You could say that the Bees had little to prove given that the Championship Cup was there waiting for them to be presented by Sir Hal Miller. In one sense therefore the Champagne was iced and ready and the game but a warm up for the big event. But Cambridge had much to prove, the iniquity of being denied a rightful promotion spot by the Neanderthal English RFU (NERFU), the continuation of a long winning run of 15 games and a marker to show the scale of the team's improvement since the last minute try defeat by CAB back in November 2008. Playing with pace and precision was something that we have, as partial mortals, become accustomed. Cambridge added two more aspects to their game yesterday, strength and ferocity. Such have been the trademarks of our Captain Fox, Ricky Hatton at his peak. Others have learned that rugby can be just 15 pin bowling, each opponent there to be knocked over when you have the ball and driven upwards and outwards when he becomes the luckless receiver of a hospital pass. I lost count of the number of Bees flying through the air but without the greatest of ease. A souvenir copy of the DVD is a must for me and for sale to those aficionados of the English league game. Premier and Championship pro rugby entertains to a point but the essence of the best still resides in the national leagues.

For those who have become use to my preambles and skipped the first two paras read on. From the whistle it was evident that Cambridge were on a mission possible and the Bees had reluctantly turned up for the party. Craig Evans found Ben Patston for score number one, just two minutes into the game. Bees have a mobile pack but perhaps have shown vulnerability in the set piece scrums. The visitors applied an early test, drove over with order and precision, James "Os" Ross making the touchdown in the twelfth minute. Patso kicked this one. There were 3 more conversions for him to follow and one for Craig in his absence having his nose fixed once again. That gave Ben his half century of conversions this season, not bad for talent that has sat patiently on the bench for half of the time. (A statistical pause to make a point. Conversion strike rate this season for the Ben and Craig combo = 76%. Strike rate for top of the kicking table, Bees Mark Woodrow = 73 %.).

Two further tries and the bonus point came as the second quarter began. Birmingham had a scant 3 points on the board as Chris Lombaard cast off single and double tacklers to score twice in 2 minutes. Given half a chance, the Bomber could well have added a couple more to move to third place in the try scoring table. His tally of 17 is 4 less than his scores over the past two seasons, but praiseworthy given the chances created for colleagues.Injury time and Jimmy Aston on as a sub scored his first of two for the home side. Perhaps he had a personal point to prove. He certainly impressed and made a difference.

Half Time Bees 10 Cambridge 26

Most of us would have expected Bees to hit back immediately even though there was no pitch/weather advantage on offer. Just in the nature of this game and the pattern of many other Cambridge games this season, "relax, sit back a little" was probable. But this was the Bees, the League Champions and an unfulfilled need to settle beyond doubt the argument about the best team going forward to next season. No better way to drive the message home than 3 tries in the opening ten minutes of the half. Andre Schmidt on as a blood replacement delivered the "fastest lap" a break of speed with ease to put Adam Barnard into the right hand corner. Rampant bone crushing Luke Fielden, not to be excluded, scored on the opposite side, to end the season with 24 tries, second place to the star, Bees' Simon Hunt, who viewed this game more as an overawed spectator out there somewhere on or was it in the wings. Credit to you Simon for an impressive tally of 31 tries, 50% more than the entire Mounts Bay managed this season. Finally it was down to one of our Dans to score our last try of the season. Both deserved it for impressive displays, but deputy 9, Dan Hunter from Ashton-U-Lyne was on hand to complete yet another dominant drive to the line. I began life, in that very town, living at Number 9 Sunnyside Grove and a butcher's son from my Dad's shop at 45 Old Street.

There is good reason then to believe that the B&S fight back was more than Cambridge settling down with 45 points on the board and the fourth quarter well underway. Their replacements were perhaps frustrated by Bees display so far. They grabbed the 4 try bonus point, three tries coming from Jimmy Aston for his second, Adam Clayton and at last a sole contribution from a member of the starting XV, centre Rod Petty. These tries were far from a gift. Cambridge defended fiercely, prevented a further couple of tries with dramatic last ditch tackles and gave 100% to the final whistle. The Cambridge defence away from home remains, just, the best in the league as the table below shows (courtesy RFU website).

Final Score Bees 29 Cambridge 45

That’s enough from me for this season. We survived the mind blowing incompetence of the RFU in mismanaging national league affairs and feel for those with injustice thrust upon them; in particular Esher and Westcombe Park who find themselves “relegated” for safe mid table performances. Such achievements cost time and money for many lovers of the game. It is sad that such commitments are so seriously undervalued by the Twickers twiddlers.

Some final thanks are due to Stephen McCormack and his work to make the NCA website the best and most accurate available. To Mike Kind of Rugby Round-up for the speed in publication of the statistics and to all my opposite numbers for a truly engaging season. Finally to Chris Fell for his camera work and 4th official volunteers Kenny and Chris. I missed the Waterloo game and took a January holiday in NZ, but have no regrets. We finished with a 15 game flourish of wins and fought hard away from home in the final 4 game run in against the best in the league. That takes some doing and our squad will be even better prepared for the exciting 16 team National 1 league in 2009/2010. Discussions and debates on issues and affairs to continue on Rolling Maul.

Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match.

Mal Schofield

Photos are here