What a prospect! with 9 CRUFC boys in the Leys School line up, we had the perfect opportunity to play boys in and for, different positions against very familiar opponents.

Not surprisingly the contest quickly descended into a midfield battle, scrum and again and again, line out with both Louis and Sam N to the break down 1^st, poaching the ball, out to Ryan for a clear open side blast to place try # 1. From the kick off we took the scrum and won but failed to use the line that was waiting to be fed, an old, bad habit, but our forwards kept them on their 22 with unrelenting pressure.

Winning ball, they attacked, as far as Adam Burgess who put in a crunching tackle, with the ball loose, Bryn came to the rescue with another stunning cruncher, they won ball, produced an optimistic pass intercepted by Louis to keep possession and a scrum. Both Louis and Marcus put in precision runs for their lines from relentless Cambridge pressure ending the 1^st period 0 – 7 up.

A change of tactic from the Leys resulted in an early surge through the middle with the ball beating the chase and saving a soft try, again they came as far Euan, who intercepted, ploughed through 3 heavy tackles, supported by Will B and Louis zapping the defence as they rolled through, but were turned with the ball and all the pressure on their 5 mtr. With the line out won, we got the ball back, but Robbie had to fight hard to keep it (he’s a great little rucker), they scooped the loose ball, but Bryn was having none of it and ripped it back, ending the 2^nd period 0 – 7 up, still. The Leys were much more aggressive, but our front row held firm keeping the score line dormant, we just needed to work the ball from the back of the scrum or the ruck to the waiting back row, signature move required.   

OK guys, apart from the excellent defensive and ball creation performances, why do we have a back row?

was, essentially the message, its not difficult. The final period started just as scrappily as the previous, scrum; Robbie got the ball out to Sam N, to Marcus, to Louis, with a loop to Marcus and another loop for   

Louis place try # 2, see it really is quite easy. Tails up, scrum and again, we broke blind and into touch, scrum, driving maul, they countered as far as Rory, we countered, from the ruck, Robbie to Louis, to Marcus to Sam N to switch open side for the rest of the pitch to place try # 3, backs boys, its all in the backs. The Leys attacked as far as our 22, scrum, scrum that we won, but they broke again down the blind side and scored a well-deserved try finishing the match a respectable   5 – 19.

Lessons learnt?, our front row is 100% reliable, strong, disciplined and won most of the 50:50 ball, 2^nd row were both supportive and destructive, Euan, quiet but devastating and Luke who deserved the FORWARD of the MATCH award for his work rate. Back row, for the 1^st 2 periods had little to do due to the lack of ball, Rory and William Blackwell held the wings firm, the half backs were devilish, Louis and Ryan proving were very difficult pin down, but Sam Nery deserved his BACK of the MATCH award for his hands, positioning and support in the attack.

Try Scorers:-

Ryan Headington, Louis Rawlings and Sam Nery

Conversions:-

Ryan Headington 2 from 3 attempts