Cam Claim Spoils in fight for Second Place

When the fixtures were first announced in the summer it was clear even then that the visit of Medway to Watchetts was going to be one of the key matchups of the season and so it proved on this grey afternoon absolutely made for open rugby.
The visitors as expected proved to be a very tenacious, abrasive and capable squad who asked questions of Cam for the all but the first 10 mins or so of the encounter.
With Cam defending the clubhouse end for the first half we saw them quickly move play into the Medway half and after several phases we saw Oyoni cross in the corner only to be pulled back for a forward pass. But a score wasn't long in coming when Cam stole a Medway line out on halfway and several phases later we say The Flying Fijian and Fireman George combining to put the winger away in the corner with just 6 mins played.
And worst was to come for the visitors when, from the restart, we saw several phases by Cam before prop Bazza, acting as the nine, start a movement which this time saw Brizzle and George combine before Brizzle pinned his ears back on halfway and won the footrace to the corner. So with barely 10 mins played the black and ambers were 2 tries and 10 points to the good and all seemed well for the Cam supporters who had just enjoyed their Xmas lunch.
But the visitors had other ideas and with their eight shading things at scrum time, supported by a very solid D and an aggressive lineout Medway slowly clawed their way back into the contest and on 26 mins good running by their backs together with poor defence by the Cam backs saw them claim a good try with a move which started from deep inside their own half and they took the lead on 32 mins when again good strong running proved too much for a momentarily flimsy defence moving the score to 10-14.
Cam, however were quick to respond when several penalties saw the black and ambers move into the Medway 22 and when Medway conceded another pen Smarty had no hesitation in going for the 5m lineout which proved too much for the visitors with Big Dom claiming the touchdown and with Smarty now mastering his range finder a great conversion from touch saw the score move to 17-14 but Medway were not finished with the half and although a series of mauls from them did not make any territory it eventually drew a pen which they converted leaving the score at the break 17-17.
With Cam restarting the second half we saw them quickly move into the Medway red zone and when the visitors incurred the wrath of the official 10m from their line our top try scorer Marvin claimed the score and Medway won a yellow card.
So 24-17 after 42 mins looked a tad better for the home supporters but the visitors fought back and soon benefited from some poor decisions and paper thin defence by Cam to claim their 3rd try of the afternoon to level up the scores.
The next period saw both sides continuing to make massive efforts to take control with some ferocious D but also both sides guilty of making some schoolboy errors and we needed to wait until the 63rd minute for the next score when Cam had moved play into the Medway 22 and although the visitors won their put in poor hands in their backs saw possession turned over and the ball was swiftly shipped to George who still had some work to do before he dotted down wide out and with Smarty adding the extras with another good kick Cam again moved in front.
To their credit the visitors came back even harder and almost scored from a 5m lineout and they eventually got their reward on 73 mins when they broke through to score another converted try, level up the score and claim their try bonus.
Then the black and ambers showed their quality when they immediately won back their restart kick, then won a pen and Smarty popped it over to reclaim the lead with just 5mins to go and things actually got better when the Medway kicker, who had flirted with the 10m line at every restart, this time didn't make it and when his tiring pack were penalised at the resultant scrum on halfway Smarty opted for the kick and although it missed, the pressure was kept on when their defensive kick was returned by Smarty into the red zone.
And then with the clock almost in the red we saw some great hands move the ball to the Flying Fijian and although his journey to clubhouse corner was held up the official decided that the tackle had been illegal and awarded Cam a penalty try before signalling the end of the game.

So a great result for Cam against a very streetwise, well coached and competitive Medway side who will clearly be there or thereabouts at the end of April.

Next week Cam travel to local rivals Farnham who last week managed to score 85 points so it will undoubtedly be another tough ask for Cam who will also have lots of workons from Risey and his coaching team during the week.

And Finally – well its been a good 7 days for the C&Ws – last Friday they outplayed a fully loaded Brizzle at Castle Grim claiming the 5 points with the Bears going home empty handed. Then yesterday was due to be a repeat of last years Champions Cup when a second team conceded 8 tries against Lyon. However this time the story was completely different and with half of the C&Ws pack aged 20 or younger they put in a powerful display against a full strength Lyon, a side littered with internationals, and claimed a lbp which could have been even better had they not messed up their driving lineout maul in the dying minutes. However a brilliant result and further evidence of the great work of Skivs and his team.

Pic by Dinger shows Fireman George racing in??? to claim his first try