First league win of the season for the Exiles - or not
Cambridge Exiles 51-12 Cottenham Renegades
The Exiles third league game of the season was against local rivals Cottenham Renegades a match with two close results last season. Decimated by six players with serious injuries and six more moving through the return to play protocols following concussion, the Exiles struggled to raise a side. Following discussions with the league and Renegades it was agreed to allow Exiles to play the game with three unregistered players. More of that later…
On a slightly blustery day with cool air but warm when the sun came out, Cambridge kicked off. It quickly became clear that the Renegades' strength was in the forwards as uncharacteristic errors crept in to their back play. Following an error from the Renegades fly half, Chabs swept in to kick off the scoring, Max converting for 7-0.
There followed ten minutes of pressure on the Exiles line. Two great turnovers by Matt helped relieve the pressure but only for moments before the Renegade pack rumbled forward again in both loose and tight. Great defence by the Exiles continued to hold up the juggernaut when Waring stole the ball for his third turnover and stored downfield for a great break away. At the ruck the ball was quickly recycled, moved right to Nathan coming in from full back to score a try in the corner as he picked up his own kick ahead, Max missed the conversion. 12-0
Brennan was struggling with a niggling injury so swapped for Alex, Cadge moving to tight leaving George hooking, and now the Exiles scrum set solid, negating one of the Renegade advantages. Play swapped around in midfield and when the Renegades fouled once too many times at the fringes of the rucks, Max slotted the penalty from in front of the posts. 15-0 Both sides struggled with accuracy around the tackle area, both in attack and defence, and the game was littered with penalties in that area.
After quite a ding dong of Renegades driving and Cambridge defending, Renegades promising attack was snuffed out by a clever interception from Mark who sped the 75m for a try which Max converted shortly before half time. 22-0
The pattern of the game was explained to the team at half time, spin it wide and we will score! Simple.
As if to deny this, the first try after half time came from good pressure round the rucks, Chabs going over for his second which Max converted. 29-0
Notable performances were the front row holding their own in the scrum; Archie making some perfect throws to line outs, though some were less than perfect; James C-B storming about the field everywhere in attack and defence; Dec’s solid hits and reliable ball carrying; Matt’s turnovers, tackling and line out skills; Harry and Mikey taking turns to impress at scrum half; Mark tackling as a modern fly half has to, making some weaving runs and generally running the Exiles game plan; Rijk power in attack and defence including with a clear line ahead he looks for a player to hit; Max tackling well and kicking superbly from hand and tee; a further two scrum halves, Nick and James R doing solid jobs on the wings and Nathan showing pace at full back.
All three subs made an impact, not least Cameron who went over for his first try for the Exiles from short range. 34-0
James C-B then made another of his rampaging runs bouncing off defenders, one of many that gave him a deserved Player of the Match. He offloaded to Mark for his second try converted by Max. 41-0
At this stage the Exiles relaxed a little and the Renegades started to play and they ran in two tries of their own, converting the first for 41-12.
Having woken back up again, play moved towards the Renegades posts and having won the penalty, the decision was taken to kick for goal which duly Max did. 44-12
The final try was Mark’s third rounding off an excellent display and the conversion from Max made the final score 51-12, the Exiles having scored seven tries.
A good win over a sub par Renegades side for them. After the game it turned out that there had been confusion over the status of the match which the league deemed to have been a friendly, since we had to play with the three unregistered players. The game was awarded to Renegades, but Exiles escaped the five point deduction as we had still fulfilled the fixture. Disappointing, but the players should have confidence in winning well against the local rivals.
Scorers
Tries: Chabs 2, Nathan, Mark 3, Cameron
Conversions: Max 5
Penalties: Max 2
Team
David Cadwalladr, George Borakis, Brennan Logan, Matt Waring, Declan Sully, Archie Davison, James Campos-Bell, Alex Chabala, Harry Hall, Mark Leckie, Mike Muhte, Rijk Diepeveen, Max Burton, James Robinson, Nathan Cowley-Wilson
Replacements: Alex Howell, Cameron Prior, Nick Apps
