London Scottish finally broke their duck for the season with a dogged defensive performance at Grantchester Road which provided the springboard for a six-try salvo against a Cambridge side which started the game well.
Craig Newby’s men dominated the first ten minutes, but only had a perfunctory penalty from Jamie Annand to show for their efforts before Hayden Hyde wove his way through for the opener from the visitors. Fraser Honey added the extras.
Vereimi Qorowale fought his way over for Cambridge, Annand converting, but Scottish went in at the break comfortably ahead following tries from Josh Bellamy and player of the match Seb Driscoll, all converted by Honey, and it began to look like an uphill battle in the second half for the hosts if they conceded early, and so it proved.
Hyde ran in his second of the game for Honey to add two more points in the 41 st minute – and Cambridge, again, were forced to chase the game. With the bonus point secured, lock Matt Wilkinson got in on the try-scoring act to put the result beyond doubt with nearly half an hour left on the clock. Murray Bellis delivered the final coup de grace. And even a typically physical, charging finish from prop Zac Nearchou couldn’t add much gloss to a miserable afternoon at the office for the hosts.
Visiting Head Coach Joe Gray was elated by the win: “We were disappointed with our opening two games – we seemingly never win at Caldy and Storm Amy played right into their hands in a maul fest up there. We were inaccurate at Nottingham with one score from 11 entries into their 22. That creates frustration within the group so I’m glad we got the win today, underpinned by a dominant defensive display which you need against a team like Cambridge, who can play if you give them the chance to. We played some really good rugby and to keep them to two tries and deny them even a bonus point is very pleasing from our perspective. I reckon we left another four or five out there but we also held out against them on our try line which is really difficult to do given the way they play. And I thought Seb Driscoll was magnificent on his first full Champ game for us, so, yes, really pleased”.
Craig Newby wasn’t nearly as pleased. “I see the effort that the players put in during the week in training. I see the effort they put in in games. I can’t fault that. But today was very disappointing. The line out worked well – hooker Jack Doorey-Palmer was our best player today on his first Champ start for us. There were some good moments but we have to be better. I’m going to have to look at what I do, what we do, and change what we need to change to make us better”.
Cambridge
Mausia 6, Green 6 (Caven 64 6) , Lumley 7 , Rokodrava 6, Qorowale 6, Annand 6, Dawson 6 (Thompson 54 7); Ellwood 6 (Nearchou 54 7), Doorey-Palmer 8 (Bellamy 68 6), Walker 6 (Boal 65 6), Baxter 7 (Friend 54 Lawrence 64 6), McCay 7, Thomas 7 , Eckersley 7 (Yallop 64 6) Adams 7
London Scottish
Bellamy 8, Bellis 7, Hyde 8, Kolade 7 (Shephard 75), Ferdinand 7 (Lloyd-Seed 75), Honey 8, Law 7 (Nutton 60 6); Bentley 6 (Lindsay 66 6) Wright 7 (Clayton 40 7), Dimen 6 (Hay 66 6), Wilkinson 7 (Johnson 67 6), Huis 7, Ransom 7, Driscoll 9, Marshall 8 (Spurway 74)
HT 10-21 FT 15-38
Penalties Against 9/11
Scrums Won 5/3
Scrums Lost 0/2
Line Outs Won 14/12
Line Outs Lost 1/3
Discipline 0/0
Referee Alex Thomas
Attendance 1,284
STAR PLAYER Seb Driscoll (London Scottish)
Scorers
Cambridge
Tries – Qorowale 24, Nearchou 72
Conversion – Annand 25
Penalty – Annand 11
London Scottish
Tries – Hyde 17, 41 Bellamy 28 Driscoll 33 Wilkinson 53 Bellis 69
Conversions – Honey 18, 29, 34, 42