1st XV Fixtures and Reports from Prior Seasons
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Reports 2007-2008 Reports 2008-2009
Reports for Season 2009/2010
Camberley 30 – Ellingham and Ringwood 28 10th April 2010
Camberley entertained Ellingham and Ringwood for their vital last game of the season with relegation issues still to be resolved and in an exciting encounter which saw both sides take the lead in the final quarter they eventually won by the narrowest of margins with a penalty in injury time.
Cam had the perfect start by scoring within the first minute through full back Dan Lewis who collected a poor kick on his own 10m and sidestepped and scorched his way through the entire Ellingham side to touch down under the posts. With Zac Crabb adding the extras Cam were 7-0 in front within 2 mins.
Things got even better for Cam when, having taken play into the visitors half, they turned over possession on halfway and released Dan Lewis who took the ball at full speed and left the Ellingham fullback clutching thin air to score his second try in 5 minutes.
Cam then came under pressure from the restart and when they failed to control the ball at the base of the scrum the Ellingham scrum half was able to touch down and with the conversion they were right back in the game at 12-7 after 9 minutes.
With Neil Budd collecting the restart and Andy Dowan pushing play up to the visitors line Cam were soon back on the attack but they conceded a series of penalties and also made some very simple handling errors which enabled the visitors to move play back into the Cam half.
Cam were unlucky not to have been awarded a try when winger Zac Crabb again took play deep into the visitors 22 but his pass to Dan Lewis was adjudged to have been forward – at least it saved Dan's bar bill. However, when an attempted drop goal fell short Ellingham ran the ball back and only a last ditch tackle by Alex Gould and Marc Angell prevented a try.When Cam were penalised Ellingham opted for the kick which was not successful but they were soon on the attack again when some poor tackling allowing them to move back into the Camberley 22. Cam moved out of their half when Zac Crabb was up quickly to tackle his opposite number who was penalised for not releasing. When the penalty kick failed to make touch Zac again tackled the winger and won another penatly on the visitors 10m line but the kick at goal by Andy Dowan just slid the wrong side of the posts.
Cam almost added to their score when a good break by Dan Lewis and Marc Angell again took play deep into the visitors 22 but the ball was knocked on. However, when the visitors were penalised for feeding the scrum the penalty was taken quickly and Zac Crabb crossed in the corner to make the score 17-7 after 33 minutes.
From the restart Cam made hard work of clearing their lines and conceded a cheap penalty which was converted at the second attempt to make the score 17-10 after 40mins. Unfortunately Cam were not able to keep the game tight in injury time and again were penalised on their 22 and so halftime arrived with the score 17-13 which clearly flattered the visitors.
From the restart Cam conceded a penalty and when this failed Neil Budd collected the 22m drop out and good play by forwards and backs saw Dan Lewis take play back to the visitors 22. However Ellingham were the first to score in the second half when they took advantage of some poor Cam tackling to score a converted try after 46 mins and almost from the restart Cam conceded another penalty which Ellingham kicked to extend their lead to 17-23 after 50 mins.
Cam then woke up and with Dan Lewis taking play back into the visitors 22 with another electrifying run the Cam forwards set up a series of drives which in the end saw Dave Rees cross wide out.
At this stage Cam had their tails up and the restart was brought back into the visitors half with a great run by Zac Crabb and although the attempted crosskick to Dan Lewis bounced into touch the Cam forwards were back in the 'red zone'.
With Alex Gould winning the visitors lineout the forwards set up a series of powerful drives which ended when scrum half Andy Walsh fought his way over for another try making the score 27-23 after 62 mins.
Again from the restart Cam came back after winning their 3rd strike against the head and a good break by Josh Watson took play into Ellinghans 22 but then the black and ambers conceded a series of penalties which in the end put pressure on their own line and when Robbie Nicholas was shown a yellow card close to the Cam line Ellingham opted for the lineout and eventually they managed to make the extra man count and scored a try wide out to retake the lead 27-28 after 70 mins.
Again Marc Angell collected the Cam restart but despite being penalised for holding on play was soon back in the visitors 22 when Cam won yet another opposition lineout.
Play became more frantic as both sides strived for the score which would settle the game and when a great move by the Cam backrow was halted by a forward pass the 7 man Cam pack destroyed the visitors scrum to take play into the opposition 22. This pressure eventually produced a penalty in front of the posts on the 22m line and young Zac Crabb stepped up to kick the goal and put Cam back into the lead 30-28 with only injury time to play and this time Cam kept things tight until the final whistle.
This was a tremendous performance by the black and ambers who had eventually outplayed the third placed side both in the forwards where the front row won 5 strikes against the head and Alex Gould and Robbie Nicholas disrupted the lineouts and also in the backs where the visitors had no answer to the speed and elusive running of Dan Lewis and Zac Crabb.
With Andover losing at home Cam will definitely avoid relegation if Old Wimbledonians take the points next Saturday when they entertain Andover otherwise the black and ambers will need to wait until the RFU finalises next seasons leagues.
Squad J Pengilley, P Nolan, P Stickland, A Gould, R Nicholas, M Angell, R Beukes, D Rees, A Walsh, A Dowan, C Eccles, N Budd, J Watson, Z Crabb, D Lewis, R Mugford, P Jackson, G Hunt
RogerB
Camberley 13 – Fordingbridge 7 3rd April 2010
Cam welcomed Fordingbridge to a very wet Watchetts for their penultimate game of the season. The heavy overnight rain made playing conditions very difficult for both sides and Cam, who lost their coach earlier in the week and were also without 6 of the starting lineup from the previous week, were desperate to claim a win and improve their chances of avoiding relegation.
In the event a tremendously gutsy performance saw them deservedly beat a young Fordingbridge side, who were making their first ever visit to Watchetts, and so keep their chances alive.
Cam started brightly and scored within five minutes when a clever chip ahead by Andy Dowan was helped on by winger Chris Eccles leaving Alex Gould the simple job of scoring from a couple of metres. This was the exactly thel start that Cam had needed and although Zac Crabb's conversion just slid the wrong side of the upright the team's confidence was apparent.
Cam were back on the attack from the restart and were awarded a penalty 5m from the visitors line and a series of pick and drives saw them cross the line only to be held up.
Zac Crabb was had another attempt at goal when Fordingbridge were penalised on their 22 but conditions were not good for kickers and again he was just off target. However he was soon to be on the score sheet when a scything run by Josh Watson brought play into the visitors 22 again and quick recycling saw Andy Dowan chip for Zac to pick up and score in the corner. So with the score 10-0 after 14 mins and with the black and ambers having the best of these early exchanges the spectators could ignore the poor conditions.
Cam seemed to adapt to the conditions better than the opposition and were soon playing back deep in the visitors 22 only to be held up over the line following a series of pick and drives.
The black and ambers ball retention was certainly much better that previously during the season and the accuracy of their passing was significantly improved. Although the forwards were grinding out the yards the backs were also playing a full part in the game, solid in defence when needed and very positive in attack or when returning the visitors kicks.
After 25 mins Fordingbridge did venture into the Cam 22 but great defence saw the ball turned over and good hands between Andy Walsh and Simon Burgess saw play return to the visitors half.
For the rest of the half this remained the pattern with Cam doing most of the attacking and Fordingbridge, for the most part pinned back in their half and so the hosts held a well deserved lead at halftime.
The second half started with the Fordingbridge forwards much more aggressive and soon Cam were defending desperately as a series of penalties kept the pressure on the Cam line and they were fortunate on several occasions when the visitors spilled possession but on 55 mins Fordingbridge closed the gap when their scrumhalf made a neat break to touch down under the posts.
But rather than let their heads drop Cam came back and were soon playing back in the visitors half following a great break by Alex Gould and this pressure eventually resulted in another Cam penalty which Zac Crabb was able to convert taking the score to 13-7 after 72 mins.
Fordingbridge did press momentarily after the restart but soon Cam took play down into the Fordingbridge half and this pressure was maintained with Alex Gould and Marc Angell prominent in carrying the ball forward. So with the forwards still working hard and Andy Dowan keeping play in the visitors half the ref blew for full time to the delight of the loyal supporters.
This was a tremendous performance by the squad with everyone playing their part to the full – the back three of Zac, Rob and Chris were sound defensively and also gained serious ground when running back the visitors kicks.
Centres Gareth and Josh were really solid on a day not meant for threequarters and Josh's tackling was awesome.
The halfbacks worked well together and both of the Andys had their best game for some weeks and this supported the gutsy performance by the pack.
The front row of Stickers, Paul, Muggy, plus replacement Ted played themselves to a standstill and they deserve special praise for the way that they survived some severe pressure in the set scrum early in the second half but did not take a backward step and in the final quarter regained their dominance of the first half.
The second row of Robbie and the Hoff had outstanding games and were all over the park and their tackle count and yards gained were amazing. The lineouts went well in terrible conditions and The Hoff was also able to spoil some of the opposition throws.
The backrow were tremendous both in attack and defence and managed to spoil many of the visitors moves around the scrum while making a number of telling breaks themselves.
Overall a very satisfying performance in extremely difficult conditions with a special mention to acting coaches Andy and Simon who despite the many distractions this week managed to keep the squad focussed for this important game.
The final game of the season is at home v 3rd place Ellingham and Ringwood April 10th ko 3.00pm
Squad: P Stickland, P Nolan, R Mugford, A Gould, R Nicholas, M Angell, G Fleming, S Burgess, A Walsh, A Dowan, C Eccles, J Watson, G Hunt, Z Crabb, R Bamford, R Jones, R Beukes, P Davies.
RogerB
Camberley 22 – Old Alleynians 36 27th March 2010
Camberley entertained OA's knowing that they needed a win to move them away from the relegation zone. In the event, despite a rousing performance in the final quarter, they were unable to claw back the points which had been conceded cheaply earlier in the game.
On a slippery pitch Cam started slowly and soon found themselves under pressure in their own 22 and despite some brave defence OA's opened their account after just 7 mins with a converted try.
OA's scored again when, following a period of play in their own half, they were able to relieve the pressure with a penalty which took play back into the Cam 22 and from the resultant lineout the OAs tighthead spotted a big gap in the Cam defence scoring an unconverted try after 11 mins.
Cam were soon on the attack though when a good break by Dan Lewis saw his chip ahead taken on by Zac Crabb but the ball went out of play deep in the OA's 22.
This pressure brought a chance to reduce the deficit when Cam were awarded a penalty but the kick slid past the upright.
The Cam forwards then stepped up a gear and keeping the ball tight they kept play in the OAs 22 but good defence prevented a try although Cam were next to score when Zac Crabb kicked a penalty after 25 mins making the score 3-12.
This Cam pressure was shortlived however when from the restart OA's took play deep into the Cam 22 and crossed for another unconverted try after 30 mins.
Play was mostly in the OA's half but when the visitors kick into the Cam half was not collected they applied pressure and moved the ball wide to score on the stroke of halftime making the score 3-22.
The Cam supporters however had seen the great comeback at Sandown and believed that all was not lost however a heavy downpour made conditions even worse and when OA's scored a converted try after only 42 mins things became even tougher.
Playing conditions became a lottery with both sides unable to control the slippery ball and after 52 mins OA's dealt a hammer blow to Cam when they scored again after they intercepted a Cam 22 drop out making the score 3-36.
With conditions still atrocious Cam at last decided to play and after 60 mins a clever crossfield kick by Andy Dowan was collected by Chris Eccles who managed to get the ball away to Dan Lewis who ran in to score under the posts with the conversion by Zac Crabb.
The pressure by Cam was maintained and all of the action moved close to the visitors line and Andy Dowan ran through to score near the posts making the score 17-36 with the conversion by Zac after 70mins.
Dan Lewis added a further try on 75 mins when a good change of direction saw quick hands from Andy Walsh and Neil Budd put the 'racer' over wide out. The conversion was unsuccessful but with the score 22-36 it was now all Camberley.
Almost immediately the Lewis Express was denied what appeared another good try in the corner – perhaps the referee was being kind as hatricks can be expensive affairs in the bar particularly for a student!!!
So, despite more Cam pressure there was no further scoring leaving Cam 3rd from bottom and still possible candidates for relegation.
The next game at Watchetts is on Saturday April 3rd against Fordingbridge ko 3.00
Squad: J Pengilley, P Nolan, W Mullen, A Gould, R Nicholas, M Angell, M Short, S Burgess, A Walsh, A Dowan, Z Crabb, D Lewis, N Budd, C Eccles, G Hunt, P Stickland, G Fleming, C Annan.
RogerB
Old Paulines 6 – Camberley 3 20th March 2010
Camberley travelled to bottom club Old Paulines looking to kickstart the final stages of their League campaign with a win which would carry them well clear of any relegation places. In the event, in a scrappy game, Cam did not convert their first half dominance into points and were beaten by a late drop goal.
Playing with the advantage of the breeze in the first half Cam soon took play into the OPs 22 but, despite winning good ball, there seemed no way through the home sides defence despite the efforts of Neil Budd and Andy Dowan and so Cam had to be satisfied with a penalty on 10 mins to open their account.
At this stage the visitors forwards were dominant but seemingly had no answer to the fierce defence they were facing.
From the restart Cam were soon back in the OPs half courtesy of a couple of penalties but when awarded a kick midway between the 22 and 10m line Andy Dowan pushed the kick wide.
Play continued in the OPs half but despite a surfeit of possession Cam just did not seem to have the ability to change their game plan and so the backs were frequently confronted with man and ball situations when an occasional chip over the defence could have kept the defenders a little more 'honest'.
As is often the case when one side has so much possession OPs almost took the lead when a break by their backs saw a certain try halted with a great tackle from fullback Gareth Hunt. This signalled a period when Cam were required to defend desperately but eventually they took play back down into the hosts half following a series of good scrums.
Cam were next to go close when a break by Dan Lewis deep into the 22 was only stopped by a forward pass.
OPs then had a brief period of pressure but play had moved back to their 22 when the ref blew for halftime.
Cam started the second half brightly and a break from the base of the scrum took play to within 5m of the OPs try line but the ball was turned over and the hosts slowly took play into the Cam half. Despite still having most of the ball Cam could not seem to gain control af the game and following a messy passage of play around the visitors 22 Cam conceded a penalty which was kicked to bring the scores level on 55 mins.
From the restart again Cam forced their way into the opposition 22 with good following up by Dan Lewis chasing a neat chip from the base of the scrum but the pressure was relieved when Cam lost their lineout.
OPs then started to use the breeze and again took play deep into the Cam 22 but a good defensive drive from the forwards took play almost to their 10m line. Cam then took play into the OPs 22 following a quick reaction from the scrum half to an overthrown lineout but OPs relieved the pressure and when they were given an extra 10m following a penalty award OPs decided to attempt the kick from halfway.
The kick was significantly short but forced a knock on by Cam and from the resultant scrum OPs dropped a goal on 75 mins to take them into the lead.
This signalled a last desperate effort from Cam but they could not break down the OPs defence who were naturally delighted when the ref blew for full time.
This was a poor display by the black and ambers who could not break a resolute defence and they will need to regroup quickly for the remaining three home games if they are to pull themselves clear of relegation issues.
For the loyal supporters the hospitality of the pre match lunch was clearly more rewarding than their teams performance.
With the results Cam stay third from bottom 2 points cl;ear of Kingston and with a superior points difference
Squad: J Pengilley, P Nolan, W Mullen, A Gould, R Nicholas, M Angell, D Rees, S Burgess, Z Crabb, A Walsh, C Eccles, A Dowan, N Budd, D Lewis, G Hunt, P Stickland, G Fleming,J Chappel
RogerB
Camberley 13 – Old Wellingtonians 15 6th March 2010
Camberley returned to action at Watchetts looking to complete their first double of the season against visitors Old Wellingtonians who they had convincingly beaten in November.
In the event, despite dominating the second half, Cam never really recovered from a poor opening quarter in which they conceded 2 tries and were unlucky to be shaded out 13-15.
The game started with both sides making some elementary mistakes from the kick off but OWs went into the lead after 6 mins when a chip ahead was collected by the winger who touched down wide out.
OWs, when at full strength are capable of playing the most exciting running rugby particularly when counter attacking and yet Cam seemed to want to give possession away much too easily in this opening period.
The visitors went further ahead after 11 mins when Cam knocked on a penalty attempt in front of their posts and from the resultant 5m scrum the OWs number 8, despite clearly knocking the ball forward while picking it out of the scrum, was allowed to cross for a try which was converted.
Despite the flurry of errors the Cam forwards continued to work hard and when they won a scrum on halfway flanker Marc Angell made a telling break which took play almost up to the visitors line from where Cam set up a series of rolling mauls which saw Alex Gould go over only for the referee to adjudge that the ball was held up. However again basic errors at the base of the scrum allowed OWs to turnover possession and they relieved the pressure by kicking deep into the Cam half. The ball was run back by full back Andy Wreakes who was floored by a nasty high tackle for which the offender was lucky to only receive a yellow card.
From the resultant penalty Cam started to press forward and when another dangerous tackle by OWs was penalised Andy Dowan kicked the goal to reduce the deficit to 9 points on 22 mins.
Cam, however were not able to take advantage of the extra man after this and in fact stayed mostly on the defensive as a result of giving the ball away cheaply and also not making their first up tackles count.
With OWs back to full strength they continued to run at the Cam defence and after 35 mins they won a penalty which they kicked to stretch the lead to 12 points.
Cam then slowly came alive and were unlucky when Dan Lewis was just beaten to touch down a neat kick ahead.
Then some great running rugby by Cam involving Andy Dowan, Marc Angell and Rocky saw play back up to the visitors line and when they were awarded a penalty they opted to take the lineout and despite losing the ball Cam were soon back in the 5m area following a break by winger Zac Crabb. At this stage the Cam forwards were unable to overcome the defence close in and so from the scrum the ball was released to fly half Andy Dowan whose pinpoint accurate chip was collected by winger Dan Lewis on the far side of the pitch who ran over for a try. The conversion failed and then the ref blew for halftime with the score 8-15.
Cam started the second half with more determination and a good break by Gareth Hunt and Dave Rees saw play eventually move deep into the visitors 22.
Play was now almost exclusively in the visitors half but clever defence halted numerous attempts by Cam to add to their score. OWs did make it up to half way courtesy of 3 silly penalties conceded by Cam but when they were penalised Cam took play back deep inside the visitors 22. However after 20 mins OWs did move into the Cam 22 following a series of mistakes out wide but the pressure was relieved when they were penalised yet again. Cam soon returned to the visitors 22 when a good break by Gareth Hunt was carried on and the Cam forwards were only held out illegally but again Cam could not take advantage of the penalty and yet another chance was lost. The black and ambers were then made to defend when a good piece of attacking play by OWs ended with them knocking the ball forward in sight of the try line. But on 70mins Cam did eventually score an outstanding try when from a scrum in the Cam 22 winger Dan Lewis made a electrifying break and, when confronted by the last line of defence, managed to win the race to touch down his chip ahead. Although the conversion attempt was unsuccessful this brought Cam back to within 2 points and as they had been so dominant in the second half their supporters, having witnessed the great comeback 2 weeks ago, were becoming more confident.
Zac Crabb then produced an exciting run which took play from his own 22 to the visitors 22 only for his final pass to the winger to be adjudged forward which was unfortunate as there was the possibility that he could have gone all the way himself.
With just a few minutes left on the clock Cam again set up camp close to the visitors line and OWs were forced to concede numerous penalties in the 5m zone to keep their lead intact and Cam can consider themselves rather unlucky that the referee was not prepared to deal with these infringements more firmly.
So, to the great relief of the visitors, the final whistle came with Cam camped on the visitors line just unable to make the extra couple of meters.
This was not a good result for Cam and although they may feel they did not get the rub of the green towards the end they created their own problems in the first quarter when they made far to many basic errors and were not able to keep to the game plan.
Again the forwards played well although the lineout was not up to its recent standard and outside a number of individuals certainly made their mark but overall this was again a game where most of the good things came in the second 40mins after a pretty poor first 40..
With a blank weekend coming their next game is away to bottom club Old Paulines.
Squad: J Pengilley, K Macintyre, W Mullen, A Gould, R Nicholas, M Angell, D Rees, S Burgess, A Walsh, A Dowan, D Lewis, G Hunt, G Ritson, Z Crabb, A Wreakes, R Kirby, C Eccles, S Brown
RogerB
SANDOWN & SHANKLIN 29 CAMBERLEY 31 20th February 2010
A storming second half performance saw Camberley claim a well deserved victory in injury time at Sandown, overturning a half time deficit of 24 – 3 despite playing up the slope and facing the sun in the second half.
To a roar from the ranks of visiting supporters Camberley kicked off down the sloping pitch. The support soon reaped benefit as a penalty after 10 minutes from Andy Dowan saw the 3 point lead. But this early success was soon forgotten as the hosts scored two tries within minutes of each other. Firstly following a chip ahead the kindly bounce was well gathered for a wingers try duly converted. The second was as a result of slack defensive tackling as the hosts again went over. Unconverted the score was 12 – 3.
The pressure was on for the fit looking and slick moving Sandown & Shanklin scored two more tries after 35 minutes. The first when missed tackles saw them cross left of the posts to see their score converted. Then a loose ball in mid field was picked up and worked forward for a score in the right corner. So the half time deficit for Camberley of 24 – 3 -a very convincing start for the home side.
