Match report Cambridge U14 vs.Bury St Edmunds Final score 53-17

Another day of glorious blue skies, with a stiff wind, and Cambridge’s final game of the 2008/2009 season. Some notable differences to the curtain raiser match, no big crowd, no first team pitch and missing some players now the cricket season has begun. However this is a team game and we had 23 players from the squad available and all played a part in this game. However there was one piece of continuity from the last match, last time it was referee and linesmen wired up and providing excellent control throughout the game, this time both teams benefitted from the excellence of Tony Kennedy as the man in charge. I think I can safely say for both sets of coaches and from talking to Cambridge and Bury players during the match we all enjoyed his firm and decisive hand in what turned out to be a match of flowing rugby by both teams, thank-you Tony.

So to the game, having moved to the grassier pitch 1, Cambridge kicked off. The first 5 minutes were spent retreating, as the Cambridge forwards continually infringed at the ruck situation until they understood what Mr Kennedy was expecting of them (he was very clear!!). However possession was gained and a chip from Oli Benham was allowed to bounce and Michael Brennan pounced on the ball and raced away to score, with Oli converting.

The next phase of play saw the ball go up and down the pitch  until Cambridge secured possession, moved the ball smartly down the re-jigged back line and Seb Howarth sprinted away to score close to the posts, however Oli pulled the conversion wide.

Bury however came back strongly and poor tackling by forwards and backs saw a rapid response with the conversion missed.

Back came Cambridge, forcing a scrum toward the left touchline 5 metres out, a well rehearsed No 8/scrum half move by Mikey Brennan with a pop pass to Callum Traynor on his shoulder saw Callum go over in the corner (perfect execution!!), Oli’s kick was just short. From the ensuing kickoff, Oli caught the ball and punted it downfield, it wasn’t dealt with by the Bury full back and Mikey Brennan again pounced to score, with Oli converting.

With good ruck ball being generated by the forwards, Cambridge were taking control, after a kick head by Oli we regained possession and the ball ended up with James Travers making the break and scoring, this time Oli made no mistake with the conversion. Cambridge again drove downfield and moved the ball through a few phases before Seb made the break to score his second try of the half in the corner, Oli just missing with the conversion.

Half time 36-5

Changes made at half time and some players asked to play out of position and a debut for Conor McDonald at prop. Bury continued to play good rugby, as they had in the first half and were rewarded when their inside centre (12) made a strong break and ran through a number of tackles to score. Cambridge came right back with James Travers taking a clearing catch and running the ball in from halfway going through a number of tackles on the way to score his second of the day. Cambridge were at this time temporarily down to 14 men (for 10 mins) and play became more even. Although the chip kick had worked a couple of times Cambridge began to use it too much and the strong running Bury flanker (7) took one attempt and ran through 2-3 tackles to score under the posts, the conversion being made successfully. However once parity was restored in terms of team numbers, with Will Chivers returning to make some good tackles on his opposite number, Cambridge exerted more pressure. A clearing kick by Bury was caught by Oli Benham, who battled through to score in the corner, his conversion kick fell short. 

More pressure from Cambridge saw Matt Green, playing at outside centre held up over the line. From the scrum Fred Bates picked up and drove over to score, Oli missing with the conversion.

Final score: 53-17

Try scorers: Seb Howarth (2) Michael Brennan (2), James Travers (2) Callum Traynor, Oli Benham, Fred Bates

Conversions: Oli Benham (4)

A good performance that perhaps didn’t hit the heights of excellence of the previous match where everything clicked but the scrum was solid with Tom Zhang, Amedee Vautravers (again prominent in the loose as well) and Harry Rhodes taking care of business, Conor McDonald and Darius Kiani seeing some time in the second half, good lineout ball was won by Tom Claydon, Colm Britchfield, Bas Jansen and George Davies The back row of Michael Brennan, Rory McMahon, James Travers, Neil Smith and Fred Bates harassed the opposition and won ball all over the park. Callum Traynor and Will Brennan set the backs on their way with the ball provided to them and Oli ran the re-jigged back line well, for someone (Seb) who expressed a dislike of playing inside centre before the game his 2 tries didn’t show it. Matt Green nearly got over for his second try of the season and Steven Smallman and Caius Haines provided good support and defended as well as anyone, with Hugh Pritchard entering the back line as often as possible. Things to improve on, well the tackling left something to be desired, but we can work on that!

So the end to an interesting season, a review of the fixture list shows us to be unbeaten since Christmas, with the retention of the County Cup, including all the County cup games our record was:

Our squad has adapted to the loss of a number of players from the U13 team well. New players have joined and the squad have developed into a group that play for each other and the team rather than personal glory. That squad ethos has been demonstrated as we have watched players who are relatively new to the game, certainly at club level, develop over the year and become guys who we can rely on when the more experienced members are unavailable due to injury etc. New players have continued to join as the year has progressed and have been welcomed into the team, Caius Haines’s surging runs on his debut against Colchester hold much promise for next year, and Conor’s debut today was extremely solid. We’ve had 15 team members who have represented Cambridgeshire at U14 level and look forward to them continuing to earn representative honours.

Most of all we, the coaching and admin team, hope all the team have enjoyed their rugby this year. We’ve worked them hard and feel they have responded well to the challenge of improving their play whatever the standard, but most of all we hope it has been fun along the way. We look forward to building on this year and moving into the 2009/2010 season.

JP