Sat 26 Feb 2022, 14:00
Cambridge had a tough match at Chinnor, and after the loss at Caldy, the mood in the crowd was nervous, but the team was quietly confident.
Cambridge won the toss and chose to have the breeze at their back in the first half. However, they found themselves on the back foot, as Chinnor repeatedly made significant inroads – with some very good runs, especially from their wingers. But the Cambridge defence is a fearsome beast.
After ten minutes, Cambridge had forced Chinnor back into their 22. Chinnor tried to play out but were forced to kick. However, in the way was Kieran Frost. He charged down the kick and regathered, then offloaded from the floor to a charging Ben Brownlie, who ran through for the first try. The conversion was missed.
Chinnor continued to play pretty rugby, but they lacked the clinical efficiency of Cambridge. They did eventually win a penalty in front of the posts and chose to kick, 5-3 after thirty minutes.
From quick ball from a lineout on halfway, Harry Johnston stepped and found a gap, he offloaded to Kwaku Asiedu who scored under the posts. Harry added the extras, 12-3. That was it for the first half, was it enough.
The second half started well. Ben Brownlie scored the first try after seven minutes, you know the script, penalty, lineout, driving maul and try.
This was followed by twenty minutes where both sides had attacks, but neither could find a way through. One casualty in this period was Harry who limped off after being caught at the bottom of a ruck. However, no serious damage.
However, eventually, Cambridge had another line out, this time on the 22. The forwards took it forward, the spread it to Joe Tarrant, who was stopped just short, but we recycled through a number of phases before Matt Dawson crashed over. Joe Added the extras. 24-3 and bonus point assured.
Another lineout, Ben Brownlie and then Matt Dawson took the ball forward. Matt popped the ball up off the floor to Jake McCloud, who did the same back. Matt then passed out the back of the hand to Joe Tarrant who dotted down under the posts and added the extras.
Chinnor tried to run the ball, but we stripped it, Harry passed to Jake, who found Mat Dawson who offloaded to Joe Tarrant who dotted down in the corner.
Then Henry Peck intercepted a Chinnor pass, offloaded to Jake who ran in 50 metres to dot down under the posts.
For some reason, Kwaku attempted the conversion. Fortunately, it mattered not after four tries in the last ten minutes, forwards and backs working together, and a convincing win.
Final Score
Cambridge 41- 3 Chinnor
Scorers
Tries: Brownlie (2), Asiedu, Dawson, Tarrant (2), McCloud
Conversions: Johnston, Tarrant (2)
MOTM: Kieran Frost