With most of the black and ambers still on the ferry for the first 40mins it was clear that coach Jon Cant had some tough words at the break as Camberley came out for the second half and started to generate real pressure with the forwards working hard. It paid the first of a double dividend after only 12 minutes as a superb break from centre Dan Lewis was followed by his precise chip for Zac Crabb to score in the left corner. Three minutes later and Lewis broke through again this time scoring on the right. Neither try was converted so Camberley were then 11 points adrift at 24 – 13.
But the good work soon seemed lost as Sandown & Shanklin scored again. After 20 minutes they picked up a poor lineout tap in the Camberley 22 and went over for an unconverted try. However Cam maintained their momentum as, from the restart, they took play into the hosts half with more sustained forward pressure and with the back row prominent. Within 5 minutes they opted to run a penalty 5m from the line and prop Rocky Mullen plunged over (in the bar after the game this was translated into a 25m dash!!) On the half hour another good forward drive saw fly half Andy Dowan go over just left of the posts. He failed to convert either try so Camberley were still trailing by 6 points with just 10 minutes remaining.
Cam continued to dominate the closing stages and scored another try through winger Chris Eccles following a well worked move. So at 29 – 28 the match moved into injury time. Intense pressure in the Sandown & Shanklin half eventually created a penalty award 5 minutes into the extra time. The kick was just inside the 22 to the right of the posts. With the Cam's recognised kickers on the bench young winger Zac Crabb took on the pressure kick and although not pretty the ball crept over the bar to the delight of the supporters to put Cam in front for the first time in the game. With the black and ambers remaining firm for the final 2 mins the final score of 31 – 29 was just reward for a tremendous second half performance on the clubs first visit to the IoW.
This was another great team performance and shows clearly how far the squad has come this season as earlier in the season a half time score of 24-3 would probably have resulted in a 40+ points thrashing.
The report cannot end without recognising the travelling supporters who, having spent several days acclimatising themselves on the island, were in magnificent voice and clearly outshouted the home supporters.
Team : Wreakes. Ritson, Lewis, Hunt, Crabb, Dowan, Walsh, Burger(captain) Angell, Short, Gould, Nicholas, Mullen, Nolan, Pengelly. Rees, Jones, Eccles
Main Report by Neil Doody
Camberley 10 – Gosport & Fareham 20 13th Feb 2010
Camberley were desperately unlucky to come away with nothing after a hard fought game against league leaders Gosport. With Cam in front until the 79th minute it was clear from the reactions of the visiting supporters at the and of the match that they considered themselves very fortunate to be taking the 2 points back to Gosport and so maintain their position at the top.
The game opened with both sides looking to dominate and as a result they both conceded a string of penalties in the first 10mins.
However, on 10 minutes, the first real Gosport attack was stopped by a great Andy Wreakes tackle and strong defence by Cam saw the visitors penalised. Cam, taking a tap penalty in their own 22 fed the ball to Dan Lewis who, in an electrifying run, took play up to half way and when he was stopped the move was continued by Zac Crabb. The young winger then found lock Robbie Nicholas steaming up in support and he drew the last defender and passed to Andy Wreakes who went over in the corner to finish off a spectacular 75 metre try.
Gosport came back well but great work by the Cam forwards particularly at the lineout where Alex Gould disrupted 4 Gosport throws in a row meant that Cam kept the pressure on the visitors.
When they had possession the visitors were intent on running the ball but great defence by Cam saw most of these attacks returned with interest and great touch finding by Andy Dowan kept play mainly in the Gosport half. Cam continued to attack through both their forwards and their backs and were unlucky not to be rewarded for a period of pressure on the visitors 5m line however there was no further scoring in the half and so the break was reached with Cam leading 5-0.
Gosport had clearly received a 'boost' from their coach at half time and were quickly on the attack at the start of the second half but Cam's defence was solid and the visitors only opportunity to open their account was a penalty attempt after 45 mins which was pushed wide.
When Marc Angell managed to disrupt a Gosport scrum on the 22 Neil Budd was quickly up to secure the turnover and good play by the forwards took play back into the visitors half.
Then from inside their own half Cam again took play deep into the Gosport 22 when after winning a scrum the kick ahead was collected by Gordon Ritson following up who set Zac Crabb clear but his chip ahead was put into touch by Gosport.
Cam then applied some real pressure and drives by Alex Gould and Marc Angell saw them take play up to within 10m of the try line and when Cam were awarded a scrum the ball was quickly moved from the base of the scrum and Gordon Ritson powered over to give Cam a well deserved 10 point lead after 55 mins.
Gosport, as expected were stung into action and began a series of attacks but these were stoutly defended by Cam and the only reward for Gosport was a penalty after 62 mins to make the score 10-3.
Cam were soon back on the attack though and a series of pickup and drives by the forwards saw play move back into the Gosport 22 when Andy Dowan was almost through following a brilliant break.
Cam then stole another lineout on halfway and again forced their way into the Gosport 22.
Cam then brought on prop Russ Kirby and the balance of the game changed when the referee decided that Russ was not scrummaging correctly. This decision was hard to understand with his experience, Russ having played at championship level, and with the Cam scrum so comfortable it was clear that his superior strength was just too much for his opponent who decided not to scrummage with the result that the scrums became a mess. It was interesting that in the France v Ireland game which followed, Wayne Barnes was heard to tell the Irish props, following a series of messy scrums, that they must scrummage against the French – if only Gosport had been told to do likewise,
After conceding three penalties at the next three scrums Cam decided that enough was enough and the front row were forced to resort to passive scrummaging and so one of their main attacking platforms was removed.
Gosport seized this gift and took play back to the Cam 22 and although they were unable to cross the line the standoff kicked a drop goal to reduce the deficit to 4 points after 75 mins.
Clearly, for the first time, Gosport sensed that they could get something from the game and on 79 mins a blindside break by the winger following a scrum on the Cam 5m saw Gosport take the lead for the first time at 10-13 and deep into injury time to rub salt into Cams wounds Gosport added a try following a lineout catch and drive to make the final score 10-20.
This was a great performance by the whole Cam team both in attack and defence and the they were all gutted by the loss. The impact on the team when the side was forced to resort to passive scrummaging was immense and clearly disrupted the black and ambers game plan when comfortably leading 10-3. However Gosport, on the day still showed that they are one of the better sides in the league and were experienced enough to take full advantage of the situation and now look certain to be playing at a higher level next season.
The Cam forwards were tremendous again with debutant hooker Paul Nolan showing well and securing much of his own ball both in the scrums and lineouts and even managing to nick 2 strikes against the head. The back row tackled themselves into the ground and Marc Angell was also able to pop up in attack on a number of occasions. The threequarters were excellent both in attack and defence as they continually snuffed out the Gosport attacks. Neil Budd had another outstanding game and his crunching tackles clearly inspire those around him. Andy Dowan was back to his best and ran the line well in addition to making several telling breaks and he clearly benefits from having Buddy outside him. However, in an excellent team performance the two locks Robbie Nicholas and Alex Gould had awesome games. Jumping at the front The Hoff disrupted many Gosport lineouts - in one case he out jumped his opponent at 2 deflecting the ball which was then plucked out of the air by Robbie jumping at 4 – pure magic. They also managed to secure their own ball, a major improvement as this had been an area of real weakness earlier in the season. Along with them providing the power in the set piece they also, incredibly, found time to carry the ball on numerous occasions and their joint tackle count from the last few games is also very impressive.
A great team performance by the black and ambers with an unfortunate result – however Jon Cant and the squad will know that if they can maintain this level of all round performance their next win will not be far away.
Squad: J Pengilley, P Nolan, W Mullan, A Gould, R Nicholas, M Angell, S Brown, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Dowan, G Ritson, D Lewis, N Budd, Z Crabb, A Wreakes, R Kirby, D Rees, J Chappell
RogerB
Andover 39 – Camberley 13 6th February 2010
Camberley visited Andover, in this rearranged fixture, looking to get their move up the league back on track but on a breezy day they met a very streetwise side who, in a match in which neither side could claim dominance, eventually condemned the black and ambers to another defeat.
Cam started the game brightly quickly taking play into the Andover 22 but when they were penalised play returned to halfway.
When Cam won the first scrum on halfway they appeared to ignore the pre match game plan and the kick from the base of the scrum was returned with interest by Andover and when they recycled the ball quickly in Cam's 22 the defence was still tracking back and so Andover had the simple task of scoring under the posts. So with only 6 mins played Cam faced a deficit of 7 points and apparently hadn't learnt the lesson of previous weeks about not giving up possession cheaply.
Soon after the restart Cam again seemed to ignore the plan only this time the Andover fullback knocked on yet another kick ahead. Andover won the scrum against the head but from the resulting lineout the ball was won by Alex Gould and quickly moved out to the backs where number eight Simon Burgess made good ground before releasing Dan Lewis who fed winger Zac Crabb who dived over in the corner – making this his fourth try in as many matches.
The conversion fell short but with 10 mins played the deficit was now only 2 points but playing down the slope and with the advantage of the breeze the black and ambers were looking for a substantial lead to take into halftime.
Andover regained possession from their restart and took play into the Cam and following some messy play Cam conceded a penalty infront of the posts and so the hosts moved 5 points clear again.
From the restart Cam quickly found themselves defending desperately again when Andover took full advantage of a mix up at the base of the scrum to take play into the Cam 22 but they were penalised allowing Andy Dowan to relieve the pressure.
The resulting lineout on halfway was won by Alex Gould and a penetrating run by centre Dan Lewis took play into the Andover 22 and when the defending side were penalised Andy Dowan kicked the goal to bring the deficit back to 2 points.
Cam were soon moving the scoreboard on again when, having taken play into the Andover half, they won a scrum and number eight Simon Burgess made good yards before feeding Andy Dowan who ran over to score Cams second try of the day and give Cam a 13-10 on 25 mins.
The game then went through a scrappy phase with the breakdown area often a real mess and both sides made their fair share of errors but Cam took play back into the Andover 22 following a good break by Andy Dowan but the side soon turned over possession and the Andover kick down field took a couple of good bounces and with Cam scrambling back they were lucky to see the Andover player drop the ball over the try line.
Cam slowly moved play back out of their 22 but in injury time a bad missed tackle allowed the Andover scrum half to run deep into the Cam 22 and his pass saw the winger run over for Andover second try of the game and with the conversion this made the score 17-13 as the ref blew for half time.
The second half started with Cam soon on the back foot, again much of the pressure created when they kicked possession away and they were punished after 45 mins when a long crossfield kick was touched down by the Andover winger.
The Cam forwards had been frustrated with many of the decisions around the tackle area and this boiled over when prop Wayne Mullen was binned for retaliation. Down to 14 men Cam were soon defending and Andover kicked another penalty after 55 mins to extend their lead to 25-13 after 55 mins.
It was all credit to Cam that this was the only score conceded when down to 14 but the effort took its toll and on 75 mins an Andover interception took play deep into the Cam 22 and they recycled ball quickly to score their fourth try.
From the restart Cam won the ball and Dan Lewis make another telling break but when he was unable to get the ball away the loose ball was picked up by Andover who ran in a try from halfway.
The final minutes of the game saw Cam playing much more to the pre match plan and taking play deep into the Andover 22 with a series of pickup and drives but it was just too little too late and when the whistle blew all coach Jon Cant and his team could wonder was if the score would have been the same if they had played the whole of the 80mins as they did the last 5.
This was a below par display by Cam who for the first game for ages were equalled in the tight - even conceding several heels against the head. They appeared to 'lose the ref' very early on and were unable to react to many of the decisions at the breakdown and the experienced streetwise Andover forwards took full advantage of this. The lineout went well with both Robbie Nicholas and Alex Gould winning their ball but there were too many occasions when the back row were bounced out of tackles as a result of going too high,
The backs had a mixed day with all of them showing their skills at times during the match but again they were often guilty of opening the game up in areas of the park where they should have been focussed on securing the ball.
Gareth Hunt, having his first start at 12, had a good game making ground with his direct running and managing to stay on his feet to become a target for his team. Dan Lewis also had the chance to show his pace for the first time this year and was unlucky not to have added to his seasons try count. The back three defended well on a pitch which seemed very wide but could do nothing about the Andover tries.
This defeat leaves Cam three points above the relegation zone and two points below the mid table group and so the visit to Watchetts by table topping Gosport next Saturday will be very important for the black and ambers with Jon Cant working out how he can get his squad to take the strategies from the training pitch into league games.
Squad: J Pengilley, P Stickland, W Mullen, A Gould, R Nicholas, M Angell, M Short, S Burgess, A Walsh, A Dowan, C Eccles, D Lewis, G Hunt, Z Crabb, A Wreakes, J Batey, D Rees, G Ritson.
RogerB
Old Midwhitgiftians 41 – Camberley 5 30th January 2010
Camberley's recent good run was halted on Saturday by high flying Midwives who deservedly won a very open game by 5 tries to 1 although the final margin was considered flattering by many spectators.
The signs for the black and ambers were there right from the kickoff when the hosts showed their appetite for running rugby in the first couple of minutes when only a great tackle by Andy Wreakes prevented a score within 2 mins.
It was clear from that sweeping move that Cam needed to retain possession and not give their opponents opportunities to release their attacking threequarters.
After this opening attack Cam fought back and slowly moved play away from their line only to be punished again when a penalty kick failed to reach touch and Midwives ran the ball back through backs and forwards deep into the Cam 22 where they were awarded a penalty which they duly kick with only 6 mins on the clock.
Although Cam were dominating the set scrums the side did not seem to be playing with the same intensity of recent weeks and were struggling to maintain possession for any period so it was no real surprise when they went further behind after conceding a penalty on the 22 for holding on.
With the restart not making 10m Cam soon were on the attack when flanker Marc Angell disrupted a move at the base of Midwives scrum and charged into the opposition 22 but his chip ahead for Chris Eccles was just too strong.
Soon Midwives were back in the Cam half but a strong break by skipper Simon Burgess saw his kick ahead collected by the Midwives fullback who was caught by winger Chris Eccles and in the maul that followed Cam were awarded a penalty.
The kick from wide out was just short and soon Midwives were on the attack again and after 25mins they scored their first try which was converted to extend their lead to 13 points.
Cam then had a period of pressure in the Midwives half but they were unable to break down the defence and they were still guilty of giving too much possession away which kept Midwives in the action.
Cam were again forced to defend desperately when Midwives applied pressure as the half closed but there was no further score and so the halftime break was taken with Midwives leading 13-0.
Cam started the second half playing with much more aggression and good driving runs by Simon Burgess, Alex Gould and Rocky Mullan meant that the opening period was spent in the hosts half and Cam were eventually rewarded for their efforts after 47 mins, when Cam won another heel against the head on the 10m line, Andy Wreakes broke down the blind side and his neat chip ahead was touched down by winger Zac Crabb. Andy Dowan missed the conversion but from the restart Cam again drove forward and although play was scrappy Cam were clearly gaining in confidence and taking the game to Midwives when, against the run of play, Midwives won possession in the middle of the pitch and with a combination of excellent running and a couple of missed tackles touched down under the posts to extend their lead to 20-5 after 60 mins.
Cam were again soon on the attack and only a very honest Cam touch judge prevented Chris Eccles from having a real try scoring chance when he was adjudged to have put a foot on the whitewash.
In another attack Andy Dowan made a brilliant break deep into the Midwives 22 but his long pass to winger Chris Eccles was too strong and again the chance was lost.
The black and ambers were hit hard again on 65 mins when a Midwives break in their own half saw them run at least 60m to add to the score.
Cam did drive back into the Midwives 22 from the restart forcing the full back to run the ball into touch but as the game entered the last 5 mins Midwives added 2 further tries to make the final score 41 – 5.
This was a wake up call for the squad who have relished the recent weather affected dog fights and they will need to improve their performance significantly as the pitches become better suited to running rugby.
Despite the defeat the pack dominated the scrums and Stickers and props James Pengilley and Wayne Mullen again won a number of heels against the head and although the lineout didn't function at 100 per cent the forwards again more than held their own in the set plays however it seemed difficult for the team to retain possession for long periods and this was not helped by some misdirected kicking and some poor handling which was used very effectively by Midwives.
Andy Wreakes, back at scrum half for the first time for several weeks, had a very good game both in attack and defence and young wingers Zac and Chris again showed what they are capable of when given decent ball.
Coach Jon Cant clearly will be working the squad hard on the training park this week in readiness for the tricky trip to Andover next Saturday.
Squad J Pengilley, P Stickland, W Mullen, A Gould, R Nicholas, M Angell, M Short, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Dowan, C Eccles, P Davies, A Walsh, Z Crabb, G Hunt, R Jones, D Rees, J Chappel
RogerB
Camberley 11 Kingston 8 23 January 2010
Camberley entertained Kingston at a very wet Watchetts on Saturday intent on overturning the 46-11 drubbing they suffered earlier in the season.
With Kingston propping up the rest of the league this was a clear 4 pointer for Cam who were also intent on maintaining their recent improved form and continuing their push for League safety.
In the event, another gutsy performance by the black and ambers saw them win 11-8 to take them a little further away from the relegation spots.
From the Kingston kick off Cam aggressively took play up into the Kingston 22 but then conceded a penalty which brought play back to halfway.
The first scrum was a serious confrontation with Cam disrupting the Kingston put in, followed by Kingston achieving the same when Cam put into the scrum.
From the third scrum Kingston took play into the Cam 22 and when the hosts were penalised for hands in the ruck Kingston gratefully opened their account with a simple penalty on 6mins.
From the restart Cam soon took play back into the Kingston 22 and were awarded a penalty for offside, a regular occurrence throughout the game. Andy Dowan's attempt slid wide and this was the result with 2 further attempts during a good spell of pressure by the Cam forwards.
Conditions remained difficult for the players and running and kicking were something of a lottery for both sides on the slippery surface.
The visitors then came back into the game but their poor discipline allowed Cam to move out of their half and back into Kingstons 22 when a neat crossfield chip by Andy Dowan meant for Chris Eccles was taken by his opposite number who then relieved the pressure with a kick to halfway,
There was no real fluency to the game at this stage with the Cam forwards working hard to gain territory and it was not long before they were back in the Kingston 22.
When Kingston were penalised yet again Andy Dowan was able to kick the goal and so after 30mins the sides were level again.
The Kingston restart failed to make 10m and so from the resultant scrum Cam were soon on the attack again and good support play by Zac Crabb saw Andy Dowan take play to within 5m of the Kingston line
When the Kingston lineout was adjudged not straight Cam surprisingly opted for a shortened line and this proved to be an excellent decision as The Hoff soared above everyone to win the lineout and the ball was fed quickly to Andy Dowan whose long pass to Dan Lewis created a half chance and when winger Zac Crabb picked up Dan's pass on his toes it was try time again for the young winger. The conversion attempt from the touchline fell just short but with 35 mins on the clock Cam had edged ahead 8-3.
The Kingston restart was driven forward by Alex Gould and following a neat chip ahead Marc Angell and Andy Wreakes took play back into the Kingston half of the field. Cam maintained the pressure through their forwards and Stickers, who moved from his normal position as prop to hooker this week, won 2 strikes against the head to give the visitors more problems. These front row 'wins' were just reward for the hard work of the pack particularly props James Pengelly and Rob Jones.
For the remainder of the half play remained in the Kingston half and Andy Dowan just failed with another penalty attempt on the stroke of half time.
Half time saw Dan Lewis who damaged his nose in the first half being replaced by debutant Gareth Hunt who went to fullback with Andy Wreakes moving to 9 and Andy Walsh moving into the centre.
Cam restarted the second half kicking towards the clubhouse and were soon on the attack again pinning Kingston in their own 22 for some time with good kicking to the corners by Andy Walsh and Andy Dowan. In fact one of these kicks saw Chris Eccles outpacing his opposite number to touch down in the corner but, despite the claims from the supporters the referee decided to award a 22 drop out.
However this pressure did eventually bring its reward when Andy Dowan kicked a penalty on 45 mins to deservedly extend the lead to 11-3.
Kingston, however, against the run of play should have scored soon after when they picked up a poor clearance kick and spurned a clear overlap and were only held out by some good defensive work by Gareth Hunt.
Recovering from this hiccup Cam were soon back in the visitors half working hard for another score but desperate defence just managed to keep them out. Then on 60mins when Cam lost a player to the sin bin and this allowed the Kingston forwards, who were beginning to flag under the pressure, a second wind and they slowly moved the game into the Cam half despite the valiant efforts of the remaining 7 forwards. Their numerical superiority eventually told when from a lineout close to the Cam line they managed to muscle their way over for an unconverted try to bring the score back to 11-8.
The last 10 mins saw play predominantly back in the visitors half with Andy Dowan having 3 chances to kick penalties from the 10m line all of which went close.
Cam also came close to scoring when Simon Burgess collected a poor defensive kick close to the Kingston line and fed Neil Budd who was held up just short.
At this time there was clearly a misunderstanding by Cam as to how much time was left as they played the next 5 mins believing that every restart was the last play and in doing so Kingston were able to relieve the pressure and end the game in the Cam half.
With this result making it 4 wins out of 5 the Camberley squad are beginning to fulfil the potential that coach Jon Cant has believed in throughout the season. Again this was a game very much dictated by the conditions with Cam showing that they are now quite happy to 'win ugly' and their defensive frailties of earlier matches seem to have been resolved.
