Barking 20 - 22 CRUFC

Cambridge came away with their first win in four matches on a bitter afternoon at Goresbrook.

The Blood & Sand were value, just, for their half-time lead, having opened the scoring six minutes in via the boot of Elliot Bale, reward for early pressure in the home red zone.

The fly-half added two more penalties before the interval for good measure.

Toby Berridge got the visitors only try in the 37th minute, put away in the right-hand corner from Alex Day’s pass, the full-back redeeming himself after a catastrophic error eight minutes in.

Attacking the Barking blitz, he inexplicably attempted a chip over the defence, which was charged down by Jack Gash, who raced in downfield unopposed to touch down under the posts.

Chris Ashwin converted and added another three points eleven minutes later, smashed over from nigh-on half-way. Bale added another penalty of his own a quarter of an hour into the second period before giving way to Sam Dimmick.

Andrew Henderson put Barking back in front on the hour, another run in from distance giving Ashwin a second straight-forward conversion. But Cambridge rallied, and Tom Wheatcroft neatly bisected the uprights with seven minutes left on the clock for a deserved lead.

Darren Fox came into his own, and the visitors closed out the game for a much-needed victory.

Attendance - 235

Referee - Nicholas Cockburn

STAR MAN - Darren Fox (Cambridge)

Teams

Barking

Nelson, C Jones, Broughton, Henderson, Hardy, Ashwin, Gash; Mullins, F Ambrose, E Ambrose, Burns, Kersey, Ngan, Reynolds, Wood

Replacements - Bloomberg, S Jones, Sinfield, Flannery, Davey

Cambridge

Berridge, Portsmouth, G White, Wheatcroft, Lawson, Bale, Day; Fidler, B Hunter, BR Cooper, Hicks, Jenkins, Ascroft-leigh, Fox, Hipwell

Replacements - Stapleton, BP Cooper, McComb, Dimmick, Veenendaal


Scorers

Cambridge

Tries - Berridge 37

Conversions - Bale 37

Penalties - Bale 6, 13, 21, 53, Wheatcroft 73


Barking

Tries - Gash 8, Henderson 60

Conversions - Ashwin 8, 60

Penalties - Ashwin 19, 65

Steve Jackson - BBC RADIO CAMBRIDGESHIRE & THE RUGBY PAPER