Billy O’Reilly (Captain)    Chris Newbery
Toby Dean                    Mike Green
Tom Sweeney               Oliver Touhey
Oliver Danischewsky      Bradley McLean
Tom Beeston                Kyle Warwick
Chris Ward                   Hector Dearman
Josh Eden                    Jack Wilson
Tom Pettit                    Tom Grace
Freddie Jackson
Nathaniel Kaill
Jackson Ritchie
Tomas Kucevicius

Playing conditions were good as Cambridge took the field against Hertford; a far cry from the unrelenting downpour of the County Cup.  A fresh breeze, getting stronger as the game progressed, was to play its part, however, and this favoured Cambridge in the first half of the encounter.

Hertford kicked off and after a short sortie into Cambridge territory were forced back by a probing kick from Mike Green.  Good support took the ball to Hertford’s line.  Astute scrummaging, with Tom Pettit to the fore, won a penalty for Cambridge and Billy O’Reilly took the ball over for the first of two Captain’s tries close to the posts.  Mike Green converted to make the score 7 – 0.

Following the re-start, Cambridge entered on a period of dominance, sending Jack Wilson (today playing full back) down the right wing almost to the line.  Good takes and offloads, involving Bradley McLean, Mike Green and others, took the ball back down the middle and enabled Billie once more to bulldoze through.  This time no conversion followed.  The score was 12 – 5.

From the kick-off, good Cambridge hands again took the ball upfield, with Chris Ward putting Ollie Touhey down the right wing, beating two Hertfordians to touch down near the corner (score:17-5)

With ten minutes to half time Hertford saw any chance of avenging last year’s defeat slipping away.  They regrouped and settled themselves for the fight back, defending well and keeping Kyle Warwick from the line, albeit with a high tackle.  Then came the counter-attack, with the play forced back into Cambridge territory and despite heroic tackling by Bradley, Jack Wilson and others, Hertford achieved a touch-down in Cambridge’s left hand corner.  
(No conversion; Score 17 – 10)

Five more minutes of furious see-saw play, some desperate tackling on both sides, with sterling work by Josh Eden, Tom Beeston and Jackson Ritchie took Cambridge to the calmer waters of half-time – a 17 – 10 lead, but a second half to come, against a resurgent Hertford, now aided by a stiff breeze.

Play resumed, with several changes to the Cambridge team, mixing and matching their talents.

Clearly Hertford had been the recipients of some good tactical advice over the half time interval and resumed their attacking mode, probing the Cambridge defence with accurate long range kicks, coupled with good handling and well drilled and sharply angled running by the backs.  Again and again, they came – but Cambridge defended heroically with stalwart tackling by all, keeping Hertford out, but never quite clearing sufficiently to earn real respite.  Pressure was huge and at last Hertford managed to force the line on the right side of the field.  (Score 17 – 15, but no conversion.)

Back came Hertford, after the restart, again forcing the pace down the right-hand touch line – but never quite achieving the try-line.

Fifteen minutes to go and suddenly a change of pace and strategy by the beleagured Cambridge pack.  Spurred on by a couple of scrum-half breaks, suddenly the pack was in full cry and for five minutes the forwards put phase after phase of play together, once more looking dangerous, dominating the Hertford pack.  Another Cambridge forwards’ try looked a distinct possibility, when suddenly one of the Hertford team went down, and stayed down.

The game moved sideways onto another pitch, while an ambulance was called.  Cambridge pressure continued and now, with 5 minutes to go, Hertford looked vulnerable.

The game played out in Hertford’s territory, with no further score, but nail biting to the end; 17 – 15 to Cambridge.

Altogether an excellent and evenly matched contest, which Cambridge did well to win.  No ‘man of the match’ – but many!  A real team effort, hard fought and very exciting to watch.  Well done, guys!