Scrum half Simon Shaw scoring Cams first try – picture by Lee of Scrumpix .
Cam returned to winning ways with what is certainly their most satisfying result of the season so far – an emphatic 37-20 result against the only side who managed to beat them last season – Teddington.
With the visitors forgetting their shirts the start was delayed by almost 15 mins and from the ko Cam found themselves on the defensive, however the forwards grafted well to ease the danger and after 10 mins play Cam deservedly took the lead. From an attacking ruck on the visitors 22, scrum half Simon Shaw spotted a big hole in the visitors defence and with a jinking run just made it to the line (usually his darts are limited to 10m!!). With the conversion by Dave Wood Cam had their noses in front.
From the restart Cam turned on the pressure again and were soon camped on the Teddington line with the Cam supporters just waiting for the next score. However they were to be disappointed as a long pass was intercepted by the Teddington winger 10m from his line and he made it to the other end for a converted try much against the run of play.
At this stage Cam were playing all of the rugby but sometimes were a bit over ambitious. The next score came after 27 mins when, following a bullocking charge by flanker Hoff, the ball was quickly recycled and good vision from Gareth Rise saw a long pass put winger Dan Lewis free - he collected his own neat chip over the last defender to score an excellent try again converted by Dave Wood.
The supporters had to wait 10mins for the next score but it was worth it with the forwards winning good ball again and quick hands saw winger Alex O’Meara set off for the try line chipping the final defender and winning the race to touch down making the score 19-7. On 38 mins Jayde Cruickshank added to the score with a long distance penalty although from the restart Teddington scored a try wide out leaving the half time score 22-12.
The black and ambers then had a period where they could not turn their superiority into points and on 55 minutes the visitors cut the deficit with a dropped goal. However this simply focussed the hosts again as, with flanker Andy Goodman collecting the Camberley restart, the black and ambers moved the ball wide for Alex O’Meara to score his second of the afternoon.
Cam were now playing confident rugby and extended their lead with a monstrous penalty kick by Jayde from almost half way.
With the bonus point secured Cam momentarily took their foot off the gas and Teddington managed a try wide out but this only spurred Cam on once more and some more excellent, flowing rugby saw Alex O’Meara unselfishly!! passing to Jayde Cruickshank to score the 5th and final try.
This was a very good performance from a side still missing a number of regulars and I’m sure that Head Coach Gloss will have a number of interesting decisions at selection after the way in which the lads stepped up their game today.
Steve Pollock played out of his skin on his first run out with the 1′s and the returning Dave Wood at 10 looked like he had been playing with the squad all season – the pack as a whole were outstanding and it was testament to them that with debut flanker Phil Hanson packing down in the second row, the last scrum of the game saw Teddington being pushed back at some pace. The backs showed what we have known all season, when they get good ball they are very dangerous - 4 of the 5 tries today being scored by wingers or centres – and today they also upped their defensive game with skipper Rory Jones leading by example with a seriously high tackle count.
With the training lights now operational again, the 2′s remaining unbeaten and hopefully more of the squad available for next week the coming Tuesday and Thursday nights could be fascinating.
