CRUFC U16s 17 - 31 Old Albanians

Scorers: Luca Williams, Ed O'Brian, Sam Segameglio(C), Oskar Dixon

This fixture had been eagerly anticipated since Cambridge came away from a hard encounter earlier in the season with no tries. Could the blood and sand do better this time? Yes! Five minutes after kickoff Luca came out of the back of a ruck down the blindside for a try in the corner, 5 – 0.
To be expected OAs pushed back hard, but disciplined defending by Cambridge kept the the sheet clean for the next 20 minutes. Then with 10 minutes of the half left handling errors left the door open and OAs scored under the posts, 5 – 7.
Undeterred Cambridge camped on the OAs line for 5 minutes but consistent tackling kept them out. A risky decision to put a grubber wide let OAs intercept and run down the wing for an easy try, 5 – 14. A now confident OAs showed some slick handling to take another try just before the half time whistle, 5 – 21.
The second half started with Cambridge on the back foot as OAs scored from a rolling maul in the corner, 5 – 26. At this point it would have been easy to lose heart, but Cambridge kept defending well for the next 10 minutes. Then a long lineout let Cambridge move the ball fast to the opposite wing, and then precariously back again for Ed O'Brian to score in the centre, converted by Sam Segameglio, 12 – 26.
A rejuvanated Cambridge then scored almost immediately after the restart with Oskar Dixon weaving down the wing, 17 – 26.
Had the OAs relaxed a little? They certainly came back strongly now and neat handling gave them one final try down the wing before the game ended, 17 – 31.
So a much narrower loss against the OAs gives Cambridge plenty to be proud of in a very physically intense game, and for the spectators on both sides a very enjoyable game to watch.