Solid win overshadowed by injuries
Cambridge III 88-5 Ipswich II
It’s not often in my 51 years of playing rugby that I have been involved in a game where two players have broken legs, but sadly this game ended up being one of them. While the rest of the squad celebrated an excellent win, Elie and Jaco were both in Addenbrookes A&E, each having a diagnosis of broken bones in the leg. Elie’s was a result of getting trodden on in a ruck, the initial on field diagnosis of bruising turning out to be a broken fibula. Jaco appeared to have turned over his ankle, but our physio Alitia called in senior physio Paul for an on field diagnosis of potential ruptured Achilles. After X-ray this turned out to be a triple break in lower leg and ankle, and Jaco will be undergoing surgery next week. We wish both players well - and assume they won’t be available for next week!
On a day with the best weather of the year so far and plenty of water on the touchline, Ipswich brought 16 players on the long trek up from Suffolk knowing that they were going to have a hard afternoon. And so it proved. After a cagey start, as soon as the Exiles got the ball they ran hard and straight, Rijk bursting through the middle to touch down for the first try of the afternoon. Continuing the pattern, Jaco soon followed, and not to be undone by the centres, second row Will touched the third down. All three converted by Max, 21-0.
Sadly, Declan caught a boot to the head in a ruck and with blood everywhere he was withdrawn for Jules to replace him.
For the Exiles fourth try, something a bit different, as Kieran sent the ball wide to Max who blasted past his opposite number to touch down in the corner. While he dusted himself off and calmed down, Stef’s attempted conversion faded wide. 26-0 and the bonus point secure after just fifteen minutes. It looked ominous.
However although this seemed one way traffic, Ipswich were not just there to make up the numbers and for a while made ground attacking and somehow kept the rampaging Cambridge team at bay. Wave after wave of storming runs from ‘3 Weetabix’ Stan, ’T Rex’ Jules and ‘Taureau Fou’ Elie ably supported by Will and Archie showed our front five at their very best. Not only this, but throughout the game they destroyed the Ipswich pack in the scrum. With Chabawalawalawalawala, Tall Guy and Ace turning over ruck ball or winning line outs, Ipswich’s share of the ball was minimal.
Stef and Kieran as half backs chose the right options every time and a super move from the backs with Kieran moving the ball through the hands of Jaco and Rijk to Young Alex who took two guys to stop him just short and the ball was cleared for a Cambridge lineout on the Ipswich 22. Not straight and Ipswich inexplicably opted for a line again. No, no, no! Tall Guy duly won it for Cambridge and Stef’s quick pass to Ace was tipped on to Jaco who punched through and was tackled just short of the line, Ace following up picking up and going over for the try. Sadly, Jaco had fallen badly and was carried off before departing for hospital. Kiwi Stan entered the fray, adding some culture to the frightening power of the South African pair’s normal play. Max’s conversion after a long delay made the score 33-0
Next Ace scored his second after a more careful and better defended build up, but Max’s conversion attempt faded. 38-0
Coops at last managed to get his hands on the ball and he wasn’t letting go: oh no. As a result, he scored in the corner rather than making the simple pass inside which would have resulted in a far easier conversion. Oh well: Max made the conversion anyway and the score was 45-0
Sadly Elie had to be lifted off the field after being trodden on at the bottom of a ruck with what turned out later to be the second broken leg of the game. Cadge came on and ably scrummaged, to continue the destruction of the Ipswich scrum, though after a few weeks off supporting the Italians in Cardiff, he was clearly a little less active going forward than Elie had been… After Chabawalawalawala had inexplicably dropped the ball over the line the resulting goal line drop out was knocked on by Cambridge. However in the resulting scrum Ipswich were pushed off their own ball and Stef, quick thinking as ever snapped the ball out to Young Alex on the blindside who sped through to score almost unopposed. Max converted this one, but missed the final conversion of the half after Tall Guy had opened his legs and showed his class - to quote David Coleman - stretching to touch down the Exiles’ ninth try, going into the huddle at half time 57-0 up.
At training on Thursday, restarts had been identified as a weakness and therefore practised. This was clearly a Good Thing, as in practise every single restart had been dropped, whereas all nine restarts this half were fielded and four of them resulted in tries from second phase.
The Exiles now gave the chance for the squad members to have a proper run out. Kieran moved to scrum half giving Stef a well earned rest, Rijk to fly half, birthday boy ‘Shots’ Asbo in the centre and a well hydrated Cesar on the wing for Young Alex to have a rest. Ace took things easy while Ryan took his place on the flank. Joe Roberts came on for someone, could have been a forward or a back - though I suspect Chabawalawalawala - as he was everywhere in the second half! Unsurprisingly while the effort hadn’t reduced, the legs of those who had made heroic efforts in the first half weren’t quite so strong so ‘3 Weetabix’ Stan was only pulling two players along rather than three. This together with the disruption of new players meant that the game became slightly more balanced.
Also balanced was Kiwi Stan, who found himself clear with a nice little shimmy, then had 35m to go with no support anywhere near and he touched down cleverly in the corner. Max’s conversion fell short. 62-0
Despite continuing to be disrupted in the scrums, and on the hard end of a lot of go forward from the Exiles, Ipswich had not - and never did - give up and they were rewarded with a thoroughly deserved try of their own, though being wide left, the conversion failed. 62-5
Two long runs stand out in the next period. The first from Cesar, powering through with a mix of strength and speed before being finally tackled with a seat belt tackle just yards from the line showed the best of Exiles play. The second from Coops, weaving through until approaching the line he decided rather than passing or continuing on, he would kick the ball. If you have read these reports in the past, Coops’ kicking record has not been too good and this was no exception as no-one - including him - had any idea why he kicked or where he was attempting to kick, but the ball just went sideways across the field to an Ipswich player with no Exiles player in sight. Doh!
Some great offloading, passing and dummying by Asbo next (though one would have been a shoe in for Max if he had passed rather than dummied) and four more tries followed from Rijk, Will, Joe and eventually Tall Guy, Max converting three of them.
A final score of 88-5 rather underplayed the significant effort that Ipswich put in and the fight and spirit they showed - and we were of course delighted that they came up the A14. Thanks to them for the game. The Exiles move on to the important potential decider next week away at North Walsham. Clearly, a couple of injuries are going to hurt, but if they play like this, they are a hard team to beat. Fingers crossed!
Scorers
Tries: Rijk 2, Jaco, Will 2, Max, Ace Isa 2, Coops, Young Alex, Tall Guy Jake 2, Kiwi Stan, Joe
Conversions: Max 9
Team
Stan Meadhurst, Archie Davison, Elie Hammou, Will Ramply, Declan Sully, Alex Chabala, Isa Sloot, Jake Prier, Stef Liebenberg, Kieran Shave, Max Burton, Jaco Enslin, Rijk Diepeveen, Alex Howard, Sean Cooper
Replacements: David Cadwalladr, Julian Mannion, Ryan Curtis, Joe Roberts, Stan Stanley, Cesar Belloso, Asbel Rodriguez
