For 40 minutes it looked like it might be a happy Easter for Cambridge, who were well in touch in the first half in one of their best ‘first forties’ of the season. There was plenty of hope – and indeed volume – on the terraces of the Bay, especially as Ben Brownlie opened the scoring from a trademark driving maul with scarcely 5 minutes on the clock following a missed penalty from Eli Caven. Caven made amends to stretch the lead with a three-pointer from in front of the posts. And even with Brownlie in the bin, and the Archers’ Harry Clayton touching down from a driving maul of their own, the stage was set for a belting afternoon.
Former Cambridge 10 Matty Arden further reduced the deficit off the tee – Jack Stapley added another – but Caven followed up a neat nudge to touch down and regain the lead.
The Archers, though, kept at it, and both David Williams and Toby Venner fashioned scores before Pete White darted over. Caven added the extras to make it 26-22 as the sides headed into the sheds. With little more ‘rub of the green’ it might have been a ‘winning’ first forty for the Blood & Sand – Joe Green had been beaten by the bounce to narrowly miss out on another, and there appeared to be very little between the sides.
The next score, clearly was always going to be critical. Not for the first – or even the fifth – time this term, though, Cambridge conceded straight from the kick off via Jack Dickinson, then compounded the error by conceding from the restart from that score through Bath loanee George Timmins. Chasing the game, the Blood & Sand eventually wilted and the Archers ran away with the scoring from there onwards. Despite 20 minutes worth of pressure, try as they might – and did – Cambridge couldn’t get that elusive bonus point try. Ryan Olowefela added another from distance. Antonio Harris scored twice to take the Archers’ tally to nine. And what started out as an afternoon full of hope finished in gloom despite the bright Easter Sunday sunshine at the Bay.
Interim Head Coach Anthony Allen felt his side had promised much but ultimately hadn’t delivered: “We were well in the game, we should probably have gone in at half time leading as we’d stuck to the plan. We came out after half time and the game’s done within minutes. It’s very frustrating – we had ‘bits’ of the game but not enough. We scored tries quite easily in the first half but we also didn’t defend well. The boys know we’re better than that. We have five games left – we were on it in the first half, but couldn’t turn our second half pressure into points.”
Cambridge
Baker, Green, Hanks, Hema, Caven, Tarrant, White; Ellwood, Brownlie, Walker, Bretag-Norris, Sylvester, Rees, Gaffan, Logan
Replacements: Veness, Nearchou, Murphy, M Dawson, Adams, Edwards, Grimoldby, Skelcey