Ist Match: Cambridge v. Bingley Bees   Saturday 25th April 2009

CRUFC U12 54:14 Bingley Bees: (Luca Williams, Jacob Nethercott, Ollie Parker, Freddie Gurney, Thomas Davies, Thomas Kim(2),Luke Mulley, Kola Korolchuk (for Bingley))

Here we are in Yorkshire after staying in Bradford the night before, on a beautiful day ready for match no. 1 of the tour.

As the Bingley team were depleted by the onset of the cricket season, and because of the number of players required being fifteen to fill our first game on a full size pitch, the opposition numbers were boosted in the first half by Thomas Kim (TK), Sam Issitt, Hugo Chambre, Alex Mitchell and Seb DeMenthon who all played magnificently for the hosts.

Some good passing along the three quarters, and forward running by Ollie and Luca resulted in the first try to Cambridge touched down by Luca. Freddie confidently dropped kicked this over the bar.

Cambridge 7, Bingley 0.

Great scummaging, followed by good passing out to the three quarters and Lawrence making up some good ground followed by a touch down by Archie. Unfortunately this try was not to be, due to Archie’s over exuberant handing off. However, after a scrum won by Cambridge, Jacob broke through the defences to score the second try, which Freddie then converted.

Cambridge 14, Bingley 0.

Then Sam Issitt made up some good ground for the Bingley team, quickly followed by Todd Roberts who was accelerating in the opposite direction down the wing for Cambridge before being tackled by Thomas Kim playing for Bingley.

Some good dodging by Freddie, followed by a ruck, then to Archie  who passed to Ollie who then performed a great run to score the 3rd try, again converted successfully by Freddie.

Cambridge 21, Bingley 0.

The Cambridge scrum were performing excellently as a team, the forwards and then  Sam Walker pushing forwards and making up good ground, followed by a text book series of passes out to the wing and then on to Freddie who had blended into position from full back and ran in to the try line for try no. 4. Again it was converted.

Cambridge 28, Bingley 0.

2ND Half

For the second half the contingent assisting Bingley were recalled to the Cambridge team and Kola, Sam Walker, Todd and Kieran were assigned to assist Bingley Bees.

Todd made a great run for Bingley, this was followed by a penalty for Bingley, and Kola made a charge for the try line only to be tackled by Cambridge on their try line. Cambridge then broke away back to the halfway line, but were stopped by Todd for Bingley, however Bingley came back  and following a great run scored a great try  scored by “Jamie” from the Bingley Bees. This was then converted.

Cambridge 28, Bingley 7.

This was followed soon after by a Kola breakaway from the half way line to score the second try for Bingley Bees. The conversion was made, hence: 

Cambridge 28, Bingley 14.

Cambridge were now under pressure from the Bingley team aided by the Cambridge players, but another Cambridge try followed soon, scored by Thomas Davies, then converted by Luke.

Cambridge 35, Bingley 14.

A Cambridge 6th try followed touched down by Thomas Kim, now back playing for Cambridge, and a brave conversion attempt by Luke hit the post, the ball  hesitating in mid air whist deciding which team to favour but then dropping like in a game of Harry Potters Quiditch having decided Cambridge had enough points already. Cambridge 40, Bingley 14.

The ball now hovered – not literally – around the halfway line for the next few minutes. Both teams defending well.

Then a piece of magic - a great scrum won by Cambridge followed by a kick to the wing by Luke which a sprinting Thomas Kim caught whilst flying past the opposition and a try by Thomas Kim reminiscent of the one we saw on the video of the 2003 Rugby World Cup earlier. Conversion by Luke.

Cambridge 47, Bingley 14.

Another series of good passes, pick ups and a ruck then Luke touched the ball down for try no. 8, which he then successfully converted.

Cambridge 54, Bingley 14.

And the end to a good warm up for the next days game against Wharfdale.

Sunday 26th April 2009

Match Summary:
A hard-fought encounter played in very good spirit between two well-matched teams who made the most of the extra space afforded by playing on a full-sized pitch. The scoreline does not really do justice to Cambridge and it would have been much closer if the hosts had not scored at the death in each half.  Cambridge looked good playing with a 15-man team on the full-sized pitch which bodes well for next year. 
Final Score
Wharfedale 33 - 0 Cambridge

 
Team (1st half)
1. Nihal 
2. Callum
3. Sam W
4. Thomas
5. Alex
6. Sam I
7. Luca  Hugo
8. Henry
9. Alex
10. Luke  Patrick
11. TK
12. Archie
13. Ollie
14. Todd
15. Freddy
Team (2nd half)
1. Ben 
2. Callum
3. Sam W  Nihal
4. Thomas
5. Alex  Kola
6. Kieran
7. Hugo  Ollie
8. Jonathon
9. Jacob
10. Luke  Patrick
11. Seb
12. Jack
13. Felix
14. Lawrence
15. Robbie  Freddy

Full Match Report:
Following an encouraging win against Bingley Bees on Saturday, the squad set off from the Dubrovnik hotel with high hopes for the encounter with the highly-rated Wharfedale team who had themselves just returned from a successful tour to Tynedale where they finished as tournament runners-up. It was a beautiful drive across the dales to Threshfield where we found a charming club nestling in the hills right next to the river Wharfe.

