Cambridge “A”      17  -   Shelford 5

Cambridge scorers

Bradley McLean

Ben Crowe (conversion Mike Green)

Steve Archibald

Tension and nerves were evident amongst players,  coaching staff and supporters as Cambridge took to the field to play in the annual derby match against Shelford.  In their last meeting the teams ended  nil-nil after extra time in the county cup.  This fixture has become a measuring stick in the development of the Cambridge squad,  with the Cambridge 15 now looking bigger and professional  in contrast to their local rivals,  the air of professionalism enhanced by the smart new squad training tops sponsored by Hill Residential. Strength in depth across the squad promised revenge for past defeats.  In the end  Cambridge supporters were rewarded with a win,  although the win felt somewhat of an anticlimax.

Coach Baxter fielded a starting 15 with some tactical changes in the back line,  and gave instruction to start the game in the forwards, building on the work done on Thursday night by guest coaches Kramer Ronaki and Dafydd Lewis.  Shelford kicked off safely gathered by Tom Pettit,  Cambridge recycled  and moved the ball along the backs only to be bundled into touch.  Unfortunately this was one of the few occasions when the ball reached the backs as opportunities were squandered.  The match referee  didn’t help the flow of the game,  and the set piece scrums became more and more an area of contention as the match progressed.  It appeared that the new laws introduced in January were not yet fully in the minds of the front rows.  Added to this the referee delaying the engage and Cambridge’s  obvious strength in the front,  meant for  a slow game,  with almost all scrum’s being reset several times.  Cambridge’s play at the breakdown was variable,  sometimes excellent winning turnover ball, sometimes less good loosing ball to Shelford.   A period of scrappy play, with hints of the fluency that Cambridge have shown in previous matches, resulted  in a try to Bradley McLean  from a series of penalties to Cambridge taken quickly by scrum half George Lee.    Mike Green missed the difficult conversion from near the touchline.

5 - 0

Shelford restarted with Matt Mercer taking the ball cleanly  and making good ground,   one of  series of excellent plays that he made both from restarts and in the loose.  Cambridge won the ball through a Ryan Wall steal. An inconclusive passage of play resulted in a Cambridge scrum in the Shelford 22.  Although the planned move didn’t come off  Ben Crowe managed to re-gather the ball and power his way over the line for Cambridge’s second try,  converted by Mike Green.

12 - 0

At this point Cambridge might have been expected to move into top gear and pull away,  but Shelford are tougher opposition and didn’t give up,  and immediately put pressure on Cambridge’s defence from turnover ball.  In previous encounters Cambridge’s weakness had been to let Shelford run around them on the outside shoulder,  today defences, although creaking, held firm until Shelford took a quick penalty for a Cambridge infringement in front of the posts.  With backs turned and weak mid field tackling a Shelford forward drove through to score an unconverted try under the posts.

12 – 5

The rest of the first half was played out with neither side really dominating.

Cambridge started the second half  with Mike Green’s kick off being returned with a kick from Shelford attempting to get behind Cambridge’s defence.  Tom Carpenter gathered the ball and looked after it,  holding up strong against the chasing Shelford attackers who forced him into touch.  Cambridge won the ball from the ensuing lineout,  leading to a mid field pileup and scrum.  A free kick to Cambridge for Shelford  prop’s foot being up disrupting the Cambridge feed was taken quickly by George Lee,  Shelford were caught not 10m  and a penalty awarded.  There followed some of the best play from Cambridge with James Palmer driving through the Shelford defences,  and  the ball being recycled. At this point Cambridge’s scrum began to dominate,  and good ball to the backs saw a lovely passage of play with a kick over the Shelford defenders being chased down by Cambridge’s backs who couldn’t quite squeeze through the gap between the scrambled defence and the touchline,  but this gave Cambridge an attacking opportunity with a lineout 5m out from the Shelford line, Cambridge drove though and although Shelford manage to get the ball back to their outside half  Cambridge were up on him and he was forced to touch it down,  giving  Cambridge a 5m scrum.  A trademark Ben Crowe  pickup failed to go over and although the ball was lost Shelford managed to knock on the floor giving Cambridge another 5m scrum virtually in front of the posts. George Lee went blind side but is penalised for holding on.  The resulting penalty was cleared to touch.   Shelford overthrow the ball where it was gathered by George Lee,  Matt Mercer drove it on before passing to Mike Green who now released the backs,  clean ball from Gareth Baxter to Bradley McLean who set up speedster Steve Archibald to go over in the corner.  The try went unconverted.

17 – 5

Shelford mounted attacks from the restart, but now were beginning to loose their shape and structure.  During this time Cambridge managed to defend the attacks,  with big tackles coming in from the Cambridge mid field.   Cambridge counter attack through excellent work from Tom Sweeney and James Palmer.  At this point the Shelford scrum capitulates,  and after a series of attempts when the Shelford front row fell to their knees,  the referee called for uncontested scrums on the grounds of safety. Clearly Cambridge were finishing the stronger,  and perhaps more clinical finishing would have seen the score increase.  At the final whistle Cambridge were clearly the better side and although they hadn’t played their best rugby,  the ‘bogey team’  had at last been beaten,  and Cambridge maintained their unbeaten record in 15 a-side matches this season.

Man-of-the-Match awarded to the whole squad for a dogged team performance.