There was a time a century or so ago when most rugby players sported a neat moustache or well trimmed sideburns. CRUFC yesterday could be proud of their whiskers, grown in aid of prostate cancer research. However CAB (not Circa Alan Banks but Cornish All Blacks/Launceston) will remember their second game in Cambridge, like their first two seasons ago, a very close shave indeed.

Once again an evenly matched pulsating game went into injury time before CAB added the essential 2 point conversion for 4 league points. It should have been so different. This was a match that was both exciting and exasperating.

For the second time this season Cambridge reacted slowly, if at all, to referee, Terry Hall's, cryptic calls for hands off in the rucks. Where CAB were angels with acute hearing, CRUFC shut out the distracting background noises to concentrate on digging for victory. Eleven penalties/free kicks conceded to none given in favour, was the unique tally by half time. Unique that is for me and my match summaries compiled over the past 3 seasons. The one way error pattern also produced two yellow cards against Cambridge, both unnecessary yet fair and curtailing the potency of the home side surges.

On the positive side we defended as though our jobs were on the line, destroying attack after attack with try preventing tackles on or over the line. In that Luke Fielden excelled. On the counter attack Ben Patston and Chris Lombaard linked well with their back row colleagues, the latter transformed from the sterile unit a week earlier. Tom Powell returned from injury and was the fastest over 5 metres, in a game where pace was possible given the perfect pitch and a mild November day.

Thirty minutes into the game and nothing to show for either side on the Adcock scoreboard. CAB had come closest and probably deserved their penalty advantage nudged over by full back Jon Fabian on the half hour. Cambridge responded the quicker, the first to score with pressure, wide passes and a try for Chris Lombaard on the left hand corner flag (Photo 6). The second try came with Captain Darren Fox close to the action but locked in the sin bin.

A scruffy clearance kick bounced awkwardly towards Ben Patston. He gathered cleanly some thirty metres out drew the cover defence to give James Hinkins a clear run in to the other corner (Pictures 8-12).

Half time CRUFC 10 CAB 3

There had been a hint of a breeze in our favour but nothing to impact upon second half tactics for either side. Cambridge had lost Mike Guess early with a recurring hamstring injury but Ben Cooper had settled in well as his replacement. On the side of the angels, Glen Remnant our former back row hard man, was effective but wearing a headband and sticking to the basics. I doubt that Tim Collier the All Black's lock has ever been described as angelic, but maybe such are the transforming powers of our top referees. Terry Hall having cast CAB as the villains in managing their early season game at Redruth, produced this match report comment at the time from CAB coach Jon Hill " we gave away too many penalties. We have got to look at our own levels of discipline. There can be no comeback from back chat to a referee, you don’t get away with anything like that. We have got to be much more switched on in that area and clued in to our own levels of self-discipline and the penalties that we gave away cost us the game today.”

Much the same could have been said of Cambridge yesterday as the penalty count ended 19 - 5 against the hard of hearing.

Back to the game and an early second try for Chris Lombaard (Photo 17) his, once again from good handling and wide distribution. Had we managed the same at Tynedale we could at the very least have come away with two bonus points. Our opposition have the campaign medals from a season in National League 1 with two hard earned victories away from home including the trouncing of Esher. Their third quarter unrelenting pressure produced tries for CAB wing Marc Dibble and scrum half Ben Turner, both well to the right of the posts. Just two points between the sides and replacements came thick and fast. Somehow the need to switch on the referee receiver was lost on Pete Kolakowski as Terry Hall penalised his athletic dive across a ruck. One minute on, ten minutes off and the clock allowing him just a further two minutes on his return. Penalties were exchanged and missed by both sides, replacement Adam Staniforth taking over kicking duties from Jon Fabian for CAB.

Cambridge held the lead until their 15th player returned only to fall in injury time to a Mal Roberts try. Exactly the same drama had ended the last match when CAB visited for the first time. 21 all and a difficult kick from the right touchline sailed over cleanly for ecstasy to meet despondency under the Adcock clock. Such is the excitement of league rugby,  ignored by the English RFU at their peril.

The seasoned campaigners well deserved the narrow victory that takes them above us in the table. We hang on in there in 4th place with a lot to think about and work on over the next 14 days. The final two games take us up to the half way stage, Redruth the challenge away on the 29th November and Blackheath at home one week later. We cannot now reach the essential 50 points for serious promotion prospects but RFU decisions 48 hours ago make that goal both irrelevant and unattractive. The revised challenge is to demonstrate our proven potential for four quarters in a row. That asks a lot of us at Redruth but from then onwards successive victories are on the cards with  three key players returning from long term injury. Meanwhile rest and recuperation are essential reflecting also upon the reality that CAB train both 3 evenings each week and a couple of early mornings. Now there's a first for me. Did those whiskered Edwardians in their longjohns jump straight out of bed and do the same I wonder?

Mal Schofield 

Photos here