Attendance 1520
Referee – George Selwood
STAR MAN – Zac Nearchou (Cambridge)
Scrums Won/Lost – Cambridge 6/0 Ampthill 6/0
Line Outs Won/Lost – Cambridge 7/2 Ampthill 17/2
Penalties Against – Cambridge 13 Ampthill 7
No Cards
++++++
After a week in which Cambridge and Head Coach Richie Williams announced a parting of the ways, it was typical of the hitherto schizophrenic Blood & Sand to produce their best 80 minutes of rugby since promotion to the Championship and a defensive performance that will pass into club legend.
In a game which showed what the Championship is all about, both sides settled into an epic arm-wrestle which Williams’ side edged on the day. Williams was pleased with the four points: “I’m really proud of the players there today. It does beg the question what might have been if we’d performed like that in some other games this season. We were probably a couple of scores light of where we would have liked to have been at half time but that defensive effort from the players after the break was incredible. To win a game like that, going into next Saturday at Bedford, is tremendous”.
Much has been made about dual registrations and loans tilting the playing field, but today, with seven Saracens starting for Ampthill, and three Saints and a Tiger in the Cambridge side, it was a thoroughly ringing endorsement for the division.
The Mob went on the offensive and plugged away to no avail for 18 minutes before former skipper Louis Grimoldby put Cambridge ahead with a perfunctory penalty – no more than the hosts deserved for their defensive sets in difficult conditions. Ampthill responded with some eccentric sleight of hand which put wing Sione Vanuku over the home line with Josh Barton adding the extras despite the swirling wind. But the Blood & Sand hit back with five minutes to go to half time, a super break from full back Joe Tarrant putting in the inevitable Eli Caven wide left, with the winger slithering over the line for the score. Louis Grimoldby belted home the extras and at half time, it was looking good for Williams’ men.
Mob DOR Paul Turner felt his side didn’t do enough on the day in either half : ”I thought we played better against the wind in the first half and scored a good try. We said at half time the wind isn’t going to win us the game but we took so many wrong options and poor options and there was a bit of individual madness. It shouldn’t have been like that and we have enough talent in our side for that not to have happened. Cambridge were defensively sound and in the end deserved their win. Had we got in front in the second half we felt we were good enough to win but Cambridge’s defence was good enough for them to take the victory.”
That win was sealed by a late penalty from Grimoldby, against the wind from 25 metres out, in front of the posts – after Barton dropped one just short for the Mob from near half way.
Teams
Cambridge
Tarrant 7, Glister 7, Hanks 7, Hema 7, Caven 7, Grimoldby 7, White 8 ( R Dawson 62 7); Nearchou 9 (Scola 64 7), Brownlie 7 (Vanes 48 7), Walker 8 (Bridges 67 7), Sylvester 7, Baxter 7, Benson 7 (Cardew 58 7), Adams 7, Bartlett 7 (Dawson 75 6)
Not used : Betteridge, Skelcey
Ampthill
McNulty 7 ( Ijeh 55 6), J Bracken 7, Spink 7, Strachan 7, Va’enuku 7, Barton, C Bracken 7 (Morgan 62 6); Courtney 7 (Flynn 58 6), Thompson 7 (Isaacs 62 6), Johnston 7 (Beaton 58 6), Pearce-Paul 7 (Main 66 6), Sylvester, Sodeke, Hammick 7 (Rylands 55 6), Ravuvu
Not used : Hallett
Scorers
Cambridge
Try – Caven 33
Conversion – Grimoldby 34
Penalties – Grimoldby 18, 74
Ampthill
Try – Vaenuku 30
Conversion – Barton 31