Cambridge narrowly missed out on their first win of the season for the second home game running as Caldy ran out narrow victors on an afternoon for the purists.
Weather and lack of loan stars led to a proper old fashioned arm-wrestle between two traditional foes that generally serve up close encounters – and, despite a late rally from the Blood & Sand, Kirean Wilkinson’s 48th minute conversion separated the sides at the final whistle.
Ravers’ Head Coach Matt Cairns said, “We were glad to take the five points from that one – Cambridge stuck at it but we kept them out at the death”.
It took 21 minutes for the deadlock to be broken at Grantchester Road, with the dangerous Will Robinson finishing off Charlie Hyde’s kick return with the deftest of touches as he got a fingernail to the long rake forward over the try line. Wilkinson added the extras, before weaving his way through for number two under the sticks and converting his own score.
Cambridge hooker Dylan Irvine charged over for his side’s first of the afternoon – Otu Mausia missed off the tee – and it was nicely poised at 5-14 at the break.
Ruaridh Dawson opened the scoring in the second half – Mausia this time adding the extras. From the restart, Caldy’s driving maul was held up but it merely served to inspire Connor Wilkinson to run in for their third, again converted, before Charlie Hyde got in on the act for the bonus.
Ben Currie touched down for a third from Cambridge as the ball was worked across the width of the field for the full back to score in the corner. Mausia’s conversion was well short. And home number eight Ed Timpson set up a nervous last few minutes for all and sundry as he burrowed over for a try bonus point of their own.
Cambridge Head Coach Craig Newby cut a frustrated figure afterward, saying “That was definitely one that got away. We were better than we were last week – we needed to be because Caldy are good – and we finished strongly. We had a fair bit of adversity today – losing Ethan Thorne in the warm-up, an HIA for Ben Currie in the second half. I’m proud of the effort in a really good contest. You can see what they’re going to do, but how do you stop it? It was evenly matched today – and we’ve got to take this in to our trip to Nottingham on Friday”.
Teams
Cambridge
Currie 7 (Thompson 51 Currie 64), Green 7, Reweti 7, Sorrell 7 (Rokodrava 48 6), Qaniuci 6 (Thompson 64 7), Mausia 6, Dawson 9; Ellwood 6, Irvine 7, Walker 6 (Masoe 68), Fulford 7, McCay 6, Thomas 7 (Mills 54 6), Eckersley (C) 7, Timpson 7
Replacements not used – Plunkett, Barry, Friend
Caldy
Hyde 7, Tudor 7 (Mitchell 70), C Wilkinson 8, Barlow 7 (Barker 70), Robinson 7, K Wilkinson 8, Wynn 8 (Akehurst 62 7); Weatherby 6 (Rabette 70), Hearn 6 (Gallagher 56 7), Rushton 6 (Higginson 24 Ruston 38), Loboda 6 (Sproston 56 6), Olyott 7 Ridgeway 6, Jones 7 Dickinson (C) 8
Scorers
Cambridge
Tries – Irvine 37, Dawson 43, Currie 66, Timpson 75
Conversions – Mausia 44, Thompson 76
Caldy
Tries – Robinson 21, K Wilkinson 33, C Wilkinson 47, Gallagher 61
Conversions – K Wilkinson 22,34,48
Scrums Won 3/7
Scrums Lost 0/0
Line Outs Won 9/11
Line Outs Lost 3/2
Penalties Against 12/6
YC 1/0
Attendance – 773
Referee – Hamish Grant
STAR PLAYER – Ruaridh Dawson (Cambridge)