Sat 7 Sep 2019, 15:00
The first match of the season always brings special anticipation. Pre-season games are important, but do not tell the whole story. The only true measure of a team is league competition. It is especially true when playing a side about which we know little.
The Blood and Sand were handing first caps to five new recruits, as well as awarding George Bretag Norris his 100th cap and first as Captain. How would the new team gel?
Rams steamrollered National 2 last season, were reported to have recruited wisely, would they be able to make the step up?
Cambridge drew first blood when the visitors infringed and Ben Penfold took a confident long range penalty. A knock on gave Rams a scrum. An early injury to Jake McCloud brought Louis Rawlings onto the field. Scrum pressure led to a a Rams try but the conversion was missed.
Cambridge struck back straight away with Andy Henderson feeding the ball to Joe Tarrant who made a diagonal run to theline for his first try - but Ben could not slot the conversion.
The next twenty minutes were all Rams, with their pack disrupting our set pieces. They added two tries converting both. The teams then exchanged penalties to end the half, with the visitors up 11-22. Cambridge also lost Oli Petrides with Ed Brown replacing him.
In the second half a turnover in the Cambridge half gave Rams a great attacking position and they scored their fourth try.
Cambridge grabbed a lifeline when Alex Rayment battled over to score, but this was almost instantly cancelled out by Rams fifth. The Blood and Sand dug deep and fought back in the last twenty, Alex Rayment adding a second and James Martin his first for Cambridge - but time was running out and Rams were able to claim the restart and end the match.
Cambridge to bank two bonus points, useful but not what we wanted. But had we grabbed the late win it would not have reflected the balance of the match.
Hopefully the team will fire from the first whistle when we face Bishop Stortford next week. Do try to make the trip to support the boys against our local rivals.
Final Score
Cambridge 32 - 36 Rams
Scorers
Tries: Tarrant, Rayment (2), Martin
Conversions: Adamson (3)
Penalties: Penfold (2)
