the second half to deny the visitors the lbp.
Again the first half performance of the forwards was very promising with TJ a late replacement at hooker for Dyl doing well, Dom very commanding at the front of the lineout, Hughsey back to being Hughsey and with Bazza looking strong until his knock all of the signs are promising.
The backs certainly benefited from the return of Ash and Jayde on the wing, who last played for Cam quite some years ago, looked sharp and powerful .
So again plenty of work ons at training this week but these things are to be expected with a new look squad so early in the proceedings.

Next week the 1s will be really tested as the are away to Medway and the 2s host Rosslyn Park for what will be their 1st league game of the season.