The forwards, as against OWs last week, created the platform for the win with a dour and dogged 80mins performance with all eight working tirelessly in the strength sapping mud.
The backs also played their part and were denied more involvement by the conditions and also the opposition's rush defence which, on many occasions, seemed to get away with rushing a little early and so managed to stifle any attempted moves by Camberleys backs.
Camberley now face 2 away fixtures against high flying Old Midwhitgiftians followed by a visit to Andover and these games should be a further test of the improvements seen over the last few weeks.
Squad: J Pengilley, P Stickland, R Jones, A Gould, R Nicholas, G Fleming, M Angell, S Burgess, A Walsh, A Dowan, C Eccles, D Lewis, N Budd, Z Crabb. A Wreakes, R Kirby, G Hunt, S Brown
RogerB
Old Wimbledonians 0 – Camberley 8 16th January 2010
After a 5 week extended break Cam travelled to Wimbledon determined to start 2010 with a win and to continue their drive away from the relegation positions.
With heavy rain following the recent snow it was no surprise to find that the OWs pitch was very wet and the loyal supporters who had braved the elements realised that the chances of enjoying 80 mins of open rugby were very small.
This proved to be the case as, at the end of 80 mins Cam had put up a gutsy display in an error strewn game to deservedly win 8-0.
Cam kicking off into the breeze soon found themselves setting the first scrum on their 10m line and the forwards showed their intent by driving the OWs pack back over halfway and claiming a turnover.
As a result of this turnover Cam used the ball well and soon were playing deep inside the OWs half.
The Hoff then won the first OWs lineout throw and in the resulting ruck OWs were penalised but Andy Dowan's kick just slid the wrong side of the post.
Conditions were making things difficult for both sides but with the strong breeze OWs soon took play back into the visitors half and Neil Budd was forced to carry the ball over when recovering a neat chip ahead.
Again the Cam scrum was immense and drove their hosts off the ball to relieve the danger.
Despite Cams complete dominance in the scrum and their clear superiority in the lineout the game was very scrappy with both sides making many unforced errors together with plenty of poorly directed kicks.
Play soon returned to the Cam 22 but with the forwards dominant in the set plays and great defence out wide the only real opportunities the hosts had to open the scoring were 2 penalty attempts, both of which were unsuccessful.
Slowly Cam managed to use their forward dominance to gain field position and after about 25mins they mounted a series of attacks in the OWs half and eventually opened the scoring when, after several phases, the ball was released to fly half Andy Dowan whose exquisite crossfield kick was dropped by the OWs winger close to his line and Zac Crabb won the scramble to touch down.
Andy Dowans conversion attempt from wide out was just off target but Cam were relieved to take the lead after 30 mins.
The remainder of the half saw the Cam forwards driving forward but too many errors and also penalties conceded allowed OWs to stay in the game and to continue to threaten the Cam line.
The second half started with the OWs kick not making 10m and from the resultant scrum on halfway Cam took play deep into the OWs 22 but were unable to maintain possession and so play soon moved back to the middle of the park.
At this stage Cam were clearly losing out in the kicking game as OWs were able to make more ground running the ball back and there was a danger that all of the hard work put in by the forwards would be neutralised in one of these plays.
However desperate defending by Cam and also errors by OWs meant that the Cam line remained intact and slowly they again used their forward dominance to take play into the OWs 22.
When they were awarded a penalty 5m from the OWs line they opted for the scrum but poor footholds meant that this time they were unable to drive OWs back and eventually play returned to the middle of the pitch.
During this period Cam were awarded 2 penalties the second of which crept over the crossbar to extend their lead to 8 points on 75 mins.
To their credit OWs did not let their heads drop and, encouraged by their skipper who was outstanding in both attack and defence, the hosts continued to threaten the Cam line but solid defence and also their continued dominance in the scrum and the lineout meant that the Cam line was not breached and when the final whistle blew they had deservedly won this gruelling contest and for the second time this season had not conceded an point.
Considering the conditions this was a truly gutsy performance by Cam with the forwards outstanding in the set pieces throughout. The front row of Stickers, replacement Rob, Jack and Rocky were awesome and always had the opposition on the rack. The second row pairing of Robbie and The Hoff dominated the lineouts and also got through a mass of that 'unseen' work which is so vital in these sorts of games. The back row, Marc, Burger, Graeme and replacement Dave Rees, as with previous games, were immense both in attack and defence and broke up many of the OWs attack and also managed to turn over plenty of ball.
For the backs this was one of the days when they saw little good ball and spent most of the time fielding opposition kicks and tackling – tasks which although not so glamorous were vital in keeping a clean sheet.
This week on the training pitch coach Jon Cant will clearly be working on the kicking game both in defence and attack and Tim will be working with the pack to continue the great improvements in their scrummaging.
This win will improve the squads confidence for next weeks fixture against bottom club Kingston and Cam will be looking to reverse the poor result from November.
Squad: P Stickland, J Batey, W Mullen, A Gould, R Nicholas, M Angell, S Burgess, G Fleming, A Walsh, A Dowan, C Eccles, D Lewis, N Budd, Z Crabb, S Hayter, A Wreakes, R Jones, D Rees
RogerB
Old Alleynians 33 - Camberley 28 12th December 2009
Despite their lowly league position Camberley boosted by two good wins in their last two matches travelled to Dulwich keen to gain more points in the clash with Old Alleynians.
Camberley enjoyed the best of starts being 14-0 up after just ten minutes. They scored after five minutes with a charge down in midfield with fly half Andy Dowan touching down and converting. Then a loose ball was gathered by centre Neil Budd who ran in under the posts with the Dowan conversion. After a good chance for the visitors was thwarted Alleynians fought back with a penalty and try which followed a long kick into the Camberley defence for a wingers try. A conversion and the score narrowed to 14-10.
After the lead was stretched with a Dowan penalty Alleynians drew levelk with a clever chip ahead leading to a converted try. As the first half drew to a close another penalty from Dowan saw the interval lead at 20-17 for Camberley. Immediate second half forward pressure saw the lead again stretched as after three minutes a well worked move led to another try for Andy Dowan which was not converted.
Alleynians were soon back with an unconverted try to gain ground at 22-25. They levelled the score after twenty minutes with a penalty but Cam soon responded with a Dowan penalty to regain the lead. But pressure from the hosts led to the levelling of the scores at 28-28 by a penalty and ten minutes remaining. Pressure and possession from Alleynians kept the defence at full stretch for Cam and as the injury time ebbed away a final break saw a try and the lead for the first time for Alleynians. The try was not converted then full time was blown for the 33-28 home win. Another heartening performance for Camberley but the disappointment of another last gasp defeat. Andy Dowan chipped in with 23 points in the match.
With their last game before Xmas another away fixture this time against mid table Andover the squad will need to but this disappointing result behind them and get their push for safety back on track.
Scores :- tries Dowan(2), Budd: conversions Dowan(2), penalties Dowan(3)
Squad : James Pengelly, Jack Batey, Rocky Mullen, Alex Gould, Robbie Nicholas, Matt Short, David Rees, Simon Burgess, Andy Wreakes, Andy Dowan, Gordon Ritson, Andy Walsh, Neil Budd, Chris Eccles, Stuart Hayter, Zac Crabb, Graeme Fleming, Phil Stickland
Report by Neil Doody
Camberley 22 - Old Paulines 0 5th December 2009
Old Paulines were the visitors to a very wet Watchetts with the Cam squad desperate to continue their good form of last week.
Electing to play into the breeze and up the slope in the first half Cam were soon on the attack from the kick off but over zealous play resulted in a penalty being awarded to OP's who took play down close to Cams 22.
However Cam won the the first 2 OP's lineouts and play moved up towards halfway, and following another good lineout Cam were in the OP's 22 where they would eventually play most of the first half.
At this stage the Cam forwards were on fire driving the OPs pack back yards at every scrum and stealing lineout ball as well as winning their own. After a series of driving mauls OPs were penalised again after about 5 mins and Stuart Hayter's kick just slid past the left hand post. The resultant 22m dropout saw Cam bring play back up almost to the OP's 22 and when the visitors stand off kicked the ball directly into touch Cam were awarded a lineout 10m from the OP's line.
Cam won this lineout and a series of powerful drives were only halted illegally, according to the ref, and Cam were very unlucky not to be awarded a try when the kick was taken quickly and centre Neil Budd forced his way over only to be brought back by the ref for some unseen infringement. So the penalty was retaken and Cam then opted for a scrum and were very unlucky not to score when, after a series of plays, they lost the ball in contact underneath OP's posts.
At this time the Cam forwards were completely on top with Matt Short, Alex Gould and Robbie Nicholas bossing the lineouts and the front row taking numerous heels against the head and the back row prominent all over the park. And with 15 mins gone play had been solely in the OP's half once the kickoff had been handled.
In addition on the rare occasions that OP's backs had seen the ball aggressive tackling by the Cam backs ensured that they made no progress
Cam continued to pressure the OP's line and on 22 mins were rewarded when from an OP's lineout on 5m Cam won the ball and drove James Pengilley over for a try wide out.
Despite the breeze Stuart Hayter kicked a magnificent conversion to make the score 7-0.
Cam were soon back on the attack and from the restart returned play to the OP's half.
Following a series of aggressive scrums Cam took play into OPs 22 and when the OP's scrum half was penalised Stuart Hayter kicked the goal to extend the lead to 10 points after 30 mins.
The tremendous forward pressure continued and soon play returned to the OP's 22 and this became the story of the first half although Cam were not able to add to their score.
The second half began with Cam forcing a 22m dropout and the pressure forced mistakes by the OP's backs and soon play was inside their 22.
OP's were really up against it at this time and clearly the ref decided that they were keeping Cam out illegally but when Cam were awarded a penalty almost in front of the posts on their 22 Stuart Hayter managed to push the ball wide. However Stuart's disappointment was soon forgotten when the resultant 22 dropout was charged down by Cam and so they found themselves scrumming down on the visitors 22.
From this scrum Cam launched a blindside move, scrum half Andy Walsh took the flip pass from Simon Burgess and shaped to pass to the winger but instead popped the ball inside to full back Stuart Hayter who ran in unopposed to score.
From the restart we saw OP's start to play some rugby for practically the first time in the afternoon and a series of silly penalties conceded by Cam saw play move up inside their 22 but when OP's were awarded a scrum 5m from the line a tremendous drive from the Cam forwards saw yet another strike against the head and slowly the danger was cleared.
Against this combination of good scrummaging and aggressive tackling in the midfield OP's just could not penetrate Cams defence and soon play was deep in the visitors 22 following a driving run by prop Rockie Mullan. This set up a series of attacks which saw Cam score another try when from a 5m scrum Cam opted to move the ball and quick hands saw centre Tony Harbour cruise over unopposed to touch down under the posts.
This time 'Legs' Hayter added the conversion and so after 65 mins the score was 22-0.
Soon after this score the Cam supporters thought that they had scored again when following a brilliant break by Neil Budd put winger Chris Eccles clear but the ref rather harshly adjudged the pass to have been forward.
The game became more scrappy as the light disappeared - the only person pleased with the failing light appeared to be our President who was keen to demonstrate the new floodlights on the training pitch which had been installed on the previous day.
To their credit OP's never let their heads drop and kept playing rugby to the end but despite several attacks, on the day, they just didn't have the ability to crack a very resolute Cam side who were determined to keep a clean sheet.
This was another excellent performance by Cam following on from their win the previous week. In more difficult conditions the forwards were magnificent and accepted their responsibility from the start by controlling possession for most of the game. The lineouts were excellent with the three jumpers winning most of their own and also OP's throws, the front row battled hard all afternoon and will no doubt still be arguing about the number of strikes against the head they won.
The backrow were again the link between attack and defence and Cam were unlucky to lose number 8 Morgan Danaher with a leg injury in the first half as he had been outstanding in the first half.
The backs had one of those days when for long periods they were virtually spectators but whenever the ball was released from the pack they used it well and in defence they were outstanding with the combination of 'Bones' and Buddie hugely effective.
This win moves Cam off the bottom of the league and if they can maintain this level of performance they should become a mid table team in January but to do this they will need to concentrate on doing the basics even better and improve their overall fitness.
Next Sat Cam travel to Dulwich to play Old Alleynians who are just 1 point above them and will be looking to extend this winning streak.
Squad: J Pengilley, J Batey, W Mullen, A Gould, R Nicholas, M Short, D Rees, M Danaher, A Walsh, A Allen, C Eccles, T Harbour, N Budd, G Ritson, S Hayter, R Jones, S Burgess, A Wreakes
RogerB
Old Wellingtonians 21 Camberley 34 28th November 2009
Cam travelled to Old Wellingtonians firmly rooted at the bottom of the League without a win since the second week of the season despite recent improved performances.
In the event, an outstanding team performance for the full 80 mins saw them, in the end, comfortably defeat an OW's side packed with quality players who were always prepared to launch attacks from any part of the field.
Playing down the slope in the first half Cam turned over the OW's scrum on halfway and scrum half Andy Walsh immediately found a great touch 10m from the OW's line.
Cam won the lineout and after a couple of drives number 8 Morgan Danaher broke from the back of the maul and forced his way over to touch down near the corner flag.
With a strong breeze blowing almost into his face Andy Dowan struck a magnificent conversion to give Cam a 7 point lead after just 2 mins.
Soon Cam were back in the OW's 22 courtesy of some great turnover ball won by the pack at the scrum and the trusty boots of the two Andies – Walsh and Dowan.
The OW's defence stood firm for almost 10 mins despite the determined efforts of the visitors but it was eventually breached when Matt Short won a lineout close to the line and the ball was quickly transferred to the backs where flanker Marc Angell cut a perfect line through the defence to leave Dan Lewis with a simple touch down. Again, despite the blustery conditions Andy Dowan slotted the conversion to increase the lead to 14 points.
OW's however soon showed their quality when, from the restart, they recovered the ball and launched a series of expansive moves. The Cam defence was strong for more than 5 mins but eventually Ows created the overlap they were looking for and ran over for a try which was converted making the score 14-7 after almost 20mins.
During this defensive effort Cam lost their flyer Dan Lewis with a damaged hand and so with Andy Wreakes taking over at scrum half, Andy Walsh moved to inside centre.
Cam were soon on the offensive again and were very unlucky when a great break round the front of a lineout by Morgan Danaher saw him offload to prop Rocky Mullan who raced!! over unopposed only to be brought back for a foot in touch.
Cam continued to pressure the OWs line helped by great work in the scrums and lineout where Matt Short and Alex Gould were outstanding but resolute defence meant that they only managed to kick a penalty to increase their lead to 10 points.
The second half started in much the same manner and soon Cam were awarded a penalty about 30m out which Andy Dowan just pushed wide.
The pressure, however, soon brought its reward when, following an incisive break by Neil Budd, Cam recycled the ball quickly and a clever cross field kick by Andy Dowan saw wing Chris Eccles collect and run over for an excellent try. Andy Dowan added the extras and so, after 45 mins, the lead was now 17 points.
OWs then began to play the sort of quality attacking rugby for which they are well known and for the next 10 mins only resolute defence by Cam kept them out. The Cam supporters took heart as this time as their sides tackling was ferocious with forwards and backs all playing their part – a massive improvement on what they had witnessed earlier in the season.
Eventually Cam took play back to halfway where Chris Eccles almost intercepted a long pass only to knock it on. However the forwards again turned the ball over and Andy Dowan took play back deep in the OW's 22 where OW's were penalised for impeding Chris Eccles in his chase for the line.
Opting for the lineout the Cam forwards set up a series of driving mauls but were adjudged to have been held up over the line and from the resulting scrum stand off Andy Dowan was able to jink his way over the his sides 4th try of the afternoon. With Andy Dowan converting his own try the score on 65 mins was 31-7.
OW's refused to roll over and were soon launching some blistering attacks and despite good Cam defence the home side ran over for a try on 70 mins.
Cam needed to be alert as OW's were now running everything but good solid defence kept them at bay and with the scrummaging and lineouts still working well the forwards were able to win valuable possession at key times. Their efforts were further rewarded when after they had moved play back into the OW's half following a siege on their own line the Cam pressure forced OW's to infringe and Andy Dowan slotted the kick to make the score 34-14 on 80 mins.
OW's still had the drive for one last attack and scored another converted try wide out but Cam then comfortably played out the last few minutes of injury time in the OW's half to record a well deserved victory.
This was a tremendous team performance by Cam and clearly resolved some of the issues they have faced over the first part of the season. The whole team tackled with a commitment not seen earlier in the season and the work of the pack in scrum, lineouts and the loose was exceptional for the entire 80mins.
The forwards not only drove many of the scrums backwards at a rate of knots they also were much more visible around the park and they kept going until the final whistle.
The backs had easily their best game of the season as they played intelligently and all of them made their tackles count against very athletic opposition.
With such an great all round performance it is difficult to pick out individuals but 'new boys' Karl MacIntyre and Chris Eccles deserve a special mention for their efforts – Chris for his attacking prowess and Karl for his consistent throwing in at lineouts and his terrier like tackling around the park.
However mention must also be made of stand off Andy Dowan who managed to put the early season behind him to play his best game since joining Cam at the beginning of the season - he was solid in the tackle, confident in his decision making, aggressive in attack, kicked magnificently in difficult conditions and it was clear that this confidence quickly spread through the team.
This victory was just reward for the hard work both the coaches and the players have put in for weeks and will surely boost the confidence of the entire squad.
The few loyal travelling supporters were clearly lifted by this performance and will now look forward to a repeat performance next week at home when they entertain Old Paulines.
Sqad: J Pengilly, K MacIntyre, W Mullan, A Gould, R Nicholas, M Short, M Angell, M Danaher, A Walsh, A Dowan, C Annan, D Lewis, N Budd, C Eccles, S Hayter. A Wreakes, R Jones, D Rees
RogerB
Camberley 14 Sandown & Shanklin 19 14th November 2009
Camberley, still struggling with injuries, welcomed centre Tony Harbour back for their home game against Sandown. With the game being played in a serious gale, Cam dominated play for the first 60 mins but then conceded 3 late scores to continue their run of disappointing results with a 14-19 defeat.
Almost from the kick off Cam playing with the wind attacked the visitors line when Marc Angell picked up a loose Sandown pass and fed winger Chris Eccles who was unable to avoid touching the whitewash before going over for what would have been an excellent start.
With the visitors not able to move out of their half Cam were soon attacking again with Dan Lewis and Chris Eccles just unable to touch down a neat chip ahead.
Cam continued this pressure for the first 20mins but good defence and also the difficult conditions meant that they had nothing to show for this excellent display.
On 20mins scrum half Andy Wreakes took a quick tap penalty on the visitors 10m and the ball quickly found Dan Lewis who beat 3 defenders in his race to score under the posts. Full back Stuart Hayter added the extras.
With the Sandown restart not making 10m Cam won the scrum on halfway and soon took play back deep in the visitors half.
The next score was not long coming when, from a lineout on halfway, Tony Harbour made a powerful break and timed his pass perfectly to allow Dan Lewis to cross for his second try again converted by Stuart Hayter. So after 25 mins Cam had established a useful lead of 14 points but needing to face the gale in the second half most supporters were concerned that this may still not be sufficient.
Clearly the team believed this too as the remaining 15 mins of the half saw Cam threatening the visitors line but the gale force wind, which was blowing diagonally across the pitch was making lineouts, kicking and passing very difficult.
Almost on halftime another great break by Tony Harbour took play up to the Sandown line but he was well held up even if the ref decided it was illegal. Cam opted to scrum the penalty striving to add another try to their score but resolute defence held them out until the whistle blew for halftime. Playing into the gale Cam started well and quickly took play into the visitors half and when Morgan Danaher was the victim of a dangerous tackle Stuart Hayter's penalty was only just wide. The 22m drop out should have given Sandown some relief but Marc Angell, who had a storming game with his aggressive running from all around the park, brought play straight back to the visitors 22 with a 30m burst.
At this stage Cam were dealing with the conditions much better than their opponents had and even when they were penalised on halfway Morgan Danaher fielded the poor touch kick and made 20m before passing to Tony Harbour who brushed several tacklers aside with his burst back into the visitors 22.
However after about 60 mins the visitors seemed to up their game and started to use the wind to better effect. With the Cam forwards beginning to flag after their Herculean efforts play began to move into the Cam 22 where the visitors pressurised the try line and despite some good defence they opened their account on 70mins. Now with the wind behind them they suddenly came to life and equalised the scores on 77 mins. Although they defended manfully Cam were drained and with a minute left Sandown scored an unconverted try to snatch the game from Camberley with a final score of 14-19.
Despite the atrocious conditions spectators from both sides agreed that the scoreline in no way reflected Camberley's dominance for 60 mins but unfortunately this sort of thing happens when teams are low on confidence.
Overall this was clearly the best performance this season by some way and with next week off the squad can continue to work on improving the basics and also on how to close games out.
This was a team performance with the backs playing well despite the difficult conditions. The appearance of Tony Harbour, as with Neil Budd a couple of weeks ago, added experience and serious attacking options and also the backs were much more solid in defence.
But this was a day when all of the forwards were heroes with the front row of Rocky, Karl and Rubbish managing to win several strikes against the head. The engine room of Robbie and 'The Hoff'' worked tirelessly all around the park and did well in the lineout and the backrow competed all around the park and also made big inroads into the Sandown defence by running ball back at them throughout the game.
