Sat 1 Feb 2020, 15:00
And there are days where your best is just not good enough.
Rosslyn Park are a club with ambition and budget to play at a championship level and that means they have players with Championship, Premiership and Pro14 experience. And that experience and power was critical.
The opening exchanges seemed to favour Cambridge. We earned a penalty, but kicking into a tricky wind it went wide.
Cambridge scored first, Park tried to charge down our kick, but it fell for Andy Henderson who made a break and although stopped we spread the ball and Matt Dawson crashed over. This time Ben Penfold split the posts.
Park countered with a try, missing their conversion. Ben missed another penalty kick and then Park staked a big marker as after being held up they drove us back at the scrum earning a penalty try.
Rosslyn Park disrupted the next Cambridge attack illegally, seeing yellow. We kicked to the corner and from the drive Mike Mayhew picked and went to score our second. Ben added the extras We were back within five and there was hope - especially as we had left points out there.
In the second half, however, Park stepped up a gear. Although still a man down they drove a maul over the line. The game then paused due to a bad injury to Park fly-half, Harry Leonard who had to be stretchered off and was taken off to hospital. The good news is that he is recovering but unfortunately will take some time to recover. We wish him well.
After the resumption, Park added a fifth from another driving maul. Henderson tried to intercept a pass but only knocked the ball forward. Dean Richards decided it was deliberate and therefore we were down to 14 for ten minutes. Another line out drive saw Park adding their sixth. The seventh came from a quickly taken penalty and a fly hack through.
However, we did not let our heads drop. We earned a penalty and a well taken line out fed Matt Dawson and Andy Henderson who passed inside to Finn Creighton who added our third.
With time almost up, the boys were looking for the bonus. We gathered the ball from the kickoff and were looking for the gap. We tried a long pass which would have put Hema in space. But a Park player got a hand to it causing it to fall for their winger who was able to run in for their eighth.
While Park thoroughly deserved their win - the margin did perhaps flatter them slightly. Cambridge were second best on the day but it was to one of the best teams in the league. Even after this loss we have still gained more than half the points on offer - something we have only done at this level five times. Our highest points total since promotion, 72 achieved in 2018 is well within reach.
Final Score
Rosslyn Park 50 - 19 Cambridge
Scorers
Tries: Dawson, Mayhew, Creighton
Conversions: Penfold (2)
