Cam claim Max against KCSOBs in the face of Storm Arwen

Today saw the coldest Saturday for some time with temperatures barely above freezing and a biting Northerly wind courtesy of Storm Arwen which unusually saw it blowing from the clubhouse towards the grass tennis court end.
Games against visitors KCS have invariably proved to be very tight and in fact this proved to be the case for the majority of the 80 mins.
With most of the participants of the lunch preferring to watch the game from afar we saw Cam start proceedings kicking towards the clubhouse and after a dominating first scrum Cam were soon pressing and won a penalty which resulted in a lineout 15m from the visitors line. Some great drives saw Cam take the ball to the line and when quick thinking Tom called for the ball his faith in winger Oyoni was not misplaced as the physical winger forced his way over in the corner with just 3 mins played.
From the restart Cam showed their intent when great breaks by Tom and then BLS saw play move into the KCS half and from a lineout 10m from the try line a great series of driving mauls saw Marvin claim the touch down for a 10-0 score after just 8 mins.
By now the Cam scrum was dominant and Dom, Sam and Hughsey had the lineout sorted and despite playing into this cold gale force wind Cam kept the pressure on KCS and despite several forays by KCS into the Cam half most of the play was taking place in the visitors half and and eventually another great driving maul saw Tom release his backs again and great hands by Smarty, Brizzle and finally George and we saw the fireman cross for an excellent score after 22 mins.
The second quarter saw Cam still trying to play their expansive game and we saw BLS, Ed, Murph, Tom, Jos and also Marvin make telling breaks but too often the final pass went astray and as half time approached KCS had a period of possession which resulted in a try close to the posts which was converted making the score 15-7 which was the score at the break when both teams disappeared to the warmth of the changing rooms (leaving us old guys out in the cold!!)

Despite their half time warm up it was clear that the cold was getting to everyone as the game became more error strewn with passes blown off course, kicks going astray and so again it was left to the Cam pack to claim the try bonus when, following a 5m lineout, Marvin again emerged from the pile of bodies to claim the try following another impressive catch and drive.

At this stage of proceedings both sides were becoming more error prone and in addition the bravery of the visitors in defence finally told when, through an accumulation of injuries the game moved to uncontested scrums, which in fact probably favoured them as their pack had spent most scrums retreating at a rate of knots.
But in the end the visitors were just unable to withstand the constant pressure from Cam as first H and then Brizzle crossed in the closing 10 mins, and with H eventually successful from the tee the score, when the ref blew for full time was 32-7.
Another good workout for the black and ambers who will know that despite the awful conditions they left points on the park but in fairness KCS were certainly no walkover and they stuck manfully to the task for the full 80 mins despite losing several players in the fight.

So overall, considering the opposition and the horrendous conditions a good result for Cam, a result which maintains their 4 point advantage over our next opponents, Medway, who we will welcome to Watchetts on 11th Dec for what should prove to be something special– there is no game next week.

To explain to those who couldn't make it to Watchetts and may be somewhat concerned as to why H, whose kicking was almost 100% in the last 2 games, only managed 1 conversion please understand that in the first half at least 2 kicks which seemed to be on course were simply blown back, not sideways but backwards such was the force of Arwen.

This was another excellent team performance by the black and ambers, an increasing term I am using to describe the current squad who really are becoming a very close knit group and as one of the team leaders, Big Sam, said after the game 'it feels very much like 2018 and Twickenham all over again' and I personally get great pleasure seeing the likes of H, BLS, Ed and Shawa welcomed into the group and in such a short time becoming fully paid up members.

As examples of this team spirit we saw Marvin, Sam, Brizzle, BLS and Tom last week give up their weekend off to complete the 3 Peaks challenge (you can still make a donation – look through the report of their trip to get the link) and raise valuable funds for, in particular premature baby support, a cause very close to their hearts as they support one of their team who is experiencing this challenge right now.
Also some regular readers (are there any?) may have noticed that this week there is no mention of The Ozzie Mole – this is because Greg has graciously accepted that from here on in he will answer to the name Marvin – a name given to him by skipper Tom Chennell's boys, Aidan and Owen, who are regulars at games, .

And Finally – well the C&Ws certainly put their supporters through some form of torture last night when, after leading The Pests by 18 points they contrived to concede 16 in the last 10 mins of the game at Coventry – eventually holding on for a very slender win and 5 points – not good for Shedheads. And next week we have the Bears at Castle Grim – I think Brizzle is glad he has next weekend off!!!

Unfortunately I have no pics of todays game as Dinger found the cold just too much and even left his daughter to update Twitter