With our unbeaten season beginning to draw to a welcome close, we visited Ipswich for the 1^st time, looking forward to a good run out for most of our boys who had not played recently.

Cambridge were immediately put under pressure from an Ipswich break, well, as far as WillP, ouch! Coops broke from the scrum and we pushed Ipswich back to their 5 mtr where their defence kept our boys out, but break outs open and blind side stretched the them, Coops
again saw the gap, hit traffic, Rory carried and broke through, and lost his legs, but his hands got the ball to Ryan for our classic game settling try # 1. Ryan again tested their defence, tried open, then the middle but placed try # 2 open side. Ipswich came straight back, but Max
ripped and stole for Ryan to pierce the middle again and took the defence allowing Dan to place try # 3. With a nice momentum built, the boys pressed the Ipswich defence who could not stop Ryan from going through again and getting his hat trick and our 4^th try. Next, Rory
saw the gap and went, almost all the way and off loaded to Dan for his 2^nd & our 5^th try,  Ipswich made us pay for the gap in defence as they stole and planted their 1^st try in our corner, much to the chagrin of Marcus. The half finished with a breath taking blast from Max, who broke through on the half way line and placed try # 6 finishing the half 5:36
with 3 from 6 going over from Ryan.

Clearly Ipswich were now wise to how Cambridge play and swamped the ball making it tough for our fresh legs to gain any momentum. Ipswich pinned us to our 5 mtr with surge after surge, but Adam and the Josh’s’ kept the door shut tight, scrum, line out after line out monstered by Buff Tuff and Louis making a nuisance of himself, scrum, then again and finally Matt broke away, Dan had another go then Royston ploughed through for another scrum and another, Matt got it to their game line, Marcus moved it back and Matt was able to claim the 7^th try he had worked so hard to get. From the next scrum, Royston blew the defence away and WillP placed try # 8, with their mojo back, Louis went from half way, Marcus picked up the pieces and gave to Jack for try # 9. Back in charge, Cambridge pushed Ipswich back their 5 mtr, their defence was valiant, but Dan was relentless and eventually broke through for his 2^nd and out 10^th try. The match came to a close from a line out that Buff Tuff again messed for Ipswich, Matt again did all the work and Ryan closed the score with try # 11, with another 3 conversions between him and Marcus.

The score line does not do Ipswich justice, their defence was fierce and combative but not able to keep the bag of snakes that is the Cambridge back line from escaping, the scrums were pretty even, but best of all, it was an excellent demonstration by both sides of sportsmanship and spirit, our thanks to Ipswich and the ref, well done.

Try Scorers:-

Ryan Headington x 4, Dan Procter & Max Cley x 2, Matt Holl, Will Parker and Jack Bedlow

Conversions:-

Ryan Headington 4 from 7, Marcus Jones 2 from 3 attempts, not too shabby    

The prospect of meeting an in form Harpenden was eagerly anticipated as the test of the season so far for our unbeaten U16’s to liven up a cold and foggy Sunday, in front of
a decent crowd including resting or injured players and a delightful referee
who managed to keep everyone happy and in check.

As expected the game quickly became a midfield tussle for territory with our forwards matching the opposition onslaught, early breaks from Coops with Ryan to their 5 mtr and another from a ruck had the backs flow as Shea fed Louis to Ryan to Coops for Rory to
gas it to their game line for a scrum. They cleared as far as Hamish who popped to Coops for a ruck on their 22, Shea to Louis who tanked straight as a die into traffic popped to Jonno to place try # 1. Hamish collected and broke to Louis to Ryan who mauled to their 5 mtr, Callum lurked and lurched to place try # 2. Starving us of ball they re-gained control of the game, line outs and rucks eventually had Hamish turn it and burst out to Callum to Louis for a penalty, Shea took and gave to Rory for another blast down the wing. Again Harpenden swamped the ball, cold hands allowed a cheeky turn over, but they intercepted with a massive counter as far as last man Hamish, got him and a scrum, penalty to us, but  they turned it and pressed us to our game line and set up camp. A penalty to them, Ryan cleared but the momentum they had pushed us right back, more penalties to them from forced errors kept us pinned and the forwards as busy as I have ever seen them, Coops broke the spell, to Hamish to Rory to Louis to ½ way and the delight of our very own Anglo Saxon Euan for a line out and scrum. Penalty to us and Callum broke away to Ryan to Louis to Rory who blasted from the ½ way line to finally go over with try # 3, which was quickly met with a counter attack and well deserved try to Harpenden ending the ½ 19 – 7, the crowd were not disappointed, awesome spectacle.

