Captain fantastic Ben Adams – Slade Point’s finest – has re-signed for another season at Ellgia Fields. The 36 year old Aussie says he’s very happy to return to Grantchester Road for a potential tilt at promotion from National League One at the first attempt.
“I couldn’t imagine playing anywhere else anymore. This is my home away from home and I can’t wait to rip in for the National One season. Last season was pretty difficult – the difference in programmes was evident and there was a lot of really uneven match-ups. I’m not saying that there weren’t chances to perform and opportunities for us to take, it just was challenging every single moment. So I’m really looking forward to having a lot more even match-ups where there’s guys with full-time jobs playing against guys with full-time jobs! Last time out, there were highlights. There were some really good performances, with close losses to Nottingham, Doncaster with a draw, running Bedford Blues close at Goldington Road – and then highlights of playing at places like Worcester Warriors at Six Ways, that was really cool. That was the story of the season. The first half was generally pretty darn good and then everything ran away from us. That was something we really couldn’t put our finger on because there wasn’t a trend or a reason for us to concede in the second half so quickly and then lose all the momentum. When we had momentum, when we had a lot of teams on the ropes. We were ahead at half-time for a lot of games and unfortunately let those ones slip away. The whole reason we play this game is because it’s fun and when it’s fun you play well, results happen and then that just showed when we got promoted to the Championship we had that was probably the most fun that I’d had in a season and then we met a whole new beast in the Champ!
“Changes had to be made last year. We had a lot of old heads that moved on to different opportunities. We then brought in a lot of guys who had ambitions for the Champ and above, and it just didn’t work. Sometimes you make changes en masse and it just doesn’t work, which is unfortunate but that’s what happens. We now turn our focus to replacing the people that have left. We’re very proud of the people that are staying in the Champ and our ambitions still remain the same – to win National One. So, that’s our challenge now – to get players in who still have those ambitions. We’ve kept a good good core and I’m looking forward to seeing those guys take on more leadership roles next year to progress whoever the new guys are that come in – and I’m sure they’ll take on the belief and the culture of our Club swimmingly. I fell in love with Cambridge when I came here and I took my opportunities elsewhere on the back of that- and that’s why I don’t have any ill feeling or any bad blood for anybody that wants to take a higher opportunity elsewhere. Every single person that pulled on the Blood and Sand jersey this year played with the heart and soul that comes with this club so I wish them all the best. And the new guys that come in – I’ll do my best to pass that on as the more senior guys did when I was first here.
“We’re back training at the end of June, there are three pre-season friendlies in August, as far as I know. National 1 starts in September – and we almost know who we’re going to be playing. There’s some doubt about Blackheath because they’ve got the play-off match against either Richmond or London Scottish, and we don’t know whether Birmingham Moseley are going to be in it because Oundle have to play them this weekend. It’s going be really interesting to see who holds their nerve – or whether the Champ teams slip up and they have to play down a level – and we’ve got some fantastic away trips to look forward to, plus at least a couple of local derbies against Bishop’s Stortford and Bury St Edmunds. We’ve got two long-haul trips, three if you include Sale FC, because Plymouth are still in Nat 1 next season, and then Camborne have just been promoted, so two long trips to the west country to look forward to. I think Nat 1’s got more travelling than the Champ – so you we’re really looking forward to those ones. The bus trips are going to be good fun! It’s going to be nice to have a little bit down time as I think we really need it, but I reckon in a couple of weeks time we’ll be chomping at the bit to get back into it”.