For the record, Cambridge went down to a 76-5 defeat at Goldington Road on Friday night. Ted Warner was the sole try scorer. That scoreline, though, definitely doesn’t tell the whole story…Here’s Newbs…
“I just said to the players not to look at the scoreboard as the judge. That’s the outcome of some of the things that we did. We gave them opportunities and they took them. They’re one of the best teams in the Champ for a reason, because they’re ruthless. And that’s the kind of team we want to be in our league, and that’s where we’re aspiring to. I think particularly the first half, we had so much possession and pressure, but there’s just the finish, the punch. I think Ben Adams said in our huddle that we were whacking them in the ribs, and we just lacked that knockout blow four or five times. It could have been a different story.
“So in the second half, we couldn’t really get anything going out of our half. The rain came, the young kids came on, and, despite a huge amount of effort, their quality shone through. So, well done to Bedford. I’m sure they’ll be pleased with that as their first hit out. It puts them in good stead. We’ll go and reflect, and then our eyes will go on to Moseley, in the opening game of National One. It’s a question of licking some wounds, learning some lessons and seeing what are the two or three big things we can really go after.
“We don’t learn anything if we just play boring rugby and one-off rugby and kick it – and then guys like Oscar Lewis, it’s his first start in men’s rugby against one of the best teams in the country, so he’ll learn a lot from that as well. We played with endeavour and just lacked a little bit of that clinical nature that we had last week against Colchester. The boys were just saying how much faster it was and the pressure was there, and we were one step too flat, which meant we couldn’t get the ball where we needed.
“We certainly aren’t training on a field like that, as lovely as this, but it’s their priority, they’re in a league that, you know, it’s a professional league, they just can’t put out a pitch that’s not fit for purpose and they train here as well, So it’s a really important pitch for them. And yes, our preparation has been really good. We’ve done our best what we can. And hopefully the rain’s over in Cambridgeshire too!
“I would say probably in some positions, after these pre-season games, we’re pretty clear on who’s going to wear what jersey. There’s some good depth there, particularly in the back row. And in the second row, it’s competitive as well. So, we’re getting closer to the team for Moseley. I’ll have to go and look back at this and put it into some context. I’ve also got the tricky situation of picking a bench, a 4-1 or a 3-2 split, so that’ll come into it. So, I don’t know, it’s a tricky one, but I’ll go and watch this game and give the players that played today the respect of reviewing it properly and picking out what they did well and maybe what they didn’t do so well and then I can make a proper judgement rather than just going off what I think at the moment.
“It’s hard after conceding so many points and not scoring so many, to sort of feel like we’ve actually done well. But, again, we’ve just got to be realistic and put things into context against who we’re playing and where we currently sit and our goals. It would be nice to come back here and compete more closely on another occasion”.