The re-start was a mirror of the 1^st, scrums, line outs and penalties interspersed with searing tackles from Royston, Euan and Ryan didn’t stop them pushing back to our game line. Relentless pressure stretched Hamish, Euan and Royston to the limit and the relief of a knock on gave us a breather & a scrum where Shea was a right old handful to deal with, a line out then had us maul it to the ½ way line for a line out, they attacked, we turned it and WillB’s fresh legs opened the ga p, Hamish shot through to Ryan, Hamish switched and overlapped to place try # 4. We broke and they countered as far as Marcus with a massive tackle and line out, then a scrum, a penalty to them, then to us, Hamish broke again for Dan to steal the loose, another penalty, they countered, Euan turned it and hit rush hour, but Dan rescued his ball and went all the way to place try # 5, fantastic. Credit to Harpenden, they came straight back at us, fierce as ever, but tired legs and hands forced a fluff; WillB stole and scampered,
reversed to Louis to place try # 6. Again, they surged forward and forced more huge tackles from Marcus and WillP who could not stop them placing their 2^nd try just before the whistle.

Best we have ever seen the forwards defend, best we have seen the 2^nd row feed the backs,
best we have seen the backs move across the park giving the best performance of
rugby this season in the best natured match we have seen, great performance all
round.

Try scorers:-

Jonathon Bailey, Callum Austin, Rory Sheppard, Hamish Ritchie, Dan Proctor and Louis Rawlings

Conversions:-

Ryan Headington 5 from 6 attempts

County Cup Quarter Final

The boys immediately got stuck in with the ball spilling all over the place, Newmarket resisted a couple of early breaks with some solid defence until Ollie exploded from a ruck and through their defence, off loaded to Shea who popped to Hamish who blasted through for try # 1. Newmarket countered, but a monstrous tackle from Hamish turned the ball for Ollie to make
the yards through the traffic, out to Louis where Hamish had recovered position to finish off by planting try # 2. The boys camped out on their 5 mtr and tantalised their defence by moving the ball up and down the line until Ollie eventually gave up on trying to find a gap and just blasted through for try # 3. From the re-start the pressure applied by the front row was fierce; Louis hung back, waited and went, took the ball and went over for try # 4. Royston put in an
excellent performance scragging and rattling the defence with some brutal breaks on their 5 mtr that ended in a penalty to Newmarket followed by a line out where they lost a Prop and went down to 14 and reduced their ability to resist the relentless pressure. Ollie was catastrophic in the middle and forced another line out that had CallumA cranking up to blast over for try # 5. Ollie broke through again, Royston in support off loaded to Callum who took some bodies with him and freed WillB to go over for try # 6. With half time looming a loose
ball in the centre was scooped and Coops jinked his way through to place try # 7 between the posts closing the half and the contest with an official score line of 0:41 with the 3 conversions from Sean.