On a firm pitch, the coaches picked a strong starting line-up and they began well, keeping the pressure on Wharfedale with all the play in the first few minutes in the opposition half.  Cambridge put together several good moves the best of which saw possession kept for a number of phases before the ball was passed well through hand to Todd on the wing who made good progress.  The teams looked evenly matched although Wharfedale soon exerted pressure of their own with slick handling and good rucking.  However, all their efforts were snuffed out by good forward play and strong tackling especially by Luca who was flying around the pitch and put in three crunching tackles.

The first real chance of the match fell to Wharfedale who broke through the Cambridge defence but were thwarted at the last by an excellent try-saving tackle by Freddy.  From the resulting breakdown, Luke cleared impressively from under his own posts, his kick eventually going into touch on the 10m line.

A rare error in the Wharfedale defence gave Cambridge an opportunity but despite good work from Archie and TK, an attempted kick ahead by Luke was just too long and another good attack came to nothing.

Half way through the first half, Luca’s heroics were brought to an early end as he limped off the pitch with a knee injury to be replaced by Hugo.  Cambridge were unsettled and momentarily losing concentration, allowed Wharfedale to jink through their defence to score the first try which was duly converted.
 
Wharfedale 7 – 0 Cambridge

Patrick replaced Luke for the restart and the game continued to be evenly balanced although Wharfedale always looked the more likely to score.  Following a breakdown in the Wharfedale attack, Cambridge again broke through but another good run by Todd was eventually brought to and end when he was penalized fro not releasing.

Wharfedale were now applying lots of pressure and it was another last-ditch tackle by Freddy that prevented another score.  Cambridge were now on the back foot and this time it was the forwards that manfully kept their opponents at bay as they were threatening the try line.  Unfortunately, as it looked as if Cambridge would hold on until half-time, the Wharfedale scrum half picked the ball from the base of the scrum and sneaked round the blind side to score a second try for the hosts which was again converted.

Wharfedale 14 – 0 Cambridge

HALF TIME

Cambridge rang the changes for the second half, changing most of the team in order to give the whole squad a run out.  Despite all these changes, Cambridge continued to play with passion and effort and the game remained evenly balanced.  Cambridge’s best move early in the second half was a run by Lawrence who made good ground but eventually ran into a wall of Wharfedale forwards who stole the ball and made good use of the blind side to run round the Cambridge defence to score a third try which was converted.

Wharfedale 21 – 0 Cambridge

At this point a tiring Alex was replaced by Kola giving extra power to the pack.  Cambridge continued to tackle courageously winning the ball and releasing Kola on a typical bullocking run down the wing, which only ended when he was forced to put a foot in touch.

The forwards were putting in lots of work and matching their opponents.  Thomas made a particularly good burst though the middle but again the Wharfedale defence were up to everything Cambridge could throw at them.  Ollie returned to replace Hugo at flanker and showed his versatility by playing equally well there as he had at centre.

Another try opportunity for Wharfedale was averted when a dangerous kick ahead was well taken by Robbie who made up ground on the Wharfedale followers to field the ball and keep it alive long enough for Lawrence to come to his aid and together they held up the attack until the pack arrived.

Patrick returned, again replacing Luke, but once more Cambridge found themselves on the back foot and defending their own line.  A loose kick out of defence left the Wharfedale backs with too much space in midfield which they exploited well to score again.  This time the conversion was missed.

Wharfedale 26 – 0 Cambridge

Despite being well behind on points Cambridge showed lots of spirit and continued to battle for everything.  A good break by Ollie could have lead to a Cambridge score but the ball was eventually knocked on in midfield.

The full-sized pitch and warm weather was now taking their toll on Cambridge and Nihal replaced Sam W.  Wharfedale continued to attack, this time choosing to kick ahead; the ball bounced very unkindly for Freddy (back on to replace Robbie) but he still managed to field the ball and beat three players before being forced into touch.

Wharfedale attacks were now relentless and it was no surprise when they created an overlap on the left to score a fifth and final try in what turned out to be the last play of the match.  This was again converted giving a final score of

Wharfedale 33 – 0 Cambridge

The players retired to the dressing room to recover and join in with the very good-natured and hospitable Wharfedale end-of-season barbeque.