Squad: J Pengilley, K Macintyre, W Mullan, R Nicholas, A Gould, M Angell, M Danaher, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Walsh, A Harbour, D Lewis, C Eccles, C Annan, S Hayter, C Kay, G Fleming, M Short
RogerB
Gosport & Fareham 40 - Camberley 13 7th November 2009
With a side showing changes from the previous week Camberley faced a difficult task at second in the table Gosport & Fareham on Saturday.
The hosts were off to a good start with two penalties converted in the first 13 minutes. They went further ahead after breaching the Camberley defence after 20 minutes the try converted to go 13 points clear. A few minutes later and another try in the right corner although unconverted gave a sound 18 nil lead.
Although Camberley fought back with solid work by the forwards another defensive loss of the ball led to the third try under the posts. Converted the home lead was stretched to a virtually unassailable 25 nil. But Camberley fought back and their efforts led to a penalty converted by Rob Bamford shortly before half time. So a 25 – 3 scoreline at the interval.
The second half started encouragingly for Camberley the forwards continuing the good work later in the first half. They were rewarded by a try after 4 minutes when lock Robbie Nicholas plunged over. The conversion converted by Jason Chapple reduced the deficit to 15 points. But within 10 minutes the hosts had added 8 more points to now seal the match. Firstly a penalty then an unconverted try after another breakaway. A penalty from Jason Chapple reduced the deficit to 33 – 13 with 25 minutes gone.
Camberley held their defence well for the next quarter of an hour but with 10 minutes remaining Gosport & Fareham drove over for another try which although unconverted gave a final 40 – 13 scoreline.
Another disappointing loss but Camberley can take heart for good forward performances for the second week running. But hard work now essential to move towards achieving some vitally needed league wins in the near future.
Report by Neil Doody
Camberley 20 – Folkestone 25 31st Oct 2009
Cam entertained Folkestone in their National Cup tie hoping to put their poor league form behind them.
Cam started brightly with good breaks by Dan Lewis and Marc Angell and this pressure was soon rewarded when, from a scrum just outside the visitors 22, good interplay with the No8 and scrumhalf saw winger Zac Crabb race over for the first try of the afternoon after just 5 mins.
Cam managed the restart well and again breaks by Angell and Lewis saw play move into the visitors half but Cam were penalised at the scrum and lost a further 10m for debating the decision with the ref and so play quickly moved to the Cam 22. Folkestone won the lineout and a miss move saw their inside centre cross for an equalising try after 10 mins.
At this stage, despite the try, things were looking much better for Cam with the midfield defence much more secure than in previous weeks, the lineout was much improved with Matt Short winning most of his throws and Cam were unlucky not to add to the score when an obvious overlap was spurned.
The visitors then had a spell of attacking, again partly caused by some indiscipline from Cam and the apparent need for them to discuss decisions with the official. Good defence from Cam, however, saw them win their scrum on the 5m line and scrum half Zac Crabb's clever kick was followed up by Zac and Andy Wreakes and they eventually forced the Folkestone defender to run out of play deep in the his own 22 for a gain of almost 90m.
The resulting lineout was won by Matt Short and the forwards drove Robbie Nicholas over for a try to make the score 10-5 after 30mins.
From the restart Cam went to sleep and Folkestone were awarded a penalty which they duly converted to reduce the margin to 2 points and despite serious pressure from Cam for the last next 10 mins this remained the score at halftime.
The second half started badly for Cam when a poor clearance kick gave the visitors the chance to attack and although they defended well the Cam front row were penalised again and with the successful kick Folkestone went into the lead for the first time after 47 mins.
Cam eventually came back to life when a clever 22m dropout by Andy Dowan was collected by Marc Angell who broke to halfway before feeding fullback Andy Wreakes. His clever kick was collected by the visitors fullback but with the support of Angell he was forced back over the goalline for an attacking 5m scrum. The backrow move didn't work and the Cam forwards found themselves scrumming down on the Folkestone 10m line but they again disrupted the visitors ball and when Folkestone were penalised this time the visitors decided to discuss matters with the ref at a cost of a further 10m which brought the penalty within easy range for Andy Dowan to slot over and so regain the lead after 60mins.
This lead was very short lived as, Cam went to sleep at the restart and having knocked on they gave the visitors the chance to mount an attack deep in the Cam half and after several phases of quick ball they crossed for a try wide out to make the score 13-18 after 62 mins.
Although Folkestone threatened to add to their score good defence saw Cam eventually take play back up onto halfway where they were awarded a free kick. A smart break by Marc Angell created quick ball for Andy Walsh to feed Dan Lewis who scorched in from just outside the visitors 22 making the score 20-18 with 70 mins played.
With 10 mins plus injury time to play all Cam needed to do was play sensible rugby but from the restart they had a prop yellow carded for stamping which left them to defend their lead with 14 men. With this handicap the plan should have been to keep the ball tight, close to the forwards, but they continued with their attempts to play expansive rugby but with a man short and several key defenders suffering injuries this was a recipe for disaster and it was only a matter of time before Folkestone gained possession and found their way through the struggling defence to score the try which won them the match.
Despite this defeat this was a much improved performance by Cam with the midfield defence strengthened by the return of Neil Budd and Dan Lewis. In the backs both Andy Wreakes and Zac Crabb made major contributions and were unlucky to be on the losing side.
As with most games this season the forwards acquitted themselves well although they will need to review the penalty count and also their keeness to debate decisions with the referee.
The second row pair of Robbie Nicholas and Matt Short had big games in the lineout and also around the park and flankers Marc Angell and Dave Rees were always prominent in attack and defence.
The Cam supporters went home a little happier after this game hoping that the improvement they had seen would continue into the next League game away at Gosport.
Squad: J Pengilley. J Kaye, W Mullan, R Nicholas, M Short, M Angell, D Ellis, S Burger, A Walsh, A Dowan, C Kaye, D Lewis, N Budd, Z Crabb, A Wreakes, G Fleming, C Annan
RogerB
Camberley 10 – Old Midwhitgiftians 44 24th Oct 2009
With the existing injury list leaving coach Jon Cant with limited options, the situation was not helped when both selected props called off on match day due to unavoidable work commitments.
Playing into the wind in the first half Midwives scored a try after 10 mins and after half an hour had built a lead of 27-0.
Eventually Cam forwards started to exert some pressure on the visitors line and following a series of scrums and lineouts Andy Walsh was driven over for a try.
The second half started much better for Cam and for 20mins they were on top and should have scored on at least 2 occasions.
Midwives then came back and scored three tries before a break by Marc Angell led to Chris Annan crossing wide out in the last play of the game giving a final score 10-44.
Squad P Stickland, J Batey, J Kaye, M Short, A Gould, D Rees, M Danaher, S Burgess, A Walsh, A Dowan, C Annan, M Angell, M Gomm, Z Crabb, A Wreakes, K Storr, G Fleming, J Chappell
Kingston 46 Camberley 11 17th October 2009
With three reversals in the opening four matches Camberley travelled to Kingston needing a win to boost the modest start to the season.
Losing the toss Camberley were soon in trouble playing up the appreciable slope. From kick off the ball was knocked on deep in defence which led to an offside penalty so giving Kingston an early three points. Seven minutes gone and it was 8 – 0 as Kingston burst through the defence to score an unconverted try just right of the posts . Four minutes later and again the defence was caught as a fine try was scored in the corner. It was well converted to see a 15 – 0 lead and the home side already in a strong position.
Andy Dowan reduced the deficit with a 20th minute penalty but soon another try was created by the swift handling Kingston backs. This was a reward for control by the forwards in set piece and loose leaving few opportunities for Camberley. But they did fight back with some good work from the forwards leading to a second penalty from Dowan to leave the half time score at 20 – 6 .
With the slope and breeze favouring Camberley in the second half prospects looked there to press for points. But the Kingston forwards pinned Camberley back in their own half. After missing a penalty another was kicked to the corner resulting in line out and the fourth try and a 25 – 6 scoreline. After this further reversal Camberley put in good efforts midfield and two good scrums led to a break by Dowan with then Chris Annan scoring in the corner. There were fifteen minutes remaining for Camberley to press on but instead the grip resumed for Kingston who controlled the territory in the closing quarter played.
They sealed the match with three converted tries. Following a scrum near the line they scored under the posts and immediately following kick off gathered a loose ball and burst through the defence for the second. As the match drew to a close another try followed an interception in front of the posts to cap a miserable afternoon for Camberley. So a 46 – 11 win with seven tries for Kingston. For the second week running the confidence was lacking particularly in the vital closing stages leading to sound defeats. With only one win in five Camberley need to raise their game significantly to avoid an uncomfortable New Year.
Squad P Stickland, J Batey, W Mullan, M Short, A Gould, G Fleming, M Danaher, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Dowan, C Annan, A Walsh, G Ritson, Z Crabb, J Chappell, R Kirby, D Rees, C Eccles
Report by Neil Doody
Camberley 12 Old Wimbledonians 33 10th October 2009
In previous seasons the absence of nine 1st XV players through injury and weddings would have seen Cam unable to fulfill the fixture but such is the improvement in playing numbers over the last year that not only was coach Jon Cant able to field a full squad but on the adjoining pitch a strong Cam 3rdXV were entertaining and beating Guildford. 3rds.
The game got off to a scrappy start with neither side able to find a decent touch. In fact the best touch for Cam was achieved by the OW's fly half who managed to put the ball out 10m from his own line when kicking from outside his 22.
On this first visit deep into OWs territory Cam were penalised allowing the visitors to clear the danger. Cam won the OWs throw but again conceded a free kick which was quickly taken by OWs however great rush defence caused panic in the OWs ranks and the ball was turned over and into the hands of centre Dan Lewis who sprinted over from the 22.
This try after 5 mins was not converted.
The next 15 mins saw Cam forwards gaining the initiative but with the side conceding a string of penalties OW's spent most of the period in the Cam half and in the end this pressure eventually brought its reward when from a pretty standard backs move the outside centre brushed off some poor attempted tackles to cross wide out and level the scores after 20mins.
Cams inability to play to the ref and also to manage their game continued and after 25 mins despite winning their lineout they contrived to turn the ball over and again the OWs backs ran through a non existent defence to score under the posts and take the lead 5-12.
This pattern continued with the Cam forwards dominant in the tight and producing some great strikes against the head when in tight defensive situations only to see their hard earned ball being given away cheaply by the backs.
Eventually OWs were penalised for holding on and Andy Dowan took play deep into the OWs 22.
Cam pressured the OWs lineout and after winning a scrum they were awarded a penalty which they chose to kick to touch. A great take by Mark Angell saw the Cam forwards launch a massive drive to the line with the score being credited to Jez Edwards. Andy Dowan's strike from the touchline was magnificent and leveled the scores after 30mins.
This was Cam as we know they can play and the supporters were left wondering what had happened during the previous 30 mins. This improvement continued for the rest of the half with the forwards working well and the backs keeping the pressure on with some well judged touch kicks deep into the OWs 22.
Unfortunately Cam could not continue this improvement after the break and soon found themselves defending deep in their own half following some poor clearance work by the backs and it was clear that OWs, who had started the game apparently somewhat low on confidence, saw that they had a real chance to get a result and so they increasingly took the game to Cam, this, despite being beaten up front. In fact they became the first side for several seasons at Watchetts who, when given the choice of a scrum or a lineout by the ref, took the lineout option.
So the pattern continued, the Cam forwards working hard creating ball which then seemed to result in them needing to defend again.
The breakthrough for OWs came after 65 mins when they picked up a loose ball on the Cam 22 to score between the posts.
In the last 15 mins OWs turned on the pressure and scored 2 futher converted tries to make the final score 12-33
Clearly, despite the final score, this was a game which even this heavily depleted Cam XV could have won. The forwards effort particularly in the first half belied the fact that they were so under strength and to see them driving the OWs pack back on a number of key defensive scrums left many Cam supporters wondering what should have been.
Flanker Marc Angell and number 8 Jez Edwards had big games for Cam and were at the heart of most things and it was good to see Matt Short, returning after a number of seasons away, working hard in the second row.
With 3 defeats out of 4 Jon Cant is now looking at the wrong end of the table and will no doubt be working hard this week to ensure that his side for Kingston next Saturday will tighten things up and eliminate the many errors which were committed in this game.
Squad, P Stickland, J Batey, C Storr, S Burgess, M Short, D Ellis, M Angell, J Edwards, J Herriott, A Dowan, C Eccles, A Walsh, D Lewis, C Annan, J Chappell, R Mugford, G Fleming, S Hayter,
RogerB
Fordingbridge 31 Camberley 21 25th Sept 2009
With the temperature in the low 70’s, in other words an excellent day for cricket, Camberley made the long journey to Fordingbridge via motorways and the idyllic New Forest for our 3rd league match of the season This, the second long distance away game is not being the best way to start the season, as well as 3 changes in the team from the previous week, which makes it difficult for coach Jon Cant to get a settled pattern to the games.
Playing with the sun in their eyes for the first half, Cam had the better of the initial exchanges with Alex Gould well to the fore with some excellent drives. 12 minutes into the game following pressure on the left side of the pitch, Cam were awarded a penalty which Andy Dowan converted from some 35 metres to open the scoring. Almost from the re-start, Fordingbridge followed their kick, won possession and then a penalty to make it 3 all after 15 minutes.
At a Cam lineout in the middle of the park, Fordingbridge cleverly stole the throw in by an excellent timed jump, and from the resulting possession their left wing ran through the middle after poor tackling attempts, to score under the posts, and make it 10-3 after nearly 30 minutes. Immediately from the ko and the resulting maul Camb won a penalty for offside, which Andy Dowan converted from a similar distance to the first penalty. After a mixed period of play, Andy Dowan collected the ball in his own half and put a long kick down almost to the goal line in the left corner. This enabled Cam to exert some pressure in the corner of the pitch, from which left wing Chris Annan eventually went over in the corner to score a try, with only a minute to go before injury time. Into injury time following an excellent run by Chris Annan down the left wing, Morgan Danaher was on hand to carry the momentum forward and cross the line for another try again in the left corner. Andy Downan converted from the touch line with an excellent kick to make the half time score 10 – 18, for which the Camberley supporters numbering some 30 in all were most grateful.
From the start of the second half Fordingbridge made it clear they were not going to lie down to the extra weight of Cam, and were able to use their agility as well as their ability to take ball from Cam players at many of the rucks and mauls. After only 4 minutes they struck back with a penalty, and kicked another 2 as the game entered the last quarter, to put them ahead 19-18. Fordingbridge then pressured Camberley’s 22, and whilst an interception nearly occurred in the 34th minute, from the resulting Camberley knock on, advantage was played. This enabled the home side to score and convert to put them 8 points ahead. Some 3 minutes later Cam won another long range penalty converted by Andy Dowan, to bring our score up to 21 points. However, on the stroke of full time, the home side were still pressuring the Camberley 22, and were rewarded by scoring a try, to bring the final score to 31-21.
Man of the match for Camberley was Andy Dowan, with some useful contributions from a number of other players, including Andy Jackson & Alex Gould in the lines out, and Chris Annan on the left wing when given the opportunity to run. Marc Angell had useful game at No 7, and it was unfortunate that the temperature and injuries caused problems for some of the players.
Next week we have a bye in the National Cup competition, so it is hoped to arrange a friendly, to help get the players to work together more closely, and to learn how to retain their ball in the tight and loose. Games cannot be won without retaining the ball. Then on 10th October, which has been nominated as our Volunteers Day special, the 1st XV will be playing against our old friends, Old Wimbledonians in the next League match when it is expected we could have some 200 supporters on the touchline, as part of the day’s festivities.
Squad: J Pengelly, J Batey, W Mullan, A Jackson, A Gould, M Danaher, M Angell, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Dowan, C Annan, A Walsh, J Watson, G Ritson, R Bamford, P Stickland, R Nicholas, C Eccles.
RNC/27th Sept 2009.
Camberley 17 Andover 15 19th Sept 2009
Cam entertained Andover at Watchetts for their first home League game of the new season. The home supporters expectations were high following their side's 1 point defeat at Ellingham on the opening Saturday but in Andover they faced a team who had already recorded an impressive away win themselves.
Defending the clubhouse end Cam dealt with the kick off confidently but some sloppy play resulted in Andover winning a scrum on the hosts 22. Cam further compounded their problems by being penalised and were lucky that the Andover kicker pushed the ball wide.
Still struggling to get out of their half Cam won a lineout on their 22 and with the backs breaking quickly winger Chris Annan was eventually forced into touch deep in the Andover half.
From this attacking position Cam started to exert real pressure on Andover but their discipline was poor and at key times they either managed to concede penalties or lose possession.
However the pressure still continued and Dan Lewis followed a chip ahead and forced the Andover wing to carry over the goal line. At the resulting 5m scrum Cam again managed to offend and Andover took play back to halfway.
From the resultant lineout Cam debutant Jes Edwards was first to react to the loose ball and made 20m before trying to link with his backs. Although the pass didn't go to hand good footwork by Dan Lewis saw Chris Annan clearly impeded when a try was all but certain and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try which was converted by Andy Dowan. So finally after 13 mins Cam had some reward for their pressure.
From the restart Cam were quickly on the attack and yet another promising move was halted for holding on.
The Andover penalty failed to make touch and the Cam attack was stooped illegally giving Andy Dowan a chance to extend the lead but he could only push the kick wide.
Cam continued to dominate this phase of the game and winger JJ was denied a try when he outpaced the Andover defence to touch down a neat chip from Andy Dowan only to be called back for a knock on.
The Cam pressure continued with attacks from all of the Cam threequarters and Andover seldom made it over half way. However on 30 mins , from a scrum on halfway Andover moved the ball down the blindside and suddenly their pacey winger burned off the Cam defence to score wide out.
This was much against the run of play and seemed to shock both the team and supporters.
Andover then had more confidence and a big drive by their forwards saw Cam needing to pull out everything to stop another try but great defence and a vital scrum against the head saw the black and ambers move play back into the centre of the field. Another great break down the Cam left saw Robert Bamford crossing for an excellent try following some neat interpassing between himself and Chris Annan only for the ref to call them back for a foot in touch.
Cam then finished the half in style with another great move by Zac Crabb and Chris Annan and it was surprising to see Zac who has pace to burn being pulled down by the Andover speed king.
Cam started the 2nd half very slowly and soon found themselves playing in their 22 but after 10 mins they added to their score following a great attack by the threequarters which saw Zac cross the try line only to be brought back for a foot in touch. However from the resultant lineouts and rucks Cam were patient and when the ball was release to the backs Andy Dowan made his familiar half break and managed to get the try scoring pass away to Josh Watson who went over close to the posts. Andy D was not able to add the extras but Cam had now moved into a 12-5 lead.
Andover came back at Cam and aided by some sloppy play by the hosts they won a penalty on the Cam 22 which was kicked to bring the score back to 12-8 after 58 mins.
Andover returned the restart deep into the Cam half but great play initially by Zac Crabb and then carried on by the rest of the threequarters saw yet another try opportunity go begging when key passes went to ground.
Andovers defence worked well and soon they managed to take play back up onto halfway.
However with Cams scrum still dominant the ball was quickly released to Dan Lewis who took play deep into the Andover 22 only for the final pass to be poor allowing Andover to relieve the pressure. However good aggressive play by the home forwards soon took play back into the Andover 22.
There was then a period where Andover were not able to move out of their 22 and on 64 mins Zac Crabb and Dan Lewis combined again to take the ball deep into the Andover 22 and when Cam were awarded a penalty it was taken quickly by Andy Wreakes who fed lock Alex Gould who drove over for a well deserved try.
Cam then seemed to step off the gas and Andover were quickly up into the Cam 22 and despite some excellent defence they were penalised and from the quick tap Andover went over for a try which was converted making the score 17-15 after 79 mins.
Cam entered the 6 mins of injury time determined to stay in control and the forwards soon took play deep into the Andover half but over optimistic passing by the threequarters saw Andover relieve the pressure and take play to the Cam 10m.
Four great lineout takes by Alex Gould, one from an Andover throw, helped Cam maintain control and to the relief of the spectators the final whistle came with no changes to the score.
Overall this was a promising performance for the side although they must improve their ball retention and reduce dramatically the number of penalties conceded if they are to achieve a decent League position at the end of the season. The forwards were on top for most of the 80 mins and with 4+ strikes against the head (thanks to Rocky) they created a solid base and although they lost too many lineouts the final flurry of success by Alex Gould must be used as the basis on which to move forward.
The back row performed manfully with Jez Edwards outstanding on his debut.
Young scrum half Zac Crabb had another good game and used his pace to great effect and the threequarters all made significant contributions to the win although ball retention and game management will definitely be on Head Coach Jon Cant's list of topics for training this week.
In the end the Cam spectators saw enough positives to allow them to look forward to the new season with some optimism.
Squad: J Pengilley, J Batey, W Mullan, A Jackson, A Gould, M Danaher, J Edwards, S Burgess, Z Crabb, A Dowan, C Annan, J Watson, D Lewis, JJ, R Bamford, P Stickland, G Fleming, A Wreakes
RogerB
Ellingham & Ringwood 30 Camberley 29 12th Sept 2009
The conditions were warm and sunny at Ringwood for the Camberley's start to their 2009/10 season in London 3 South West..
