Sat 14 Jan 2023
Brave Exiles lose away from home
Sudbury II 40-19 Cambridge Exiles
After last week’s purportedly ‘short’ report, this one might be shorter: or not, we will see!
The Exiles made the long journey down to Sudbury, where the town was gridlocked from multiple roadworks on all access roads, on the back of two wins from the last three matches. The delays meant only a forty minute warm up was possible, made more tricky by Dick having forgotten to bring any balls along, for which he appropriately won Dick of the Day!
Not surprisingly Sudbury started more strongly, but the Exiles continued to display the strong defence which helped them beat Norwich Union, Mark, Max, James, James, Joe, Fred, Adriano and Jamari to the fore, and as a result the Sudbury pressure was resisted.
Eventually, Cambridge pulled a few sequences together but the attacking ball was lost forward, then Sudbury fly-hacked over the line and their winger touched down with the conversion making it 7-0.
That setback ignored, the Exiles put the pressure back on and after several pushes upfield, gained a penalty in front of the posts. Opting to scrum to the screams of disgust from the touchline, the ball went left with Mark and his perfectly timed miss pass to César gave the speedy winger a run into the corner for an excellent try. Max converted from the touchline against the wind. 7-7
Sudbury came back into attack, but following stoic defence Max’s clearance kick failed to find touch, was picked up on half way and a good run and well timed pass lead to a converted try under the posts 14-7.
Three pieces of great play punctuated the next 15 minutes, a wonderful Jamari turnover, a magnificent 50-22 kick from Max and a crunching cover tackle by Mark, but almost at the end of the half, a couple of missed tackles, and the ball was spread right to the Sudbury winger who scored a try in the corner, with the Exiles claiming he had put a foot in touch. The missed conversion meant the half time score was 19-7, but the Exiles were still in the game.
The Exiles scrum had been unable to dominate throughout the game so far and a very tough pick up at the base of a defensive scrum lead to a turnover and converted score. 26-7
The Exiles continued to battle, but Sudbury scored two more tries, the second a beauty, with five perfect offloads, both converted. 40-7 The team was gathered behind the posts and questions asked. We wanted to see some heart for the last fifteen minutes.
The front row with Dick moving to tight head and Cam coming back onto the loose, ably supported by Dec and Jules, started to get stronger and stronger. Banksie still couldn’t - quite - reach the opposition No 8 to hook the ball, as the ref seemed to be happy for it to be fed by the scrum half straight past the second row. James R also came back on and the Exiles spirited attack and fast rucks gave an excellent opportunity for James CB to score a try which Fred converted in the absence of the injured Max.
The Sudbury flanker got exasperated with the disruption Dick caused in a ruck and spear tackled him - afterwards Cadge described it as the only time he would ever mention that Dick had looked just like BOD! - and was rightly yellow carded. For the last 10 minutes the Exiles now dominated scrums and possession and this resulted in the final try from James CB after another sequence of good play with Fred’s conversion going wide and a final score of 40-19. James CB deservedly won player of the match.
A game that the Exiles, with their heads in the right place for the 80 minutes, could have won. When they have the attitude to execute the game plan, they are a really good side, with lots of really good players. In these times, they could beat any other team in this league. Next week Ipswich at home, followed by North Walsham away. Which heads will be on?
Definitely a shorter report!
Scorers
Tries: César, James CB 2
Conversions: Max, Fred
Team
Cameron Prior, Simon Banks, David Cadwalladr, Declan Sully, Julian Mannion, James Campos Bell, Joe Roberts, Jamari Dowdie Wright, James Robinson, Mark Leckie, César Belloso, Adriano Boscaini, Fred Nash, Adam Griffiths, Max Burton
Replacements: Dick Wallin, Yvan Bollet-Quivogne, Lasse Keuneke