Newmarket were keen to play on, but with no subs and only 13 standing the spirit of the game shone through and allowed the Cambridge boys who had travelled and not played the 1^st
half to compete in a 13 a side running game. Newmarket put up a devilish defence in the
middle forcing handling errors but could not stop Hamish from blasting though the centre to plant try # 8. WillP and Seb made it difficult for them to string any moves together, Dan stole from the back of another ruck and escaped down the wing to place try # 9. With gaps forming in the middle, Hamish was able to time his run perfectly and was unstoppable from another kick off and scythed through the centre to place try # 10 which was rapidly followed by Ryan who ran through two tackles and was free to go all the way for try # 11. Newmarket continued to play a good strong defensive game which impacted on our forwards who included new
boy Louis Brock, but they could not stop Marcus scuttling the ball out to Hamish to place his 4^th and our 12^th try. The fact that Cambridge had a fresh set of legs and did not relent once,
meant that Newmarket could not break through the defence, a clearance from their 5 mtr was cleanly taken by Louis who, tongue out, went for it and tanked through the middle to place his debut try and our 13^th. The contest wrapped with Coops jinking around a tired defence to go over for a 2^nd time and finish the match with our 14^th try and a conversion a piece from Ryan and Marcus.

Try Scorers:-

Hamish Ritchie x 4, Sean Cooper x 2, William Blackwell,  Louis Rawlings, Ollie Dakin, Callum Austin, Dan Proctor and Louis Brock.

Conversions:-

1^st match of the new year, defending an unbeaten run for the season we arrived on a cold breezy Letchworth with almost a full squad anticipating a good contest.

With the wind against us we went straight into a scrum, Euan broke away offloaded to Ryan who switched, saw the back line, popped to Noah, to Louis to Rory to place try # 1. Another scrum, a ruck, this time Max broke away offloaded to Ollie who broke through, to Noah, to Rory to Louis in the same place to land try # 2, all amazingly untypical of our usual starts. Letchworth gathered themselves and scrummed down and again then a line out, Ryan broke away, Jack thundered into a tackle that ended with him being driven away in a cage in the back of a van which gave Letchworth some time to change their game plan by kicking every loose ball they got with the wind that made the mid field contest very even. Next, Louis saw a gap hit the gas took the high ball and was floored by a blinding tackle and left the pitch and the squad a Prop and a Fly Half down, however the pressure on their line became relentless with 3 attempts on their game line held up until another scrum had Jonno free to lurch over for try # 3. Letchworth kept coming back, a penalty on our 22, then a line out had Finlay put in another devastating tackle got the ball loose and also pulled his shoulder to loose our 2^nd Prop. Re-shuffled, Dan broke out for Ollie to dismantle their defence and another line out, CallumA switched his run, offloaded to Ollie who made space and returned it for Callum to place try # 4 finishing the half 0 – 24 up where the score line did not reflect the quality of rugby played.

With the wind with us, Letchworth really challenged our front rows, Jonno got the ball out to Marcus whose vision opened up their defence, rucks, a line out and a scrum got us to their 5 mtr with our back line making life miserable for their defence, Noah to CallumA made space for Shea to place try # 5. Euan got the ball and proved how invaluable he is with a superb drive between the 22’s where the line out came to CallumA who saw Dan already tanking through, got the ball and placed try # 6. A stunning take by Luke, a cheeky maul let Shea explode though a gap for WillB to scamper through 3 tackles and place try # 7. Fresh legs from the half time swap were taking their toll on a tired Letchworth, Marcus again read the match beautifully, split the defence for WillB to again blast through and place try # 8. The momentum changed when Ryan stopped an attack and downed his man shoulder first, with no malice at all, but technically the ref had no option but to let Ryan go leaving us a man short, Letchworth took their chance and launched into Callum who forced a turn over letting a prowling Shea to steal and place try # 9. Letchworth won a penalty, took a line out but Shea was there again, stole to Ollie who blasted through some poor soles making enough space for WillP to end the match with try # 10, Ryan had slotted 2 and another 3 from Marcus left us 60 points ahead which sounded impressive, but not as impressive as Letchworth who played to the whistle in one of the best examples of age group rugby we have seen, what a great squad.

Try Scorers:-

Alexander Shea-Simonds x 2, William Blackwell x 2, Rory Sheppard,  Louis Rawlings, Jonno Bailey, Callum Austin, Dan Proctor and William Parker

Conversions:-