Opportunities missed for the Exiles
Cambridge Exiles 14-27 Sudbury II
On a bright, sunny, blustery day, full of hope, the Exiles kicked off with the wind. Constantly applying pressure in the Sudbury 22 for the first ten minutes the outlook was promising, with a couple of try saving tackles being the only thing to stop the Exiles scoring. Then with an attacking penalty ten metres out, Max sliced his touch kick into touch in goal and for the first time Sudbury managed to get hands on the ball. They spread wide, two poor tackles and their left wing scored totally against the run of play. 0-5
The kick off taken, an immediate missed tackle in midfield gave Sudbury some field position and they passed wide to score a second try wide out and somehow the score was against the Exiles 0-10.
Continuing to pressure, and still looking good for the win, a break from Mark taking a couple of players out with two quick swivels of the hips and breaking the tackle he scored under the post. Max converted 7-10 and the Exiles were back in the game.
At this stage Sudbury started to get a little into the game. The pattern was now set. The Exiles front five were totally dominant in the frequent scrums for knock ons, the Sudbury front row no match for Brennan, Cadge and Archie ably supported by the push of skipper Jules and Cam. After a knock on in our own twenty two, Sudbury were pushed off the ball and Nick moved the ball swiftly to Max who made a great clearing kick, almost for a 22/22.
In possession, Cam, Jamari and Chabs in particular drove holes in the Sudbury defence, but cannily they committed few players in rucks and spread wide enough to mean our super fast wings Cesar and Goran rarely got space to work. This was compounded by poor option taking when a wide pass would have been the right choice. Nevertheless, Nathan and Euan in particular made several great runs, stopped by last ditch tackling.
Both sides competed in line outs, no real advantages here, the Exiles probably winning more turnovers through Chabs and Archie in particular. Sudbury’s tackling was solid, the Exiles flaky, many players looking like they have got used to touch rugby in training. Notable excellent tacklers were Mark, Euan and, intermittently, Max in the backs with Cam, Chabs and Brennan from the forwards. Sudbury successfully moved the ball wide to rapid wings, while the Exiles tried to punch through the centre and missed passing opportunities.
The Exiles line speed was slow, while the Sudbury line speed was questionably fast - they wouldn’t have got away with it at a higher level if the touch judges were allowed to call offsides, but canny play which the Exiles might learn from. No complaints of referee Spike here, who had an excellent game overall. One good break from the Sudbury inside centre when the Exiles defensive line got staggered, meant he scored under posts after full back Nathan missed his tackle. Making the conversion the score was now looking tougher at 7-17.
With a short time to go for half time, the Exiles at last passed the ball wide and gave Nathan a break down the right touchline and backing his pace he went for the outside, but the Sudbury full back made a great covering tackle into touch. Sudbury won their own line out, set up a ruck which Archie skilfully turned over giving the Exiles a simple penalty to the corner. Sadly Max again didn’t allow for the wind which took the ball into touch in goal, another missed opportunity. The whistle blew for half time shortly afterwards with Cambridge still attacking.
At this stage, there was really nothing in the game on the pitch except missed opportunities for the Exiles resulting in the unfavourable score line. Cambridge made two changes, Stan replacing Brennan in the front row - no change in the destructive power of the Exiles scrum - and Ryan for Jamari in the back row - a significant improvement in the go forward and tackling of the back row.
Now with the wind, Sudbury spread the ball wide twice to score in the corner missing the conversion for a score of 7-22 and the Exiles management crossed fingers that heads would not go down. Yvan replaced Goran on the wing after a severe bruising on the leg swelled alarmingly. At this stage, even the ball wasn’t bouncing for us - a Euan kick over that he just couldn’t catch would have put us right back in there where we deserved to be. Stan had to come off and Jamari went back on to prop, with the down time probably contributing some rustiness as he knocked on at a ruck, the Exiles had no blind side defence, and Sudbury picked up and ran the ball in, the conversion hitting the post 7-27.
Not allowing themselves to fall into the trap that had been the case earlier in the season when the last ten minutes saw the opposition run away from a close game, the Exiles continued to put up a good fight. Notable were Cam whose continued drives, ruck clearances and tackling gave him the deserved Player of the Match award. Cesar made several good forays, and eventually the ball ran for us as with a further kick ahead by Euan, the ball bounced well this time and he went over spectacularly for a try converted excellently across the wind by Max 14-27.
With the Exiles attacking again, a final knock on brought the game to a close.
A frustrating game for the Exiles once again, as probably they were man for man better players - and certainly the scrum was totally dominant - but Sudbury played better as a team, working to a plan. The Exiles seemed to be just trying to make it up on the hoof, when they have a known plan, practised and perfected in training, but not put into action on the field. This resulted in missed opportunities to pass; missed tackles; missed touch kicks.
Scorers
Tries: Mark, Euan
Conversions: Max x2
Team
David Cadwalladr, Archie Davison, Brennan Logan, Julian Mannion (c), Cameron Prior, Brandon Foot, Alex Chabala, Jamari Dowdie-Wright, Nick Apps, Mark Leckie, Goran Kellett, Euan Rees, Max Burton, Cesar Belloso, Nathan Cowley-Wilson
Replacements: Stan Meadhurst, Ryan Curtis, Yvan Bollet-Quivogne