First score to the hosts as a penalty in the 13th minute gave Ringwood the advantage. But straight from the kick off ground was made and an interception saw Dan Lewis touch down under the posts. The conversion by Andy Dowan saw a 7 – 3 lead. Ringwood came back after some Camberley ball gathering failures despite good work by the pack in the tight. They drew closer with a 24th minute drop goal and soon were in the lead. This with a well worked try in the right corner well converted to see the 13 – 7 scoreline.
Ringwood went further ahead as, following a penalty award wide out, they drove over for a try again well converted from the right. Camberley responded with a penalty for crossing converted by Andy Dowan a few minutes before half time to take the interval 20 – 10 to the hosts.
The ball was soon lost again by Cam early into the second half as with 43 minutes gone Ringwood scored under the posts duly converted. A penalty after 50 minutes and the hosts were 30 – 10 and coasting clear. But the tempo changed as after 57 minutes another interception by the ever watchful Dan Lewis brought his second try which was converted by Andy Dowan. 5 minutes later and this time it was fly half Dowan who engineered the third interception. He ploughed through the defence to score wide out with full back Jason Chappell converting. At 30 – 24 the match was wide open with 18 minutes remaining.
The Camberley pack pressurised and were rewarded with a try in the left corner by Andy Dowan but this was not converted so after 71 minutes the scoreline was 30 – 29. The rousing finish saw a Cam fail with a penalty and drop goal attempt both going wide as injury time was entered. At the last gasp another penalty was missed by Camberley so the narrow win was secured for the hosts.
Squad: P Stickland, J Batey, W Mullan, A Jackson, A Gould, G Fleming, M Danaher, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Dowan, C Annan, J Watson, D Lewis, Z Crabb, J Chappell, J Kaye, R Nicholas
Report by Neil Doody
Fixtures 2009/2010
| Date | Opposition | H/A | Result | Score | |
| August | 1st | ||||
| 8th | Bude XV (F) | A |
|||
| 18th | Aldershot (F) | A |
|||
| 22nd | Chipping Norton (F) |
A |
D | 19-19 | |
| 29th | Presidents XV | H | L | 22-26 | |
| September | 5th | Farnham (F) |
A |
W |
7-28 |
| 12th | Ellingham & Ringwood | A | L | 30-29 | |
| 19th | Andover | H | W | 17-15 | |
| 26th | Fordingbridge | A | L | 31-21 | |
| October | 3rd | Training Camp |
H |
||
| 10th | Old Wimbledonians | H | L | 12-33 | |
| 17th | Kingston | A | L | 46-11 | |
| 24th | Old Midwhitgiftians | H | L | 10-44 | |
| 31st | Folkestone (Senior Vase rd 2) | H | L | 20-25 | |
| November | 7th | Gosport & Fareham | A | L | 40-13 |
| 14th | Sandown & Shanklin | H | L | 14-19 | |
| 21st | |||||
| 28th | Old Wellingtonians | A | W | 21-34 | |
| December | 5th | Old Paulines | H | W | 22-0 |
| 12th | Old Alleynians | A | L | 33-28 | |
| 19th | Andover | A | Postponed | ||
| January | 9th | Fordingbridge | H | Postponed |
|
| 16th | Old Wimbledonians | A | W | 0-8 | |
| 23rd | Kingston | H | W | 11-8 | |
| 30th | Old Midwhitgiftians | A | L | 41-5 | |
| February | 6th | Andover | A | L | 39-13 |
| 13th | Gosport & Fareham | H | L | 10-20 | |
| 20th | Sandown & Shanklin | A | W | 29-31 | |
| 27th | Fordingbridge | H | Postponed | ||
| March | 6th | Old Wellingtonians | H | L | 13-15 |
| 13th | |||||
| 20th | Old Paulines | A | L | 6-3 | |
| 27th | Old Alleynians | H | L | 22-36 | |
| April | 3rd | Fordingbridge | H | W | 13-7 |
| 10th | Ellingham & Ringwood | H | W |
30-28 |
Camberley 36 - Petersfield 27 18 April 2009
Cam travelled to Petersfield on Saturday aiming to finish their season on a high and a 36-27 win saw them move up to 8th in a very tight mid table where only 6 points separated the 3rd and 9th placed teams.
In glorious conditions Cam struggled to get their game together and after 10 minutes had gifted 2 tries to the side who have propped up the league for a number of weeks. In this period Cam seemed unable to retain any possession at the breakdown and the tackling in midfield was at its best woeful.
However the second score seemed to galvanise the side and they replied within 2 minutes. A Petersfield 22m drop out was collected by Josh Watson and when the ball was recycled quickly, standoff Andy Dowan made a clever break on the Petersfield 10m line and was surprised to see that he had a clear run to the line to score under the posts. He added the extras and so the score after 13 mins was 7-10.
This turnaround, however, didn't last for long when Cam again failed to make touch from a penalty and when Petersfield ran the ball back, again the Cam defence was nowhere to be seen allowing the home side another soft try.
The score of 7-15 was a fair reflection of play in this first quarter as Cam had not managed to control the ball on the rare occasions that they had possession and the defensive wall had been shown to be paper thin in places.
From the restart some scrappy play eventually resulted in Cam being awarded a penalty midway between the half way and the Petersfield 10m and Andy Dowan produced a great strike to bring Cam back to within a single score.
Following the restart Cam started to play some rugby and for a period they set up in the Petersfield 22m but again poor ball retention and poor tackling soon saw Petersfield deep in the Cam half and when Cam lost their lineout on their 22m a simple move saw Petersfield again run through the Cam midfield to score their 4th try which this time was converted making the score 10-22 after 30mins.
Cams reply to this latest score was dramatic and they produced 2 quality scores in 5 minutes to finally take the lead.
From the restart Cam regained possession and a neat break by Andy Walsh was carried on by prop James Pengilley to within 5m of the Petersfield line and when the ball was recycled quickly lock Alex Gould was on hand to force his way over. This try was converted by Andy Dowan.
The Petersfield restart was managed well by Cam and having secured the ball they moved it quickly across field to winger Dan Lewis who, starting from just outside his own 22m, raced away to score a great individual try beating at least 4 players in the process. With the conversion by Andy Dowan this put Cam in front for the first time at 24-22 and this also became the half time score.
Whatever the coach Jon Cant said at half time there was a marked improvement in the Cam defensive play in the second half which was necessary as for the first quarter Petersfield had most of the ball and were camped in the Cam 22. However Cam's defence stood firm for 15 mins and the were rewarded when, from a quick tap penalty in their own half we saw winger Dan Lewis streak away from the opposition to score his second try of the day. This try was converted and so after 55 mins Cam had stretched their lead to 9 points.
Cam were unlucky not to add to this lead straight from the restart when another searing break by Dan Lewis and Greg White was stopped a few yards short of the home side's line but despite several promising drives the Petersfield defence held out and eventually took play back towards halfway.
For the next 15 mins Petersfield again camped in the Cam 22 and this pressure eventually brought its rewards when, from a lineout on the Cam 22, the Petersfield threequarters broke through some pretty flimsy tackling to score another try and get back to within a single score.
However from the restart Alex Gould won the ball for Cam and quick hands from Ricky Jones saw Dan Lewis with enough space to burn off the opposition and score his 3rd try making the final score 36-27.
Although delighted with the win the Cam supporters were disappointed by this rather lack lustre end of season performance and the coaching team will have plenty to think about in the coming weeks in preparation for next season.
For the 3rd game running the Cam pack which had dominated in so many earlier matches found itself taking second place until late in the game and the lineout again provided little good ball for the backs.
Dan Lewis was again outstanding with his 3 tries and young outside centre Josh Watson put in a sterling performance in defence setting the standard for a number of his more experienced colleagues.
So the the teams objectives at the start of the season to consolidate the squad and target a mid table position were achieved and the coaching team are already planning for next season with training starting at the beginning of July.
RogerB
Camberley 10 - Trojans 46 4th April 2009
Camberley entertained Trojans for their last home league game of the season knowing that the second placed side had only lost once in the league this season and were already promoted.
Cam made a glorious start to match the weather when, after just 2 minutes, winger Chris Eccles intercepted a poor Trojans pass and raced from halfway to score a try which Andy Dowan converted.
This lead proved to be short lived however when after several attacks Trojans were awarded a free kick on the Cam 10m line which they took quickly and with Cam struggling to get back the visitors winger found space wide out to score.
Following the restart Trojans continued to exert pressure and were soon threatening the Cam line but great defence at a number of scrums saw play brought back to the Cam 10m line.
However the Cam scrum was struggling and when their ball was disrupted Trojans were quick to react and again took play back into the Cam 22 where a neat set piece move saw the blindside winger touch down under the posts. So after some 18 minutes the visitors moved into a 7-12 lead.
Despite Cam being unable to control their scrum or win much lineout possession, good defence saw them maintain some pressure on Trojans and after 30 mins Andy Dowan reduced the lead with a well struck penalty from the 10m line.
The game then became very scrappy but despite the lack of quality set piece ball Cam's defence worked hard to stay in the game and the only addition to the scoring came on the stroke of halftime when Trojans kicked a penalty to make the score 10-15.
Playing down the slope in the second half Cam were soon in the visitors 22 and after 48 mins Andy Dowan had the chance to reduce the margin with a penalty on the 22m line but he pushed the ball wide.
Although the Trojans 22m drop out was charged down the visitors quickly regained control and excellent play by their backs saw their winger score a try wide out.
Trojans then moved up a gear but Cam could consider themselves unlucky with their next score. A long penalty kick by Cam was collected deep in the Trojans 22 and they launched an attack which although it contained at least 2 'doubtful' passes it took play close to the Cam line and from the resulting lineout a good drive saw them cross to score another try which made the score 10-27 after 60mins.
Now Trojans were attacking at will and although they never gave up it was clear that the effects of Cam's defensive effort in the first half were beginning to be felt allowing Trojans to add a further 3 tries in the final quarter giving a score of 10 - 46.
This was always going to be a tough game for Cam and as with the game last week it again highlighted their lack of experience in certain positions.
Again the forwards had a tough afternoon and the rearranged threequarter line just didn't get any real opportunities.
The final league game is away to bottom club Petersfield on April 18th.
Squad: J Pengilley, J Batey, R Mugford, A Gould, R Nicholas, G Fleming, M Angell, S Burgess, Z Crabb, A Dowan, C Eccles, R Bamford, J Watson, JJ, S Hayter, D Harries, J Herriott, D Rees.
RogerB
Camberley 18 - Kingston 23 28th March 2009
Camberley travelled to Kingston aiming to continue their recent improved form and despite being well beaten in both scrums and lineouts all afternoon they were unlucky not to sneak an equalising try in a rousing end to the game when they finally raised their game and relentlessly pounded the Kingston line in the final minutes.
Cam kicked off playing down the slope into a stiff breeze and it was clear from the kickoff that conditions would have an impact on the game.
Within the first 5 minutes Kingston were penalised twice for playing the ball on the ground and although Andy Dowan's attempt from the 10m line was held up by the wind Ricky Jones managed to slot home his attempt from the Kingston 22 after 5 minutes.
The game then moved between both 22m lines with neither side really able to gain the initiative although Kingston used the wind well to relieve any Cam pressure.
During this period Kingston took the lead with 2 successful penalty kicks and after 15 mins were leading 6-3.
On 25 mins Cam broke the deadlock when Dan Lewis interceopted a well telegraphed Kingston pass and raced away from his own 22m line to touch down under the posts. The try was converted by Ricky Jones and Cam had regained the lead.
Kingston were woken up by this score and only great Cam defence kept them out and so the score at half time remained 10-6 to Camberley.
The second half started badly for Cam with them knocking on the restart kick which resulted in a Kingston scrum on the Cam 22. A neat chip from Kingston was not dealt with by Cam and so within 2 mins of the second half starting Cam were defending a 5m scrum. With Kingston so dominant in this area there was only one result and after a couple of attempts Kingston drove over to score a try which was converted giving them the lead at 13-10 after only 43 minutes.
From the restart Marc Angell following up quickly caught the kick and fed fellow flanker Dave Rees and Cam started to look threatening but with their inability to win good ball at the set pieces they soon found themselves defending deep in their 22. Eventually the Kingston pressure told when, from a 5m scrum the Kingston number 8 who had an good game drove over to score wide out. This try was also converted stretching the Kingston lead to 10 points.
Cam then enjoyed a period of pressure playing in the Kingston 22 but were unable to convert this into points despite several good breaks.
However their pressure was eventually rewarded when they ran back a poor Kingston kick and a kick and chase by full back Ricky Jones was not dealt with by Kingston and he touched down wide out.
The conversion was missed but after 60 mins Cam had reduced the margin to 5 points and were looking more confident.
Despite a sudden wintry shower Cam managed the Kingston restart well and with Andy Dowan using the wind and good chasing by Jayde Cruickshank play quickly returned to the Kingston 22 and when Kingston were penalised at the next breakdown Ricky Jones stepped up to reduce the margin to 2 points.
This time the restart was knocked on by Cam and from the resulting pressure Cam were penalised and Kingston gratefully took the 3 points.
Kingston mounted a series of attacks but their indiscipline saw Cam awarded several penalties taking play up into the Kingston half. Then a great run by Jayde Cruickshank saw play move deep into the Kingston 22 and when the ball was recycled Marc Angell took play to within 5m of the Kingston line where Kingston were penalised yet again.
Cam took a tap and a series of big drives took play up to the Kingston posts but then all of their training sessions were forgotten when instead of remaining patient the ball was whipped out to the backs only to be knocked on and so a glorious chance was lost. With Kingston winning the resultant scrum the opportunity was lost as the ref blew the whistle for full time with a final score 23-18 to Kingston.
This was a game which Cam could have won but the experienced Kingston side made life extremely difficult for a number of the Cam youngsters who found things tough in the heat of the scrummage and also around the fringes.
However this is not the first time this season that the side has forgotten all it learned at training by moving the attack away from the forward drive much too early and surely coach Jon Cant will be reminding them all this week.
It was a very difficult afternoon for the forwards in the tight although the front five stuck to their task manfully. In The end Cam simply did not control the ball well enough but to their credit the team stuck to their task and could so easily have turned the result around at the end.
Again there were promising performances from a number of players with youngsters Jayde Cruickshank, Ricky Jones and Josh Watson all making valuable contributions both in attack and defence but outstanding again was Marc Angell whose tackling and support in attack was a major factor in keeping Cam in with a shout until the end.
Next week we have our last home league game v Trojans ko 3.00
Squad: J Pengilley, J Batey, W Mullan, A Gould, R Nicholas, M Angell, D Rees, G Fleming, Z Crabb, A Dowan, J Cruickshank, A Walsh, J Watson, D Lewis, R Jones, R Bamford, R Mugford, S Brown.
RogerB
Camberley 58 - Old Wellingtonians 7 14 March 2009
Camberley welcomed Old Wellingtonians to Watchetts aiming to continue their recent improvement in form against a side who were just pipped for promotion last season.
With a stiff breeze behind them Cam quickly took play deep into the OWs 22 following a long raking kick by fly half Andy Dowan which was well chased by winger Jayde Cruickshank.
Cam won the lineout ball and although the first drive was held up they continued to recycle and eventually hooker Jack Batey forced his way over after just 2 mins.
With the restart kick not making 10m Cam won the scrum on halfway and good work between number 8 Graeme Fleming and Zac Crabb saw the scrum half make 15m before releasing Dan Lewis in space and he raced over to score under the posts. The try was converted by Andy Dowan and so the score after 4 minutes was 12-0.
From the restart Cam continued with their attacking game and a good break by the backs saw winger Jayde Cruickshank tackled into touch in the OWs 22 stopping a certain try.
The supporters had to wait for 10mins for the next score when, following more pressure from the pack, Andy Dowan broke on the blindside allowing Jayde Cruickshank to cross in the corner.
Cam then momentarily seemed to lose their focus as they conceded a couple of silly penalties and OWs took full advantage of some pretty weak tackling in the backs to score a converted try.
This sparked Cam into action again and from the restart they took play into the OWs 22 again and were unlucky to be held up on the line. However from the resultant scrum Andy Dowan made a half break and although he was tackled just short of the line flanker Marc Angell was on hand to pick up the loose ball and score. So with 24 mins gone Cam had stretched their lead to 22-7.
For the remainder of the half Cam continued to play attacking rugby and although they were not able to add to the try count Andy Dowan added 2 penalties to make the score 28-7 at half time.
The second half continued in much the same way as the first with Cam playing open rugby from anywhere on the pitch and they were soon back in the OWs 22 following a break from within their own 22 when a long pass from Andy Dowan released JJ and Dan Lewis who, with clever interpassing and some extreme pace, took play up to the OWs line.
Although OWs managed to relieve the pressure this time Cam were soon back in the red zone following a 30m break by Jack Batey well supported by flanker Dave Rees and when OWs were penalised Andy Dowan was able to add the points.
Again from the restart Cam worked their way into the OWs 22 and when Andy Dowans break was stopped illegally he got up to slot the three points making the score 34-7 after 50 mins.
Now Cam were rampant and from a scrum on their 10m line the pick up by the number 8 gave Zac Crabb just enough space to outpace the OWs defence and race the 50m to score close to the posts. This try was converted by Andy Dowan.
The pressure continued with great drives by Alex Gould and James Pengilley returning play to the OWs 22 and a half break by Andy Dowan gave Dan Lewis the chance to showcase his skills by easily beating 2 OWs defenders to touch down for his second try. This was also converted by Andy Dowan.
By this time OWs had become very ragged and it wasn't long before Cam were camped on the OWs 5m line and again although the initial 'Hoff' ball was held up skipper Robbie Nicholas was soon driven over for a well deserved try.
The final score came on 75 mins when, on an OWs scrum on the Cam 10m line, Marc Angell was first to react to the loose ball and made a telling break before giving Zac Crabb the chance to score his second try of the afternoon and a final score of 58-7.
This was a very impressive win with everyone contributing to a fine display of open, flowing rugby.
Again the forwards were outstanding and created the platform from which the backs benefitted. Particularly impressive was the new pairing of flankers Marc Angell and Dave Rees who, using their extra pace, were prominent in both attack and defence.
Again the halfbacks worked well and they are clearly benefitting from a big increase in confidence with Andy again prepared to look for openings and Zac more willing to use his impressive pace.
The threequarters also enjoyed the extra time and space they were allowed and used the opportunity to demonstrate their attacking abilities to great effect.
With no 1st XV fixture this Saturday coach Jon Cant will be working to consolidate the recent improvement in form for their next game away against Kingston on March 28th.
Squad J Pengilley, J Batey, R Mugford, A Gould, R Nicholas, M Angell, D Rees, G Fleming, Z Crabb, A Dowan, JJ, A Walsh, J Watson, J Cruickshank, D Lewis, R Jones, D Harries, G White.
RogerB
Camberley 0 Weybridge Vandals 17 7th March 2009
Cam with a much changed side due to injuries and unavailabilities, travelled to play table topping Weybridge, who have yet to lose a game in the league this season,.
As Vandals had crushed Cam at Watchetts 63-10 early in the season coach Jon Cant knew that he should be able to measure his squads overall progress during this season – and he was not to be disappointed with the result.
Vandals success this season is due largely to their very physical approach with a big pack and strong running backs and this has proved to be a winning combination all season.
So it was no surprise when a couple of strong runs by their backs took play deep into the Cam half in the opening minutes. However Cam defended bravely and despite this almost constant pressure in their own 22 they had managed to restrict Vandals to 2 tries after twenty minutes – a lead of 14-0.
Slowly the teams confidence grew as they realised that they could defend against this onslaught and during the second quarter actually launched several attacks through Jayde Cruickshank which took play deep into the Vandals half. They came closest to a score when stand off Andy Dowan picked up a loose ball and broke free but with a massive overlap outside his pass was intercepted by the last Vandals defender and so the chance was lost.
Cam came under the cosh again but at the end of the half they had kept their line intact and were actually playing in the Vandals half.
The second half had barely started when a Vandals player suffered a nasty injury when he made contact with one of his own players and so, after some deliberation, the game was switched to another pitch.
This seemed to be a turning point for Cam because for long periods in this half they had possession and the relentless pressure they had withstood so bravely in the first half was not repeated, with Vandals only managing a few serious forays into the Cam 22.
In fact in this half the game was played mostly between the Cam 10m line and the Vandals try line and Cam were unfortunate on a number of occasions not to have scored but the Vandals defence proved to be as solid as their attack. Vandals managed to extend their lead when they kicked a penalty after 60mins on one of their rare visits to the Cam 22 and that concluded the scoring for the afternoon.
This was without doubt a very good performance from this young Cam side who are slowly gaining in confidence and can only improve.
All of the forwards had massive games in the tight and also in defence. With the scrum being disrupted by Vandals, number 8 Burgess and scrumhalf Crabb were always under pressure but they acquitted themselves well. The front 5 stuck to their task and when the final whistle was blown it was after a period of play when they had all carried the ball during a series of pick and drive phases deep in the Vandals 22 – an amazing sight considering the battering they had taken up front. The backrow also got through a mountain of work and it was good to see young openside Dave Rees gaining in confidence and staying involved for the full 80 mins.
The half backs covered themselves in glory with both Zac Crabb and Andy Dowan prominent in many of the good things that came from Camberley both in attack and defence.
