Sat 18 Jan 2020, 14:00
It seems at time that Cambridge like to make their life hard.
Playing with the low sun behind them in the first half. Cambridge looked to be in control. However, a number of handling errors meant we were far too often called back having made a clean break. And Old Elthamians had a big heavy pack.
We did score one try and it looked like more would come. But Old Elthamians had other ideas and found their way to having a five-metre line out. We forced a knock-on. From a scrum, Ben Adams tried to pick and run out but got turned over and then tackled from an offside position and saw yellow. They scored but missed the kick.
We did get our hands on the ball and Ben tried a long-range penalty which fell short. They swarmed forward and scored another try but crucially again the kick went wide and we went in 10-7 down.
From the restart, with the sun now in our eyes, they put together a good attack and Jake McCloud saw yellow - but we still gave up a third try. Another home attack followed and they again win a penalty, which they kicked for a 20-7 lead.
With the sun sinking and going behind the thin cloud, it became easier to see. Our fitness and pace led to two tries down the right wing. Both converted from wide by Ben Penfold.
Twenty minutes to go and we were back in front and the momentum was with us. Another multi-phase attack gave us the bonus point try and the conversion - for an eight point lead.
Old Elthamians countered with a try but missed the conversion again -so were three points behind. All we needed to do was get our hands on the ball and run down the clock. We forced them into touch, claimed the ball from the line out and went for a number of pick and go drives to run out time, only to knock on.
Elthamians won a penalty from the scrum and had a dilemma - go for the draw or the win. They went for the corner. Once more we were on our line at the end of a match. Rob Conquest stole the line out, they dived over and we had a penalty to end the match and our first win at the College.
So five wins from five and another five points - we move into the top half of the table, but still room for improvement.
The Wanderers game was called off - At Volac Park the 3rds beat Shelford III 27-5.
Next week we take on Canterbury. Let's make it six.
Final Score
Old Elthamians 25 - 28 Cambridge
Scorers
Tries: Hema, Martin, Dawson, Tarrant
Conversions: Penfold (4)
