Sat 30 Oct 2021, 15:00
On a bright but blustery day, Darlington chose to play with the sun and wind at their backs. They say black is slimming, but when the visitors ran out in their dark grey strip there was no doubt they had some big guts. Cambridge were led out by Jake McCloud, winning his 100th cap.
The first score went to the visitors, from a scrum in our 22, an inside pass made a gap, a cut back run and an offload to score out wide. The conversion was wide.
Cambridge were soon level, we won a penalty, kicked to the corner and once again Ben Brownlie was on hand to control the drive and dot down. Again, the wind prevented the successful conversion.
Ten minutes later, Darlington had their own attacking line-out. Cambridge stopped the drive, but the Northerners were able to spin it wide, and their winger made a good touchline run, which we initially stopped just short, but they went over from the next phase. This time they were able to convert.
That was the last score of the first half. New centurion Jake McCloud made a great fifty-metre run for Cambridge - but the support was not quite able to keep up and Darling won a penalty to snuff out the attack. However, given the conditions, to be within a single score, 5-12 was a creditable result.
Although the wind had dropped, Cambridge came out strong at the start of the second half and were level within five minutes. Again a penalty set up a line-out but this time quick ball from the top some good hands from Lawrence Rayner to the centre and back to Lawrence who ran in under the posts and then converted his own score.
From the kick-off, Darlington were able to get possession and win a penalty, this time they chose to take the points. Darlington back in the lead 12-15.
For the next fifteen minutes most of the play was in the mid-field, but Cambridge moved ahead with another Ben Brownlie try from a driving maul. Although Ben's name goes on the scoresheet, a lot of credit goes to Gareth for his ultra safe hands and the rest of the pack for their well drilled routines. Rayner added the conversion to give the Blood and Sand a four point lead.
Another kicked penalty for Darlington closed the gap to a single point. Our next try showed why you always must chase every kick. Lawrence kicked from behind our 10 metre line deep into their 22, the ball took a wicked bounce and Andrew Henderson and Kwaku were there to challenge the Darlington full back. Andrew wrapped him up and Kwaku grabbed the ball and ran in under the posts. Cambridge had an eight point lead with 75 minutes on the clock.
Darlington were down but not out, they won another penalty, which they kicked to pull back to within a score, 26-21 with the running clock already past 80, but the ref had two minutes left on his watch. Darlington were running everything, Cambridge defended mightily and thought they had done enough, but when we believed he was going to whistle for full-time, the assistant called for an offside and Darlington had another chance. Cambridge did their best to stand firm, but Darlington were an irresistible force and play swung from touch line to touch line before Darlington went over in the corner. That levelled the scores, the kick went wide and low and that was time.
A draw always leaves both sides disappointed. Our players certainly felt they should have won, especially having established the eight point lead. However, credit must go to Darlington for the pragmatism of keeping taking the points. They brought pace and power, and many previous Cambridge sides would have leaked considerably more points. Twice we held Darlington up over the goal line to prevent them scoring. THe first time the ref almost awarded a five-metre scrum, before remembering it is now a goal line drop-out.
Man of the match went to Anthony Maka for a powerful display in both attack and defence. Mention must go to Jake Garside making his debut, on loan from Saints, who came on for the last 20 minutes and showed good hands. We might not see a lot of him, as Bedford have first call on his talents.
Final Score
Cambridge 26 - 26 Darlington
Scorers
Tries: Brownlie (2) Rayner, Asiedu
Conversions: Rayner (3)
Man of the Match: Maka
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