Debutant Josh Watson at outside centre had a promising start on a very difficult day and Marc Angell was outstanding in attack and defence and marshalled this young threequarter line for the full 80 minutes. The back 3 had few chances to show their capabilities but all made exciting runs during the match and are clearly beginning to adjust to this level of rugby.
At the end of the game the Cam supporters could see that their team have come a long way since that drubbing in September and they will now look for more of the same in the remaining matches.
Next weekend there is are 2 games at Watchetts. On Saturday Cam entertain Old Wellingtonians ko 3.00 and on Sunday the rearranged Surrey Cup game v Guildford will be played (ko to be confirmed)
Squad: J Pengilley, J Batey, R Mugford, A Gould, R Nicholas, D Rees, G Fleming, S Burgess, Z Crabb, A Dowan, M Angell, J Watson, JJ, J Cruickshank, G White, A Wreakes, A Mathewson, G Chisholm
RogerB
Camberley 27 Ellingham 10 21 February 2009
On a bright afternoon at Watchetts Cam at last returned to winning ways with an emphatic victory over 4th place Ellingham by 27-10.
With confidence low the Cam start was a little tentative although they soon started to caused problems for Ellingham in the scrums by taking 2 strikes against the head in the first 5 minutes.
Play was mostly in the Ellingham half for the first 10 minutes and Cam were unlucky not to open the scoring when a Ricky Jones penalty hit the post.
Cam were doing most of the attacking at this stage and a good move by the backs saw Dan Lewis following his chip ahead and taking play within 5 metres of the Ellingham line.
15mins into the game and Ellimgham found themselves in the Cam 22 but despite getting several chances great Cam defence kept them at bay and they slowly returned play to the visitors half.
A neat move by Cam on 25 mins saw Dan Lewis benefit from a long pass by Andy Dowan only to be held up 2m short of the line, however Ellingham were penalised but Ricky Jones was unable to open the scoring when his kick slid wide.
From the 22 restart the ball was collected and taken forward by Alex Gould and when Cam produced quick ball a neat chip by Andy Dowan saw winger Jayde Cruickshank collect the ball on his toes and storm over for a try in the corner.
From the restart Cam took play forward again and when Ellingham were penalised Andy Dowan took play to within 15m of the visitors line.
From this lineout Cam were awarded a penalty which was taken quickly and a smart change of direction saw Dan Lewis passing to Andy Dowan who worked himself over for the second try. Again the conversion was just wide but after 35 mins the score was 10-0.
The remainder of the half saw Ellingham camped in the Cam 22 but resolute defence kept them out for almost 10 minutes until, on the stroke of halftime, their pressure was rewarded when they scored a try which was converted making the score at half time 10-7.
The first 20mins of the second period saw play move between both 22m with Cam making a number of breaks through their wingers. This period also saw another great defensive effort by Cam when they were down to 14 men with Simon Brown having been carded.
However Cam kept their line secure and on 65 minutes they extended the lead when, having taken play into the Ellingham 22, an interception saw the direction of play quickly switched and Zac Crabb going over for a try. With the conversion by Andy Dowan this gave Cam a bit of a cushion with 65 mins played.
However direct from the restart Cam were penalised and Ellingham reduced the deficit again.
Cam were not to be denied and winning a scrum against the head on halfway a strong run by winger Jayde Cruikshank saw play move deep into the Ellingham 22. At this stage it was all Cam with great runs by several of the forwards linking with the backs keeping play in the opposition 22 until the visitors were forced to concede a penalty which was kicked by Andy Dowan.
Despite making a hash of the restart Cam again gathered themselves and with good rugby by both forwards and backs play was soon back in the Ellingham 22
The final scoring came as a result of some intelligent rugby by Cam – when an attempted dropkick by Andy Dowan fell just short, the first player to the ball was winger JJ who despite being outnumbered managed to force his way over to score a try out of nothing.. This try was also converted by Andy Dowan and made the final score 27-10.
This was a much improved performance by Cam, one filled with passion and hard graft as well as moments of good rugby and it should do much to restore their confidence for the run in to the end of the season. The teams performance in the final quarter was particularly satisfying for the coach with great aggressive drives by the forwards and good movement from the backs.
Again the forwards were impressive and all won their individual battles – the lineouts were good with hooker Jack Batey growing in confidence as the season progresses.
Zac Crabb had his first start as scrum half and looked composed and sharp around the park and Andy Dowan began to show glimpses of what we all know he is capable of and his confidence should be boosted after such a performance.
Winger Jayde Cruickshank showed the supporters what he can do when he has the ball in hand and the skill shown in collecting the ball on the run to score his try was excellent as was the awareness of JJ who reacted quicker than any of the other 29 players on the park in the dying minutes to keep his scoring record up.
The rearranged Surrey Cup game v Guildford planned for next week has been postponed to allow Guildford to catch up on their league programme.
Squad : J Pengilley, J Batey, W Mullan, A Jackson, A Gould, G Fleming, S Brown, S Burgess, Z Crabb, A Dowan, A Walsh, D Lewis, JJ. J Cruickshank, R Jones, R Nicholas, R Mugford, A Wreakes.
RogerB
Camberley 18 - Gosport & Fareham 35 14th February 2009
Cam travelled to Gosport determined to end their disappointing start to 2009 but this was not to be, with them losing to a rugged Gosport side by 18-35.
Things didn't start too well for the Black and Ambers with their coach being delayed by road works which resulted in them arriving at the ground a mere 10 minutes before kick off – not the ideal preparation on a bright but cold afternoon on the Solent.
With most of the side 'still on the bus' Cam found themselves 14 points down within the first 15 minutes with Gosport scoring 2 tries the first coming following a series of forward drives close to the Cam line. The second following a turnover and chip ahead by Gosport which was collected by Cam fullback whose rushed kick only found the grateful arms of the other Gosport winger.
From the restart Cam had a chance to reduce this deficit but a penalty attempt by Andy Dowan was pushed wide.
Then Cam started to wake up and a good attack ended with Greg White taking play up to the Gosport 5m line.
Winning the lineout both Gosport props were penalised for coming in from the side and from the resultant lineout Cam set up a series of good drives which resulted in a try for prop Rocky Mullan which was converted by Any Dowan making the score after nearly 30 minutes 7-14.
However Cam were soon defending again when, from the restart, over ambitious play led to a Gosport scrum on the Cam 22 and from this pressure they went through a series of quick phases which eventually allowed the scrum half to run over for a fairly easy score.
This proved to be the final score of the half but with a 14 point deficit Cam had it all to do in the second half.
Cam started the second half brightly and a break by Dan Lewis followed by a chip and chase by JJ resulted in a Gosport 22. Within 5 mins this pressure was rewarded when Cam were awarded a penalty on the Gosport 10m line and Andy Dowan took the 3 points.
Andy repeated this 5 minutes later when the Gosport prop was carded for repeatedly killing the ball bringing the score back to 13-21.
From the restart Cam backs showed what they were capable of with an expansive move which took play from deep in their half into the Gosport 22.
However following a period of pressure resulting from this attack, dogged Gosport defence eventually turned the ball over and the opportunity to bring the scores closer was lost.
We then had a period of scrappy play with both sides conceding penalties and also turnovers but eventually Gosport took play inside the Cam 22 and scored under the posts.
To their credit Cam did not buckle and following a period where they managed to keep play in the Gosport half winger Zac Crabb collected a chip ahead from Gosport and raced to the line and although he was tap tackled 5m short he managed to recover and go over for his debut 1st XV try.
But Gosport had the final word when they scored their 5th try in the dying minutes to make the score 18-35.
For Cam this was another disappointing game with a return to many of their old bad habite – missing first up tackles, getting turned over far too frequently and conceding too many penalties.
In addition they were again unable to launch their threequarters more than a handful of times during the game..
Although the scrum was not dominant they did claim 3 strikes against the head and the front five again worked very hard and it was good to see that, with the return of hooker Jack Batey, the lineout seemed to work much better.
So coach Jon Cant will be hoping that he will be able to train normally this week and with the next game at home he will not face the disruptions to the game he had on Saturday.
Next Saturday Cam entertain Ellingham and Ringwood for the first time to Watchetts ko 2.30.
Squad: D Harries, J Batey, W Mullan, A Jackson, R Nicholas, A Gould, G Fleming, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Dowan, M Angell, D Lewis, JJ, Z Crabb, G White, A Mathewson, S Brown, J Cruickshank.
RogerB
Camberley 6 – Old Midwhitgiftians 36 31 January 2009
For the third game in 2009 Cam forwards dominated the set scrums in their trip to Croydon but the side were unable to turn this platform into points and in the end lost 6-36 to Midwives, a margin which clearly flattered the home side.
Cam who kicked off on a very damp pitch got off to the worst possible start when, within 2 minutes they had been turned over and the OMs winger won the chase to touch down his own kick ahead.
The next 10 minutes saw both sides trying to gain control the game but things went from bad to worse for Cam when, from a scrum 25 m from their line the OMs 9 made an excellent break which was simply not managed by the Cam defence enabling him to touch down under the posts.
To their credit Cam came back hard and were extremely unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty try following the award of 6 penalties on the OMs 5m line with the opposition unable to withstand the pressure legally. Eventually with the award of the 7th penalty Cam decided to take the 3 points which was poor reward for their pressure.
Shortly after the restart OMs seemed to pay the price for their previous persistent infringing when their centre was carded.
For the final 15mins of the half the Cam scrum remained dominant – on one occasion walking OMs back more than 10m but there was to be no addition to the score so at half time it remained 3-14.
Cam started the second half brightly and with OMs being penalised twice in the first couple of minutes Andy Dowan reduced the lead with a well struck penalty from the 10m line.
OM's then managed to turnover Cam ball soon after the restart and took play into the Cam 22 where, despite some good defence Cam were eventually penalised and OMs extended their lead to 6-17 after 50mins.
On 55 mins scrum half Andy Wreakes was injured and so Zac Crabb, making his first start on the wing moved in to play at 9. At this time Cam had most of the possession but following several phases of play they went further behind when a pass was intercepted by OM's inside their own half and the centre was left with a clear run to the Cam line making the score 6-24 after 60 mins – again another score completely against the run of play.
From the restart Cam regained possession and in a great move involving at least half of the team they took play back up into the OMs 22 where they started to exert pressure but were still unable to convert this into a score.
Eventually OMs were able to relieve the pressure and were further rewarded when, what seemed to the supporters to be a clear knockon was adjudged to be a header, the resultant advantage was converted into another try for OMs after 70mins.
Cam still maintained the pressure but in time added on, a visit to the Cam half saw the ball mysteriously shot out on the OM's side from a Cam ruck (was this the one time when OMs got away with playing the ball on the floor?) but whatever the reason the OMs standoff reacted quickly and scampered over for a try, making the final score 6-36.
Clearly coach Jon Cant has serious work to do to halt this run of defeats and will be trying to instill confidence in a number of his key players who seem to have lost it since the win against Andover.
Again the scrum went extremely well and although the lineout throwing was a little wayward Cam secured enough possession to have won this game however with passes not sticking and some indecision in defence again they are making it difficult for themselves.
It was good to see Zac Crabb making his first start and his pace certainly had an impact and the side will be looking to regain its confidence next week when they entertain Guildford in the Surrey Cup at Watchetts - ko 2.15.
At least the mood was lifted a little for 2 of the Cam supporters when, on the trip home, they were able to enjoy the tremendous recovery by the Cherry and Whites at Kingsholm.
Squad : J Pengilley, R Mugford, W Mullan, R Nicholas, A Jackson, G Fleming, A Gould, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Dowan, JJ, M Angell, D Lewis, Z Crabb, G White, J Cruickshank, D Rees, S Brown.
RogerB
Camberley 6 - Old Wimbledonians 7 24 January 2009
Cam entertained Old Wimbledonians to a very wet Watchetts park hoping to get their season back on track against the team who have propped up the league table from day 1 of the season. However a lacklustre Cam performance littered with poor decision making and execution saw the visitors gain an unexpected win by just a single point.
With Cam defending the clubhouse end and with the pitch only just passed fit to play, the first 10 minutes were very scrappy with both sides unable to gain control of the game although the Cam pack was already creating problems for the OWs 8 in the scrums.
After 10 minutes following a relieving penalty Cam found themselves in an attacking position and only a fumble prevented Marc Angell from opening the scoring. However from the resultant pressure the OW's were penalised for feeding th scrum, a result of the dominance of the Cam pack, and the freekick was converted into a full penalty following a “discussion” between the OW's skipper and the ref. Ricky Jones duly converted and so after 15 mins Cam had taken the lead.
Cam did not secure the restart but following a series of turnovers in the Cam 22 the ball eventually ended up on the Cam side and following an incisive break by inside centre Mark Angell he then gave winger Jayde Cruickshank the opportunity to stretch his legs and take play deep into the OWs 22.
With Cam now exerting pressure OWs were penalised for not rolling away after the tackle, a technique they continued to employ throughout the game to the frustration of the Cam forwards. Again Ricky Jones stepped up to slot the penalty to make the score 6-0 after 20 mins.
The Cam supporters now expected their side to push on but despite several more breaks by Jayde Cruickshank Cam were unable to maintain possession long enough to add to their score and so the score remained 6-0 as the ref blew for half time.
The second half started with Cam not able to deal with the restart and only their strong scrummaging allowed them to regain possession and take play to half way.
Unfortunately for the supporters Cam continued with a mixture of good play mixed with some very loose play with them regularly losing the ball in contact, kicking possession to the opposition and also numerous misdirected passes being seized upon by OWs all of which helped them to stay in the game.
After 50 mins following a period of pressure from Cam Ricky Jones was just wide with a penalty attempt from the OWs 10m line.
Then two acts of indiscipline, arguing with the ref followed by a dubious obstruction decision, allowed OWs to move play from their 22 up to the Cam 5m line. From this position OWs finally managed to move the ball out wide and with Cam clearly short of numbers, they were able to score wide out and with the try being converted it gave them a lead 6-7 after 57 mins.
For the remainder of the half Cam started to exert pressure in the OWs 22 but each time they came close to scoring they managed to lose possession and found themselves having to work the ball back again from their own half. As this is one of their regular Thursday evening training drills coach Jon Cant will no doubt be asking some questions this week.
With all of this pressure the plucky OWs defence rose to the occasion and managed to halt all of Cams efforts to cross their line and were absolutely ecstatic when the ref finally blew for full time.
This must be a real wake up call to the Cam squad for this game was theirs for the asking if their execution had been better. Again their poor handling of restarts, loss of ball in contact, poor final passes and loose kicking allowed OWs to grow in confidence during a game which Cam should have put beyond them by half time.
Again the Cam scrum was excellent with a number of turnovers.
In the backs Marc Angell had a good game in both attack and defence and the SCRUFFs Man of the Match Jayde Cruickshank showed his potential with a number of telling runs deep into the opposition half.
Next week Cam travel to Old Midwhitgiftians for what will no doubt be a tough middle of the table battle.
Squad: J Pengilley, R Mugford, D Harries, A Gould, A Jackson, G Fleming, S Brown, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Dowan, JJ, M Angell, R Jones, J Crickshank, G White, R Kirby, D Rees, Z Crabb
RogerB
Camberley 13 - Old Alleynian 25 17 January 2009
After a 4 week break Cam resumed their League programme with an away fixture at Old Alleynian, a side who had beaten them at Watchetts by a single point in November.
Cam, playing with the wind, started brightly and were soon in the OA's 22 but a turnover and them a missed tackle saw play quickly switch to the Cam 22 with only great defensive work by Dan Lewis and Alex Gould saving a certain score.
Cam recovered their composure and again took play into the opposition 22 and on 6 mins scored their first try. From a good scrum, fly half Andy Dowan made a half break before releasing his centres and when the opposition winger offered Dan Lewis the outside he gratefully accepted and accelerated smoothly to score wide out.
Cam attacked again straight from the restart and a kick ahead and successful chase by JJ saw play move back into the OA's 22. However OA's won the lineout and following a Cam infringement took play back to halfway.
Their forwards then won the lineout and broke through the Cam pack with an excellent display of interpassing and with their ability to move the ball accurately out of the tackle they kept their momentum and eventually covered the full 50m to level the score with an outstanding try after 11 mins. This try was converted to make the score of 5-7.
We then had a period where both sides threatened to score several times but poor execution, over complication and good defence left the scoreboard unchanged. Then Cam launched another attack deep in the OA's 22 and were unlucky to only be awarded a penalty when the OA winger was adjudged to have deliberately knocked on what would have been the scoring pass to winger JJ. The penalty was kicked by Ricky Jones so with 35 mins played Cam had regained the lead 8-7.
Cam were then very unlucky not to add to their lead immediately with an excellent passage of play in which forwards and backs combined well. The restart kick was collected by The Hoff who drove 20m before handing on to the Cam pack who kept the momentum going, driving deep into the OA's half. The ball was then released quickly and good hands saw winger Greg White over in the corner only to be called back for a forward pass.
OA's were not to be outdone and from the ensuing scrum deep in their 22 they attacked and took play back into the Cam 22 again showing their willingness and ability to run at every opportunity. From this attacking position Cam managed to concede a penalty on their 22 and so, on 40 mins OA's retook the lead 8-10 when the half time whistle was blown.
The second half saw Cam start brightly with The Hoff winning the Cam kickoff and soon play was deep in the OA's 22 and following a scrum against the head and some good aggressive running by no8 Simon Burgess, Andy Dowan was unlucky to be held up over the OA's line. However Cam were penalised at the resulting 5m scrum and with OA's using the wind soon play was switched to the Cam 22. With good defence Cam slowly worked the ball back into the centre of the pich but again over elaboration day saw OA's win the ball and kick deep towards the Cam line and with 2 defenders unable to clear the situation the supporting OA's player was left with an easy task of dropping on the ball to score a rather fortuitous try and take them into a 8-15 lead after about 45 mins.
Again, as in the first half, the spectators then were treated to 20 mins of scrappy rugby with both sides unable to add to their scores due to a mixture of good defence and poor execution. However this was changed on 70 mins when a great break by Ricky Jones now playing centre, in place of the injured Dan Lewis, saw his clever chip rebound off the last OA's defender safely into the arms of winger Jayde Cruickshank who cruised over for a try. Ricky missed the conversion attempt but at 13-15 the game was wide open with 10 mins left.
It was OA's, with their clever use of the wind who proved to be the stronger side in this last period and they scored a driving forwards try on 76 mins and added to the score on 79 minutes when their winger won the chase to touch down a chip ahead.
This left the score 13-25, and although overall OA's performed better on the day the final margin flattered them somewhat.
For Cam lock Alex Gould had another hardworking game in both attack and defence and winger JJ continued his overall improvement this season. This was typified when at one stage in the second half he followed up a kick ahead, tackled the OA full back and then recovered to claim the ball. Unfortunately the OA support arrived before any of JJ's team mates and so all of his good work was to no avail.
Ricky Jones, back after a long injury break also had a good game with a number of telling breaks combined with some excellent tackling.
Coach Jon Cant will be concerned that with his forwards so dominant in the scrums and with them sharing lineout possession they were not able maintain their efforts in the loose for the full 80mins and surely the fitness coach will be working hard on Tuesday in an attempt to regain their pre Xmas levels.
The next League game is v Old Wimbledonians at Watchetts on 24th Jan ko 2.25.
Squad : J Pengilley, J Batey, R Mugford, A Gould, A Jackson. G Fleming, D Rees, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Dowan, M Angell, D Lewis, JJ, G White, R Jones, D Harries, S Brown, J Cruickshank.
RogerB
Camberley 53 - Andover 7 20th Dec 2008
Cam gave themselves and their supporters an early Christmas present with an outstanding display of 15 man rugby to overwhelm Andover by 9 tries to 1 in their last game of 2008.
For the first time this season they started to play quality rugby right from the kick off and had scored 6 excellent tries in the opening 25 mins to give them a lead of 36-0.
The scoring started when, after an unsuccessful penalty attempt by Andover play quickly moved into the Andover half and following a break from the base of the scrum Cam recycled the ball quickly and a clever chip by Dan Lewis saw JJ cross for the first try.
From the restart Cam stormed back through Jack Batey and then outside half Andy Dowan made a smart break, collected his own little chip ahead and fed Graeme Fleming who touched down close to the posts.
The scoring continued when Andy Dowan made a half break and passed to fullback Doug McNicholl who scored the third try after only 13 mins.
Again Cam dealt with the Andover restart well and took play back into the Andover half and following an electrifying break by scrum half Andy Wreakes, supported by Robbie Nicholas, full back Doug McNicholl was on hand to take another scoring pass.
From the restart the ball was moved quickly from the forwards to the backs and eventually having passed through at least a dozen pairs of hands it was left to Doug McNicholl to score his third and Cams fifth try with only 19 minutes played. It was good to see Cam at last dealing with restarts confidently as this had been a recurring problem earlier in the season.
Cam continued to play all of the rugby and after 25 mins scored again when young flanker Dave Rees supported a break by Andy Walsh to score the sixth try of the afternoon.
After all of this excitement the game became a little less structured and, despite several good moves, Cam were unable to add to their score before half time. The second half started slowly for Cam and some casual handling and tackling saw Andover score close to the posts after 5 mins to make the score 36-7.
