In stark contrast to last week's idyllic weather and surroundings, this 2nd home match of the season was played in gale force winds blowing diagonally across Wests Renault Park. Luckily the threatened rain held off.

The first 20 minutes of the game reflected the weather conditions with Cambridge playing into the wind and both sides making handling  and kicking errors which confined play mostly to the centre of the field, punctuated by the odd flash of individual flair, such as the 30m breakaway by Warren which broke down with his attempted kick ahead when an outside pass might have been more prudent in the conditions.

The first Cambridge try was started by another break by Warren who passed outside to right wing Paul. He gained further ground with some tricky footwork before passing back along the line to Juan Antonio, Charlie King took the pass at speed, broke through the line, drew the defence then slipped the pass to left wing Mike, who raced in for his first try of the season.

5-0

Another 10 minutes of spoiling tactics by the Ruislip pack whose main ploy was to deliberately wheel every set scrum, of which there were many due mainly to bad handling by Ruislip at key moments. It could be said that the referee should have noticed this after the 5th time. However, better binding and pushing their weight, especially in the tight five, might have stopped this happening. A few practice sessions in training should solve this problem, as long as the pack all attend at the same time.

The second Cambridge try came just before half time following the breakdown of a run by the Ruislip No12 and a penalty award to Cambridge for Ruislip not staying on their feet in the ruck. Joe took a quick tap which was allowed for only the second time in the match by the inconsistent referee.The ball was passed quickly along the line and in almost a carbon copy of the first try, wing forward Phil Cousins took the pass at speed and crashed through the Ruislip defence for a try under the posts. The conversion by Juan Antonio was to prove crucial  at the end.

Half-Time 12-0

Mark Fender's half time talk was optimistic. Cambridge backs were running rampant in the final quarter of the half and the Ruislip pack, especially their front row were showing cracks. Care should be taken not to try too much kicking with the wind in our favour, but concentrate on more of the same without becoming complacent. Ruislip would be getting a rollicking from their coach so don't take anything for granted. Prophetic words.

A couple of replacements in their scrum and the introduction of a big dangerous winger put Cambridge on the back foot initially, and would you believe it, the referee gave his first and only decision for deliberately wheeling the scrum, against Cambridge!

Cambridge found it extremely difficult to handle the wind at their backs and started to make a lot of handling errors. The pack lost a lot of its cohesion in the loose, losing too many rucks and depending too heavily on the ineffectual referee to pick up on infringements. However, the score remained the same for the first 20 minutes with some sterling work by the Cambridge defence, especially 2 last ditch tackles by full back Tony which resulted in a Cambridge scrum when a Ruislip player dropped the ball. Unfortunately, Ruislip were again allowed to wheel the scrum and receive the put - in. This time, despite knocking on, they managed to drive over.

12-5 

Crucially they missed the conversion. There followed another 10 minutes of to-ing and fro-ing with both sides making some promising moves without making headway, until Ruislip worked an overlap on the Cambridge left and drove for the line. Desparate defence resulted in a 5m scrum. This time the Ruislip forwards combined to drive the ball over the line when Bertrand's shoulder finally gave way. Again crucially, they missed the conversion.

12-10

Foot in touch in the dying seconds by Jay after a last attack by Cambridge, meant that this remained the final score and Cambridge had earned another 3 points.

Again 1 step forward 2 steps back. The backs, even with some replacements due to injury and non-availability, and the arrival of scrum half Martin and outside half Juan Antonio, showed enough talent to take on any opposition and are starting to work well as a unit. The pack, which at times worked well especially in the back row where Warren seems to have adapted well to his new role at No 8 with mobile wing forwards in Phil and Steve ably backed by replacement Alistair Strachan who is improving with each game having not played for 3 seasons. However, the front row especially, needs to practice as a unit more often, to get tighter binding in set scrums and the pack as a whole needs to practice line-out drills. Improvement in these areas is imperative if Adventurers are to challenge for honours in their first season back. See you all at training guys!