A wet night gave way to a drizzled morning as Cambridge welcomed Old Northamptonians to Granchester Road. The grumpy home Linesman / Water Boy stamped his feet in a puddle as he reluctantly took his position on the line.  Early this spring we saw a fine closely fought match in Northampton April sunshine lost by a single score. Apparently they were fielding an under strength side - they had to recruit Fred Jackson to prop their scrum. Coach Baxter was rightly sceptical.

The first 10 minutes bode well for the home side as strong tackles sunk in: Cambridge forwards exerted early dominance. Hector Dearman tackled hard, Chris Newberry gained good ground early on from scrum half. But it never really came close to the elusive try as their centres tackled hard.  And then their forwards began to flex themselves too as the ball swung to the Cambridge zone & pretty well stayed there for the rest of the half. Cambridge held their own in the scrum & line out, but were guilty of far too many niggling petty fouls that were quickly penalised by an officious ref. The midfield kicks, whilst usually positive, never seemed to gain that much ground. The ON`s at this point had the possession without really threatening to score.  Poor innocent Josh Eden was ticked off for Kyle Warwick’s indiscrete tackle.  

At 0-0 at half time, hopes were alive of a positive result, if not confident. Cambridge faced a quality team with strength across the side. Their # 12 has the pace and invention that threatens to turn the game.

Second half began with Nathanial Kaill taking the ON Jersey at Prop with Tom Beeston on for Jackson Ritchie, George Lee for Mike Green & Hamish Pottinger (do not forget the French accent as you say that) for Newberry. In the crowd are old friends back from the valley: Messrs Wayne & Dylan Powell urging their support. Aberystwyth's gain is our loss.

Despite the new legs Cambridge reverted to type: little invention in midfield to get the ball out to the wings: petty mistakes in the ruck. The team held up well under pressure : Safe hands under pressure by Cossie. Crunching tackles by Mr McLean repaid with botox (OK, an elbow) to the lip. Chris Ward jumped well in the line out. A few missed tackles on the wing, but still they held their own without threatening the ON half. “Oh Shit” said the ON scrum half one second before being flattened by a returning Jackson Ritchie. Baxter Jr. was having a solid game.

The ON`s maintain their positional pressure, the ball rarely leaves the Cambridge half. After 15 minutes of pressure the O.Ns centres finally forced over on the wing. This is followed by a successful penalty kick.  8-0.

Hamish Pottinger’s sprint from a quick kick off gains ground: George Lee breaks for the line and Cambridge finally wake up. A held up try is followed by a scrum: Gareth Baxter forces himself over the line.  George Lee efficiently converts but the whistle has gone: lost by the point. 7-8.  Given the territorial losses it could have been more.

Neither the forwards nor backs played badly, but we lacked the killer instinct or the inspirational move to break them down. Appreciative  applause greeted the departing tired players from a crowd watching a hard fought match.

Something was missing from the team today – that spark of imagination that we have seen so many times before to pull out wins from games like this. Remember  Stade Foyen?  One for the coaches to work on.

Tim Ritchie