This however was to be the last real threat from Andover as Cam continued to play good attacking rugby with great interplay between forwards and backs. On a number of occasions Cam were held up just short of the try line by a gallant Andover defence but they scored 3 more tries through winger Greg White and 2 from centre Dan Lewis.
On 25 minutes forwards and backs again combined to send winger Greg White over in the corner and from the Andover restart Cam won a scrum against the head releasing winger JJ who returned the favour for his try by chipping ahead for Dan Lewis to collect and score.
In the closing minutes Dan Lewis and JJ again combined effectively with Dan Lewis eventually being driven over for his second and Cams ninth try.
On a difficult day for kicking Andy Dowan managed to convert 4 of the tries making the final score 53-7.
With injuries to some key players Cams fluency and control in the second half suffered somewhat particularly when influential scrum half Wreakes was injured (thats for Walshy!!!) but this was an outstanding team performance with coach Jon Cant at last smiling as he watched his training park drills being carried into the match situation.
The Scruffs Man of the Match award deservedly went to Doug McNicholl for his three tries in only his third start for the 1stXV although this was a day when there were outstanding performances throughout the team.
In the forwards the front five played well with Alex ‘The Hoff’ Gould again outstanding and flanker Dave Rees had his best game to date for the firsts. The backs all had plenty of opportunities to showcase their skills and were managed well by the three Andys, Wreakes, Dowan and Walsh however perhaps the biggest improvements was seen in the back three where JJ, Greg White and Doug McNicholl all made big contributions in attack and defence.It was good to see club captain Robbie Nicholas come through a testing 60mins in his first game back after a long break through injury.
So with the cheers of the supporters ringing in their ears the players can now enjoy the festive season with no rugby until they return on Jan 3rd for their training camp.
Squad : R Mugford, J Batey, J Pengilley, A Gould, R Nicholas, G Fleming, D Rees, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Dowan, A Wreakes, D Lewis, JJ, G White, D McNicholl, R Kirby, A Matheson, M Angell.
RogerB
Camberley 14 - Trojans 27 6th December 2008
Cam travelled to second placed Trojans aiming to put their recent disappointing performances behind them.
With 5 players returning, a serious mid-season evaluation by the squad and some quality training in the week coach Jon Cant was confident that his team would improve on their recent poor displays.
Although Cam allowed Trojans to win their kick off they quickly turned the ball over and a long kick by Dan Lewis took play into the Trojans half. Cam continued to pressure Trojans despite difficulties in the scrums and were rewarded after 8 mins when Andy Dowan kicked a penalty.
From the restart Cam again took play back into the Trojans half but some poor handling and a cheap penalty allowed Trojans off the hook and play moved back deep inside the Cam half with them scrumming down under their posts. Trojans maintained the pressure but great defence by Cam kept them out until 20 mins had been played when this pressure finally told and, after a series of 5m scrums, the Trojans pack drove over for an unconverted try.
Cam came back almost immediately when from a scrum on halfway scrum half Andy Wreakes was first to react when the ball skidded out from a Trojans put in and made 20m before putting the ball into touch inside the Trojans 22.
Trojans made a mess of their throw and number 8 Simon Burgess claimed the ball and although on the ground was able to get the ball away to his scrum half. The ball was then passed swiftly across the backs with winger JJ’s pace allowing him to see off the opposition and touch down wide out. The conversion was just short but this score saw Cam back in front after 25 mins.
Again good drills from the Trojans restart saw Cam quickly return to the Trojans half and the Cam forwards put in a series of telling drives which resulted in Trojans conceding several penalties. It was from one of these that Andy Dowan extended the lead to 11-7 on 30 mins with another good kick.
Trojans then came back but good Cam defence and poor execution by Trojans kept the scoreboard unchanged until 37mins when a neat Trojans threequarters move saw them retake the lead with an unconverted try. This made the score 12-11 to Trojans and this was the score when the ref blew for half time a few minutes later.
After such a promising first half performance it was disappointing to see Trojans running back the Cam restart and, taking advantage of some sloppy defence, taking play deep into the 22 from where a neat chip ahead by the Trojans stand off was touched down by the winger to take them into a 17-11 lead after 41 mins.
Cam stormed back and laid siege to the Trojans line and this pressure was rewarded when the Trojans prop was binned and Andy Dowan reduced the lead with another well struck penalty after 50 mins.
For the next 10 play moved between both sides 22m lines with both sides showing good attacking and defensive skills. Then on 60 mins Cam came close to taking the lead when from turnover ball quick hands saw Dan Lewis streaking away but with two defenders to beat he chose to chip rather than use his ‘special’ pace and the chip was marked under the Trojans posts.
From this position Trojans took play deep into the Cam half and in almost a replica move the Trojans winger won the race to touch down a chip ahead by the outside half. So after 65 mins with the score 22-14 to Trojans Cam were facing a tough task to claw the game back and with Trojans now attacking from all parts of the field only great Cam defence managed to keep them out but on 78 mins Trojans found a way to put their fullback through for the final score of the afternoon giving Trojans victory by 27-14.
This was a much better Cam team performance with many of the recent problem areas including restarts, first up defence and chasing kicks much improved and with the team showing a level of commitment which had been previously missing it was perhaps unfortunate to be playing a side which had only lost once in the League so far this season. However it is important that the squad retains its focus and that this overall improvement is now carried forward into the second half of the season.
Although it was a team performance special mention must go to Dave Harries who, having already played a special Old Boys game in the morning, had his first start at loose head prop and played out of his skin for 70mins The next game is at home against Andover on December 20th ko 2.15.
Squad : D Harries, W Masters, J Pengilley, A Gould, A Jackson, G Fleming, S Brown, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Dowan, JJ,A walsh ©, D Lewis, G White, D McNicholl, J Batey, J Cruickshank, V Boardman
RogerB
Camberley 19 - Petersfield 26 29 November 2008
Despite having 7 players unavailable for selection this week due to long term injuries and the Dubai 7’s, plus an 11th hour withdrawal, coach Jon Cant was still confident that his team would be too strong for visitors Petersfield who arrived at Watchetts without a league win this season.
However a determined Petersfield XV had not read the script and on a cold afternoon, they benefited from a very poor Cam performance to deservedly record their first league points of the season.
The coach and loyal Cam supporters braving the weather, were soon on the back foot when the Petersfield kick off was not dealt with by Cam giving the visitors a good attacking position deep in the Cam 22 from which, after a couple of phases, they found space and poor defence on the blindside to score the opening try after only 3 minutes.
Cam then slowly got into the game and moved play into the Petersfield half to exert some pressure on the visitors and on 15 mins were awarded a penalty which was kicked by Andy Dowan to make the score 3-5.
However, from the restart Petersfield again found themselves in the Cam 22 and following several good phases their backs again exploited the blindside and more poor Cam tackling to score another try making the score 3-10 after 20 mins.
Then Cam gave their supporters something to cheer about when they retrieved their own restart and the front five forwards combined well to drive through the Petersfield defence and young flanker Dave Rees was on hand to take the scoring pass. The try was converted by Andy Dowan making the score 10-10 after 21 minutes.
Cam then tried to exert more pressure but made far too many handling mistakes when trying to force the game and as a result they only managed to add another penalty to their score before half time again kicked by Andy Dowan.
The serious looking halftime chat however didn’t seem to have been absorbed by the team as loose play and poor tackling saw Petersfield regain the lead with another try after 45 mins which was followed by a Petersfield penalty making the score 13-18 after 55 mins.
Cam then started to wake up again but poor handling, lack of control and also good defence by Petersfield restricted them to penalty attempts. However with one on 60 mins and another on 70 minutes, both kicked by Andy Dowan, Cam edged into a shaky 19-18 lead.
But their continued disjointed play didn’t give the Cam supporters any real confidence that they could hold onto this lead and these doubts were confirmed when, in the closing stages, Petersfield retook the lead with a successful penalty and then scored their 4th try from the last move of the match to make the final score 19-26.
This was a seriously poor Cam performance with too much possession being thrown away, too may tackles missed particularly when following kicks and a lack of control at set pieces.
What must concern coach Jon Cant, however, will be the squad’s inability to take the game plan fashioned on the training park into game situations and also that the try count was 4-1 in favour of the visitors.
The loyal supporters were more concerned about the apparent lack of basic skills on display such as passing and tackling and also the fact that their team, on the day, came a poor second in attitude and commitment.
However there were some hints at what might have been with winger Jayde Cruickshank cleverly collecting a crosskick at full speed and being held up just short of the Petersfield line. Prop Rocky Mullen also enjoyed several bullocking bursts and Andy Dowan kicked very well in difficult conditions but there is work to be done this week to prepare for the next game away to Trojans which also marks the halfway point in the League fixtures.
Squad: J Pengilley, J Batey, W Mullen, A Gould, D Harries, D Rees, S Brown, G Fleming, A Wreakes, A Dowan, M Angell, D McNichol, C Eccles, J Cruickshank, G White, R Mugford, A Walsh, S Burgess.
RogerB
Camberley 25 - Andover 16 15 November 2008
Cam travelled to struggling Andover determined to return to winning ways following their hiccup against Old Alleynians the previous week.
Playing down the slope in the first half Cam started poorly with several kicks being charged down and possession given away in the first 10 minutes and the travelling supporters were dismayed when, following some concerted pressure, Andover went ahead after 14 minutes with a penalty kick.
We then had glimpses of what we all know is possible when, from a quick penalty on their 10m line, Dan Lewis broke the first couple of tackles and then with some great handling between himself and winger JJ they saw off the rest of the Andover defence for Dan to touch down. The conversion was missed by Ricky Jones but after 20mins Cam had at last played some rugby and taken the lead.
Cam then continued to play rugby and both Ricky Jones and Chris Eccles were stopped from scoring by desperate last ditch Andover tackles.
In the end the Cam pressure told and Ricky Jones kicked an easy penalty on 25 mins.
However from the restart Cam were unable to clear the ball and allowed Andover to exert some pressure in the Cam 22 and eventually they conceded a penalty which Andover kicked.
Cam then returned to the Andover half and won an Andover lineout but following a knock on by an Andover player on the blind side of the ref Andover were able to break away and only a desperate tackle by Dan Lewis covering back saved a try.
The Cam defence held out and following a kick ahead and some poor Andover defence, play soon returned to the Andover 22.
Then, in what turned out to be the last move of the half, Cam were awarded a penalty in front of the posts for a deliberate trip on centre Dan Lewis and Ricky Jones calmly slotted the kick to give Cam a rather fortunate lead of 11-6 at half time.
The second half while still containing too many errors saw a big improvement in the Cam play and an attack by Dan Lewis, Ricky Jones and JJ soon took play to within 5m of the Andover line.
David Rees another of last years Colts, on as a replacement for the injured Southy, impressed the supporters with a 30m break but was unable to offload to the supporting players when he was tackled.
The pressure, however eventually brought its rewards and after 55 mins a sharp break by Andy Wreakes saw both JJ and Ricky Jones involved with Ricky going over for the try wide out which he converted with a magnificent kick.
From the restart Cam slowly moved back into the Andover ‘red zone’ and almost scored again when a miskick by Andy Walsh was collected by Dan Lewis who attacked the Andover line.
However with Cam conceding several penalties play moved quickly from the Andover 22 to the Cam 22 and when the ball mysteriously popped out of the side of a ruck the Andover winger was first to react and touched down wide out making the score 18-11 after 65 mins.
Cam came back almost immediately and from a scrum on halfway Dan Lewis kicked ahead and following up his own kick forced Andover into a series of errors with the ball finally going loose for winger Chris Eccles to collect and score under the posts. This was converted by Ricky Jones making the score 25-11.
Again, from the restart some scrappy play saw Andover return to the Cam 22 and casual defence saw them score again wide out.
With 5 mins to go from the restart Cam played somewhat more sensibly and eventually the final whistle came with no addition to the score.
So this result makes it 4 wins out of the last 5 league games although, despite a much better second half performance when playing up the slope, Cam were still seriously below par in a number of areas.
There were good performance in attack from both wingers with them feeding off the electric pace of Dan Lewis and Ricky Jones, a Colt last year, is clearly enjoying the step up to 1stXV rugby with another confident performance at fullback.
Andy Wreakes had a good game at scrum half and made a number of telling breaks. In the forwards, flanker Victor Boardman, The Hoff, and hooker Banjo Masters were all prominent in the loose and Dave Harries had a solid game at tight head.
The next league game is home to Petersfield on Nov 29th
Squad: J Pengilley, W Masters, D Harries, A Gould, A Jackson, V Boardman, S Brown, G Fleming, A Wreakes, A Walsh, M Angell, D Lewis, C Eccles, J Jarvis, R Jones, G Hutchison, D Rees, G White.
RogerB
Camberley 18 - Old Alleynians 19 8th Nov 2008
Camberley entertained newly promoted Old Alleynians and in a scrappy game, having been ahead from as early as the 15th min, contrived to lose by one point through an injury time penalty.
The game started brightly enough for Cam who at the first scrum, in the first minute, drove the OA’s back and won the ball against the head.
Playing into a stiff breeze Cam slowly came to terms with the conditions and gradually moved play into the OA’s half. On 15 mins, following pressure in the 22, Cam were awarded a penalty which was kicked by Andy Dowan.
Cam scored again on 20 mins following a break from midfield by Dan Lewis who cleverly kicked the ball wide for winger JJ to gather and score wide out.
Cam then went off the boil and OA’s, using the wind, began to play the game in the Cam half and managed to reduce the lead to 8-6 at halftime through 2 penalties.
Cam started the second half positively and within 2 minutes went further ahead. From the restart Cam forwards turned over OA’s and quick ball released fly half Andy Dowan whose mazy run took him past four OA’s defenders to touch down. Ricky Jones’s conversion attempt hit the post but with the score at 13-6 and playing with the elements the Cam spectators were in confident mood.
However instead of continuing to use the wind to play deep in the OA’s half Cam were guilty of too often trying to play an expansive game which did not suit the conditions. The OA’s backs, who always looked dangerous when they had the ball, capitalised on any Cam mistake and regularly had the Cam defence at full stretch.
In addition Cam seemed to lose discipline and started to concede a string of unnecessary penalties. In one case a silly off the ball incident changed an Cam attacking lineout on OA’s 22 to an OA’s attacking lineout on the Cam 22 creating unnecessary pressure.
This lack of discipline then resulted in prop James Pengilley being shown a yellow card for an offence under the Cam posts. OA’s chose to run the ball and although Cam defended this successfully OA’s maintained the pressure and eventually made the extra man count by scoring wide out to make the score 13-11 after 60 mins.
Again Cam attacked the restart and turned over OA’s and quick hands through the backs saw JJ run in for his second try. Again Ricky Jones’s conversion attempt hit the post so the score after 63 mins was 18-11.
Again Cam seemed to lose focus and allowed OA’s to develop some momentum and on 70 mins, following some pressure in the Cam 22 they scored an unconverted try to make the score 18-16.
Then deep into injury time with Cam attacking the OA’s line they conceded a penalty which relieved the pressure for OA’s and took play up to halfway. Again Cam conceded a penalty on halfway and OA’s took play deep into the Cam half. With OA’s now attacking, Cam conceded a third penalty which OA’s kicked to take the lead for the first time in the match. With only a minute to play from the restart Cam were unable to repeat their success from previous restarts so the final score was 18-19 to OA’s.
This was a poor Cam display with the lack of focus, inability to stick to the game plan and the habit of conceding soft/unnecessary penalties negating any of the rugby that was played in between.
Overall the pack had a good day and stayed on top in the tight even when reduced to 7 and in difficult conditions the lineout also worked well. The backs also showed glimpses of what they are capable of with three well worked tries but this was a day for simple, controlled rugby.
Coach Jon Cant and skipper Andy Walsh were both unhappy with the overall performance and they will not enjoy reviewing the video prior to training this week.
Next week Cam travel to Andover – coach leaves Watchetts @ 12.00
Squad: J Pengilley, W Masters, W Mullen, A Gould, A Jackson, V Boardman, G Fleming, S Burgess, A Walsh ©, A Dowan, M Angell, D Lewis, J Jarvis, G White, R Jones, R Mugford, D Rees, C Eccles.
RogerB
Camberley 18 - Old Wimbledonians 12 1st November 2008
Cam travelled to South West London for their league clash with bottom side Old Wimbledonians who were still waiting for their first win.
The weather was atrocious with a stiff breeze laced with icy rain blowing straight down the pitch. Coach Jon Cant’s concerns about the game were not helped when he lost lock Aaron Webb during the warm up with a calf injury.
The game started brightly enough for Cam when they went ahead in the first minute. Kicking off into the wind Cam quickly turned over OWs and a clever kick into open space by scrum half Andy Wreakes saw speedster Dan Lewis outstrip the defence to collect the ball and touch down under the posts. Dan also converted giving Cam the ideal start.
Unfortunately they were unable to build on this start and for the next 35 mins Cam were pinned in their own half as OWs clawed their way back into the game and although unable to cross the Cam line they had ground out a 12-7 lead after 35 mins with 4 successful penalty kicks.
Then on the stroke of half time Cam, on a rare visit to the OW’s half were awarded a penalty which was kicked by Dan Lewis to make the score at 40 mins 10-12.
With the wind at their backs in the second half the Cam supporters hoped that the advantage would be with their side but although more of the play now took place in the OWs 22 ball retention and the habit of conceding soft penalties proved very frustrating.
However after 55 mins, following some good pressure close to the OWs line Alex Gould was driven over to put Cam in front and although he missed the conversion Dan Lewis kicked a penalty on 65 mins to make the score 18-12 which proved to be the final score of the game.
Although happy with the win, both players and supporters were disappointed with the performance which was not helped by the atrocious playing conditions and also a plucky display by OWs which belied their dreadful run of results.
Coach Jon Cant was satisfied that his team had come through this test with their third successive win but was clearly not happy that again ball retention and lack of concentration had allowed his team to be blown of course so easily.
Next week Cam entertain Old Alleynians at Watchetts, ko 2.30, and players and supporters alike are hoping for a significant improvement in both the weather and the performance!!
Squad : J Pengilley, J Batey, R Mugford, A Gould, S Brown, V Boardman, G Fleming, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Walsh, J Cruickshank, M Angell, D Lewis, C Eccles, G White, D Harries, R Nicholas, A Dowan.
RogerB
Season 2008/2009
Camberley 16 - Old Midwhitgiftians 15 25th Oct 2008
Camberley maintained their recent improvement with a narrow win against Old Midwhitgiftians, however the score did not reflect the amount of possession and territory they had during the 80 minutes.
Playing into a stiff breeze in the first half Cam spent most of the first quarter battering the Midwives line. On at least 4 occasions the ref, without the benefit of a video referee !!, felt he was not able to award a try when the Cam forwards drove over the line and so the only score for 20 minutes of pressure was a penalty after 5 minutes kicked by fullback Ricky Jones.
Then, on 21 mins, Midwives were awarded a penalty and on this rare visit into the Cam half their attack brushed aside some terrible Cam tackles to score wide out completely against the run of play.
From the restart Cam took play back into the Midwives 22 and although still unable to convert this pressure into tries, they regained the lead with a superb penalty kick by Ricky Jones from wide out on the 10m line after 30 mins.
At last Midwives started to exert some pressure of their own and only desperate defence by Cam kept them out. However a poor penalty kick by Cam which failed to make touch, was run back by Midwives who again brushed aside some appalling defence to score wide out making the score 6-10 after 35 mins.
Despite Cam missing another difficult penalty attempt before half time Midwives ended the half on the attack.
Cam started the second half as they had begun the match and took play into the Midwives 22 with Ricky Jones narrowly missing a penalty attempt after 3 minutes.
However they took the lead shortly after when Dan Lewis intercepted a telegraphed pass from Midwives following a quick tapped penalty on the Midwives 10m line and raced away to score. The try was converted by Ricky Jones and with Cam using the wind to good effect they continued to push the game deep into the Midwives half.
However from one of these kicks, and completely against the run of play, Midwives scored again. Despite pressure from Dan Lewis and Chris Eccles, Midwives somehow retained possession and launched an attack 10m from their line shredding some atrocious Cam defence to race 90m and score their 3rd try and so with 30 mins left and the score 13-15 Cam had it all to do again and only had themselves to blame.
Midwives then had another brief spell when they exerted some pressure and threatened the Cam line but slowly Cam regained the initiative and moved back into the Midwives 22. As in the first half Cam were denied tries after appearing to cross Midwives try line with Midwives frequently cynically killing the ball and regularly entering rucks and mauls from the side with impunity. For a period the quest to score a try became obsessive until on 70 mins skipper Walsh asked Ricky Jones to kick for goal from wide out. Despite the very difficult conditions he slotted the 3 points to take Cam back into the lead much to the relief of their supporters.
In the final 10mins Midwives had a final chance with a penalty from the Cam 10m line which was pushed well wide and then Cam put their training drills into action by playing ‘keep ball’ in the Midwives half to close out the game with a final score 16-15 and 2 more League points.
In the end this was a good win for Cam but one which they made real heavy work of and, as with other games this season, they seemed to allow the opposition back in much too easily by making too many basic errors with loose kicking, terrible marking and powder puff tackling again being their downfall.
The kicking of Ricky Jones was clearly a major difference between the sides although with a better rub of the green and more composure by the forwards in the red zone the game should have been beyond Midwives long before the last 10 minutes.
The forwards as a unit played well and were always in command with at least 5 strikes against the head being won by Banjo Masters and Rocky Mullen (yes props can hook too) and the lineout working well despite the poor conditions.
The threequarters had a day best forgotten with many of the planned moves breaking down and defensively often looking very naïve. However young wingers Jayde Cruickshank and Chris Eccles showed some promising touches are both benefiting from their run in the team and are clearly growing in confidence.
All of the subs were used although the only injury was to Russ Kirby** who seemed to have aggravated the broken hand he sufferd in Wales
No doubt coach Jon Cant will again be working on defensive strategies this week in training before the visit to bottom club Wimbledon next Saturday.
Squad : Pengilley, Masters, Kirby, Gould, Webb, Burgess, Boardman, Fleming, Wreakes, Walsh, Cruickshank, Angell, Lewis, Eccles, Jones, White, Mullen, Brown
** Russ has agreed to make a contribution to the end of season 'party fund' each time he gets a mention in a match report
RogerB
Camberley 38 - Gosport & Fareham 19 11 Oct 2008
Cam entertained strugglers Gosport and Fareham at Watchetts with the team eager to end its own run of disappointing results. Coach Jon Cant’s recent selection problems were eased slightly as several players returned from injury and the side started the game playing positive confident rugby with forwards and backs linking well and applying pressure on the visitors. The Cam scrum was clearly on top from and hooker Banjo Masters claimed 2 strikes against the head in these early stages.
This pressure brought its rewards when, after 15 mins no 8 Simon Burgess picked up from the base of an attacking scrum and quick hands by the backs saw full back Greg White score the opening try.
Then from the restart Cam showed just what they are capable of – somehow the forwards secured the ball after making a hash of the Gosport kick off and started to move the ball out of their 22 through several good phases of play. The ball was then released to the backs and when Dan Lewis received the ball on his 10m line his mazy run took him clean through the Gosport defence before he switched on the afterburners and scored under the posts. He then converted his own try to make the score 12-0 after 20 mins.
Cam were clearly the better side at this time and when a Gosport 22m drop out was collected by Mark Angell, he fed Dan Lewis and winger Chris Eccles was put through to score his first try for the club. Cam continued to play most of the rugby and on 30 mins Dan Lewis scored again when he collected a neat chip ahead by stand off Andy Walsh to make the score 24-0 after 30mins.With 10 mins to half time the game became quite scrappy and Cam allowed the visitors back into the game and on the stroke of half time they scored a converted try making the score 24-7 at the break.
The second half started much as the first half with Cam forwards working the ball into the Gosport 22 and then following a series of good rucks the ball was released to the backs and Dan Lewis was able to stroll over for his 3rd try which was converted by Andy Walsh.
Cam again managed to mess up the restart but the forwards secured the ball and slowly took play up to their 10m line with some good driving play. The the ball was then transferred to the threequarters with winger Jayde Cruickshank taking a great line through the Gosport defence to make 20m before giving Dan Lewis the chance to switch into overdrive and race to the line for his 4th try. This was converted by Andy Walsh making the score 38-7 after 50 mins.
Unfortunately that was the last scoring action from Cam who, with prop James Pengilley in the sin bin for a late tackle, seemed to ease off and allow Gosport back into the game and, to their credit, they started to play some rugby of their own and scored 2 consolation tries in the last quarter to make the final score 38-19.
For the first 3 quarters this was a much better performance with ball retention and tackling much improved although the handling of restarts, something they have not done too much of this season, clearly needs some work.
The forwards held the upper hand throughout and the return of Alex Gould clearly helped the forwards ball retention and driving abilities. All of the backs worked hard for this win with 3 of them on the score sheet and the back row gave Cam the edge in open play. However the key to the overall improvement was at no 9 where Andy Wreakes had an outstanding game maintaining the tempo demanded by the coach, skillfully linking the forwards and backs, and with his sniping breaks and quick tap penalties he was a constant threat to the visitors.
The team now have a break with their next game being against Old Midwhitgiftians at Watchetts on Oct 25th when the coach will hopefully have a full squad to select from again.
Squad : J Pengilley, W Masters, R Kirby, A Jackson, A Gould, V Boardman, S Brown, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Walsh, M Angell, D Lewis, J Cruicjshank, C Eccles, G White rep J Jarvis, C Blandin, R Nicholas
RogerB back to top
Camberley 13 - Ellingham and Ringwood 16 4th Oct 2008
This was Camberley’s first ever visit to this progressive New Forest club, who had won Hampshire last season and had enjoyed some impressive performances in the Cup competitions in recent seasons. Their current ground is situated just off the A31 at Picket Post with extensive views over the forest but on a cold and windy day there was little protection from the elements.
We thought that the weather was going to be the most decisive factor but we reckoned without the impact that the referee had on the game from the outset. Virtually every ruck ended with him awarding a penalty to one side or the other which led to a very disjointed game, frustrating players, coaches and spectators alike.
Camberley had the wind in their favour in the first half and an early exchange of penalty kicks gave the visitors a 6-3 lead with Dan Lewis doing the business. Late in the fist half a sustained attack by Camberley led to a penalty being awarded under the posts and a quick thinking Andy Walsh took a quick tap and used his weight to cross the line with Lewis adding the extras. A 13-3 interval lead was a satisfactory outcome but with Ringwood about to enjoy the elements in their favour in the second half it was doubtful the lead would be sufficient.
Despite a good defensive display and occasional forays into their opponents twenty-two Camberley could not prevent the home side scoring a converted try and two penalties in the second half to run out close winners by 16 points to thirteen.
This was a better display by Camberley compared with the previous week with the side strengthened with the return of Robbie Nicholas and the inclusion of Simon Brown in the back row and hopefully this improvement will be maintained when Camberley entertain Gosport and Fareham at Watchetts next Saturday.
Camberley squad
Pengilley, Masters, Blondin, Jackson, Webb, Brown, Nicholas, Fleming, Hancock, Walsh, Cruickshank, Jarvis, Lewis, Eccles, White, Kirby, Wreakes and Jackson.
AlanF back to top
Camberley 10 Weybridge Vandals 63 27th Sept 2008
Selection for the visit of league leaders Weybridge Vandals had been a challenge for coach Jon Cant with 9 of the Camberley injury ravaged 1stXV squad unavailable and the inexperience of Saturdays side was brutally exposed by a big and skilful Vandals team clearly destined to be one of the front runners for promotion this season..
Following continual pressure from the kick off Vandals scored their first try after 8 minutes following a number of phases produced quick ball and stretched the Cam defence.
Cam then exerted some pressure of their own from the restart and eventually won a lineout 5 m from the Vandals line from which prop Christophe Blandin was driven over for an equalising score after 15 mins.
This stung Vandals into action and they collected an attempted penalty kick by Ricky Jones on their own line and ran the ball back at Cam taking play deep into the 22 from where they were able to score their second try.
Vandals then moved up a gear and played some excellent attacking rugby which was aided by some poor Cam defence, and they added a further 4 tries giving a half time score of 32-5.
Coach Jon Cant was quickly onto the pitch for his half time talk but from the restart the team continued to miss key tackles and turned over ball all to easily which against a side as good as Vandals spelled disaster.
Vandals continued to launch attacks from anywhere on the park and by the 75th minute, despite having apparently eased off in this half, had extended their lead to 58-5 with the addition of 4 tries.
Then on 80 minutes the ‘Camberley Flyer’ Dan Lewis, picked up a loose ball on halfway and using his ‘extreme’ pace won the race to the line for a consolation score. However this stung Vandals into action again and from the restart they launched another attack deep into injury time to score with the last action of the match making the final score 63-10 to Vandals.
This was a poor performance by Cam even allowing for the number of players missing and the fact that they were facing a quality side. Their inability to retain ball and make their tackles count have become regular features of this seasons play and were cruelly exposed in this game.
Clearly Jon Cant will be working hard on these basic skills in training this week prior to Cams visit to newly promoted Ellingham and Ringwood on Saturday..Squad: R Mugford, J Batey, C Blandin, A Jackson, D Harries, G Fleming, D Rees, S Brown, A Walsh, R Jones, J Cruickshank, D Lewis, M Angell, C Eccles, G White, Z Crabb, W Masters, R Kirby
RogerB back to top
Camberley 13 - Old Wellingtonians 19 20th Sept 2008
Cam travelled to Ewell for their morning game against Old Wellingtonians, one of the leading teams in this league last season.
OWs, fresh from their 56-11 win last weekend kicked off and for the first 15 mins play moved between the two 10m lines with Cam losing most of their lineouts and being pushed around in the scrums but recovering possession through good scrambling defence and a series of unforced errors by OWs.
As in the two games last season OWs showed real ability at the breakdown, winning many turnovers and their willingness to attack from any part of the field was always a threat.. Slowly this pressure told on Cam and OWs opened the scoring after 18 mins when, following a series of attacks their winger scored wide out.
This seemed to be the wakeup call that Cam needed and direct from the restart OWs were penalised on their 10m line and Ricky Jones calmly kicked the 3 points. The Cam forwards also stepped up a gear and suddenly were driving the OWs pack back at most scrums.
The game became very disjointed due to a number of injuries, mostly to Cam players who had used all of their replacements by half time. However Cam claimed the next score on 30 mins when Ricky Jones kicked a penalty after Cam pressure in the OWs 22 .
This pattern of play continued until halftime with Cam bravely defending the dangerous OWs attacks only to give possession back too cheaply by being turned over or by their kicks not finding touch. Cam found themselves desperately defending their line in the closing minutes of the half but when the whistle blew for halftime were still leading 6-5.OWs continued this pressure at the start of the second half but it was Cam who almost scored first when a breakout of defence by Ricky Jones and a kick and chase took play to the OWs line but the pressure was quickly over when OWs were awarded a penalty.
After 55 mins Cam did add to their score when an interception by Dan Lewis in his own 22 saw him burn off all of the OWs defence to score under the posts for Ricky Jones to convert, giving Cam a lead of 8 points.
OWs came back even stronger and their task was made easier with Cam consistently trying to attack from within their own 22 instead of using their forwards to protect the ball and move out of their 22. It was from one of these attempted attacks that OWs turned the ball over and after several phases scored under the posts cutting the Cam lead to 1 point after 60 mins.
The OWs fight back continued with their no 8 showing real class by picking up from the base of his own retreating scrum 15m from the Cam line, brushing off a couple of poor tackles by Cam and touching down close to the posts to make the score 19-13 to OWs after 70 mins.
Despite more attacks from OWs Cam held out and with the final score of 19-13 Cam were left to wonder if they could have turned the result around by following more closely the coach’s game plan of playing to their strengths rather than to attempt so much attacking rugby from deep in their own half.
This week it was the forwards who excelled in most phases of the game, the exception being the lineout, with props Richard Mugford and Christophe Blandin outstanding – Ricky Jones again showed what an asset he is to the side and Dave Rees another of the U18s from last season made a promising debut when he came on as a replacement for Simon Burgess.
Next Saturday Cam entertain the current leaders of the league, Weybridge Vandals, who are unbeaten and have a very healthy points difference.
Squad: R Mugford, J Batey, C Blandin, A Jackson, R Nicholas*, G Fleming, J Mearing, S Burgess, A Wreakes, A Dowan, J Pritchard, D Lewis, M Angell, G White, R Jones, D Harries, A Walsh, D Rees.RogerB
Camberley 13 - Kingston 10 13th Sept 2008
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Camberley 18 – Trojans 41 6th Sept 2008
Camberley, who are sponsored by Lucid Events, travelled to Southampton for their first round EDF Energy Senior Vase game against Trojans.
Playing into a stiff breeze Cam were soon under pressure from a mobile Trojans side who made good use of the wind. After 8 minutes Camberley conceded a penalty which was kicked by Trojans. more...
Camberley completed their pre-season programme with a game against a Presidents XV - both sides competing for the Carbury/Bartlett cup.
The Presidents XV, made up of ex Camberley players, was brought together again for this fixture by Toby Saunders.Camberley kicked off into the sun and a slight breeze and quickly found difficulty in playing the quick tempo game that they have been working on during training.
After 5 minutes of rather scrappy play a break by prop ‘Rocky’ Mullen and then quick hands saw the Presidents side penalised 5m from their line. From the resulting lineout a clean catch by Robbie Nicholas was fed to Alex 'The Hoff' Gould who was driven over for the first score. The conversion was missed by Andy Dowan .
The rest of the half seemed to be spent mostly in the Camberley half due to some clever kicking by Rob Smart and breaks by Tony Harbour, Toby Saunders and Neil Budd. However the Camberley defence was more than a match for these attacks but somehow were not able to secure enough good ball to mount their own attacks.
In addition the game was already becoming a tad disjointed with regular replacements being required and even the referee requiring attention from the physio.
So half time was reached with the score Cam 5 Presidents 0The second half continued in much the same vein and after 5 minutes Camberley found themselves defending a lineout on their 5m line. This time the ball was stolen by Graeme Fleming who made an impressive 30 m before kicking ahead deep into the Presidents half but a Camberley player then conceded a penalty which saw play return to their half.
Then Camberley enjoyed a period of good ball and after a number of neat moves won a lineout on the Presidents 5m line. The lineout was again won by skipper Robbie Nicholas and the ball passed to Alex Gould. When the initial drive was stopped by the Presidents forwards Camberley recycled quickly and James Mearing went over from close range. Again the difficult kick was missed by Andy Dowan giving a score after 60 mins of 10-0.At this stage both sides were suffering in the heat and the disruption of ‘rolling’ substitutes was clear to see however the Presidents team kept probing the Camberley defence and on 70 mins Toby Saunders broke through to touch down near the Camberley posts. This try was converted by Nick Dalby Walsh making the score 10-7.
The final 10 minutes saw both sides struggling with the conditions and there was no further scoring – so a tight victory for Camberley.After the game coach Jon Cant was pleased with the win but disappointed that his side had been forced into a dog fight rather than being able to impose their own game plan.
The Carbury /Bartlett trophy was presented to the Camberley skipper Robbie Nicholas by the new Camberley President Roger Chamberlain.
Camberley team :Ricky Jones, Jayde Cruickshank, Dan Lewis, Marc Angell, Jon Pritchard, Andy Dowan, Andy Wreakes, James Pengilley, Jack Batey, Rocky Mullen, Alex Gould, Robbie Nicholas © , Al Joyner, Graeme Fleming, Simon Burgess, replacements Dave Harries, Greg White, JJ Jarvis, Andy Walsh, James Mearing
Camberley 33 Shipston 12 16th August 2008
Saturday saw the second pre-season game with us entertaining Shipston who are in an equivalent league in the Midlands division.
Although missing a number of 1st choice players through holidays or injury Cam started well playing into a stiff breeze and quickly opened the scoring with a try by Dan Lewis in the corner which was not converted.
For the next 20 minutes Cam had the better of the game and following quick ball from the forwards Andy D made a half break before off loading to Dan Lewis who burned off the opposition in a sprint from the halfway line. This try was converted by Andy D making the score 12-0 after 25 minutes.
Cam continued to play most of the rugby and after a period of pressure on the Shipston line the forwards eventually decided to let the backs have a go and quick ball from Wreaksy saw Andy D slip through the defence to score close to the posts and also slot the conversion.
Shipston meanwhile had not really threatened the Camberley line although they did have a couple of attacking lineouts on the Cam 5m line. However the Cam defence was more than a match for this and repelled the attacks.
The Shipston threequarters were not able to function as a unit and on one of the few times they tried to throw the ball about Dan Lewis read the telegraphed pass, intercepted and scored again from halfway. Again this was converted by Andy D giving a score of 26-0 at halftime.
This, of course became an extremely expensive try for the Camberley Flyer as jugs of Guiness are no longer cheap!!!
The second half saw more changes in personnel and for the first 20 minutes Cam continued tryng to play some attacking rugby. They were the first to score again when following a neat chip ahead by Andy D, Dan the Man again outpaced everyone to collect the ball and touch down under the posts giving Andy D a simple conversion.
This made the score 33-0 and at this stage Cam began to lose some of their discipline and focus with the game becoming scrappy. To their credit Shipston kept trying to play rugby and were eventually rewarded with 2 late tries to give a final score of 33-12 to Cam.
This was another good workout for Cam with Jon Cant trying a number of different players in key positions and I'm sure that he learnt a good deal.
It was good to see some of the new players linking in and making such an impact on the game and very heartening to see a couple of last years U18s put in solid performances.
Again it was exciting to see that Dan Lewis has not lost any of his 'Extreme' pace and it is already clear that Andy D and Marc inside him will be trying to create space for him to stretch his legs and burn off the opposition as his pace is something special.Camberley Squad
James Pengilley, Banjo Masters, Graham Hutchinson, Aaron Webb, Andy Jackson, Robbie Nicholas (c), Al Joiner, Andy Wreakes, Andy Downey, Jon Pritchard, Marc Angell, Dan Lewis, J Jarvis, Ricky Jones, Zac Crabb, Muggy, Jack Batey, Jayde Cruickshank, Dave Harries, Robert Bamford, Rhys Lewis.RogerB
| Date | Opposition | Result | Score | ||
| August | 16 | Shipston on Stour (F) | H | W | 33-12 |
| 26 | Aldershot & Fleet (F) | A | W | 19-0 | |
| 30 | Presidents XV (F) | H | W | 10-7 | |
| September | 6 | EDF Vase Trojans (C) | A | L | 18-41 |
| 13 | Kingston | H | W | 13-10 | |
| 20 | Old Wellingtonians | A | L | 13-19 | |
| 27 | Weybridge Vandals | H | L | 10-63 | |
| Octoberr | 4 | Ellingham & Ringwood | A | L | 13-16 |
| 11 | Gosport & Fareham | H | W | 38-19 | |
| 18 | TBA | ||||
| 25 | Old Midwhiftians | H | W | 16-15 | |
| November | 1 | Old Wimbledonians | A | W | 18-12 |
| 8 | Old Alleynian | H | L | 18-19 | |
| 15 | Andover | A | W | 25-16 | |
| 22 | TBA | ||||
| 29 | Petersfield | H | L | 19-26 | |
| December | 6 | Trojans | A | L | 14-27 |
| 13 | TBA | ||||
| 20 | Andover | H | W | 53-7 | |
| 27 | Xmas | ||||
| January | 3 | Training Camp | H | ||
| 10 | Old Alleynian | A | postponed | ||
| 17 | Old Alleynian | A | L | 13-25 | |
| 24 | Old Wimbledonians | H | L | 6-7 | |
| 31 | Old Midwhiftians | A | L | 6 - 36 | |
| February | 7 | Guildford (Surrey Cup) | H | ||
| 14 | Gosport & Fareham | A | L | 18-35 | |
| 21 | Ellingham & Ringwood | H | W | 27-10 | |
| 28 | TBA | ||||
| March | 7 | Weybridge Vandals | A | L | 0-17 |
| 14 | Old Wellingtonians | H | W | 58-7 | |
| 21 | TBA | ||||
| 28 | Kingston | A | L | 18-23 | |
| April | 4 | Trojans | H | L | 10-46 |
| 11 | TBA | ||||
| 18 | Petersfield | A | W | 36-27 | |
1st XV Results 2007/8
| DATE | RESULT | SCORE | REPORT | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUGUST | 18 | |||||
| 25 | ||||||
| SEPTEMBER | 1 | CUP TROJANS | H | LOST | 0-27 | |
| 8 | CRANBROOK (f) | H | WON | 36-15 | ||
| 15 | FARNHAM | A | WON | 18-10 | ||
| 22 | CUP | |||||
| 29 | PETERSFIELD | H | WON | 25-13 | ||
| OCTOBER | 6 | RMAS(f) | A | |||
| 13 | CUP | A | ||||
| 2O | TROJANS | A | Lost | 5-22 | ||
| 27 | LONDON S AFRICA | A | Lost | 6-36 | ||
| NOVEMBER | 3 | WARLINGHAM | H | Lost | 9-39 | |
| 10 | GOSPORT & FAREHAM | A | Lost | 0-47 | ||
| 17 | CUP | |||||
| 24 | WELLINGTONIANS | H | Lost | |||
| DECEMBER | 1 | O PAULINES | A | Won | 18-14 | |
| 8 | CUP | |||||
| 15 | WEYBRIDGE VANDALS | H | Lost | 17-20 | ||
| 22 | ||||||
| 29 | ||||||
| 2008 | ||||||
| JANUARY | 5 | WELLINGTONIANS | A | Lost | 7-29 | |
| 12 | CUP | A | ||||
| 19 | GOSPORT & FAREHAM | H | postponed | |||
| 26 | WARLINGHAM | A | Lost | 5-29 | ||
| FEBRUARY | 2 | Gosport & Farham | A | Won | 19-12 | |
| 9 | LONDON S AFRICA | H | Lost | 5-51 | ||
| 16 | TROJANS | H | Lost | 5 - 20 | ||
| 23 | CUP | H | ||||
| MARCH | 1 | PETERSFIELD | A | Won | 17 - 5 | |
| 8 | FARNHAM | H | Won | 34 - 5 | ||
| 15 | H | |||||
| 22 | H | |||||
| 29 | WEYBRIDGE VANDALS | A | Lost | 3 - 20 | ||
| APRIL | 5 | |||||
| 12 | O PAULINES | H | Won | 50 - 0 | ||
| 21 | ||||||
| 28 |