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CUARLFC 22 Oxford 32
The match was always going to be a close contest with both sides going into the match with good form behind them and even the bookies couldn’t split the two sides before kick off.Cambridge had been short of game time over the past month leading into the varsity match but when they had played they had looked dangerous with the ball in hand and tight in defence so they had good reason to feel confident about their chances.The match as always is a major event for players and staff alike and throws up scenarios that are a million miles from playing on a wednesday afternoon on a park pitch.There is a vociferous crowd , Sky Sports cameras and reporters at pitchside but importantly it is a night game with all the problems that throws at players with catching the bomb when it comes out of the sky and a chasing team waiting for the error.The match kicked off and both sides struggled to complete the first four sets of the match such is the speed of the defensive line and nerves when passing and catching the ball but once the first ten minutes had been completed the light blues started their point scoring blitz. The first two tries were jumps out of dummy half from skipper George Sykes after great lead up work from James Shearman and George Laing in particular punching holes in the right hand side of the Oxford ruck defence.With another try from Jon Garrity , who dug his hob nail boots in near the line and with three players on his back placed the ball on the line which when converted by Greg Cushing gave a scoreline of 16-0 to the light blues.Yardage was now coming too easy and two try scoring opportunities were bombed by a little too much football and a knock on over the line.The match could have been put away with a 22-0 scoreline and Oxford in all sorts of disarray but this is the beauty of sport and Rugby League in particular where momentum shifts almost without players noticing.It was apparent on one defensive set that Oxford put in where the impact of the hit was harder and ultimately dislodged the ball giving them a cheap set of six and field position.
Their halves McCormick and Swanson started to get to the fringe of the light blue ruck and with short passes started to send through the centres and second rowers which sucked in defenders to the ball.The plus two spreads from right to left then freed dangerous centre Marcus Alexander-Neil to go in for two unconverted tries just before the break giving a scoreline of CUARFLC 16 Oxford 8.At half time the talk centred on the twenty minute period in which we had torn up the ruck area and to concentrate on that part of the field again , the edge men also had to work harder on positioning and that it would need us to go back to what we had produced in that period.
The second half started as the previous half with both teams trading sets and it would need patience to construct a position for the team in which to score points.Oxford grabbed the initiative and with the aerial bombardment which Ross Swanson and Greg Cushing had entered into a duelling contest saw errors coming from the normally secure cambridge back three.Swanson grabbed his first try under the posts to give his team real belief and after some penalties from poor play at the ruck brought about by pressure from the Oxford runners another two tries quickly followed.For the first time in the match Cambridge were looking down the barrel and it was an unusual situation for them as they had never given up a lead in a game over the past two seasons so they had to try and regroup and force an error from a now buoyant dark blue team.However the momentum shifted again and with some goalline pressure , the light blues set up a scoring position at which Greg Cushing ghosted in at the side of the posts which when converted gave a scoreline of CUARLFC 22 Oxford 26.The last seven minutes were all played in the oxford final quarter with them now giving up penalties and a goal line drop out and with sixty seconds on the clock a bomb was sent up in to the dark blue in goal area but was well dealt with and from the resultant 20 metre tap , Swanson hit a bomb up on the last tackle , collected the loose ball and scored underneath the posts to give the scoreline a point spread that that was perhaps a little harsh on cambridge.
Final Score CUARLFC 22 Oxford 32.
Coach Evans , in his last varsity match as full time head coach was disappointed with the result but not the match , “We scored easily in the middle part of the first half and had two copper bottomed try scoring opportunities go by the wayside in that period and you have to take every opportunity in these matches and be ruthless.We didn’t and we gave them a reason to believe they could still get back into the game and although i bore the players all the time about transition and momentum , this game is never over until they blow the final hooter and fair play to Oxford they took advantage of some short falls in our defensive line and took their tries well.Swanson in particular was inspired in the second half with his running at the line and the accuracy of his high kicks where in the first half he was not at the races but credit to him and his team for taking their chances.We are happy with what we produced with the ball in the first half and the tries by George Sykes in particular were high quality efforts jumping out of dummy half and attacking a retreating line.Defensively i think we could have done better in all parts of the field and perhaps this was a result of too little game time over the past two months.4 games in a period where our opponents have played 7 is a massive difference to inexperienced players of both sides but there is nothing you can do to control the weather.The players who are back next year will learn from this experience and hopefully will stay with the club next year.It will be a year of change at the club with my circumstances changing but life goes on and so will rugby league at cambridge.We have an environment that is second to none in the SRL competition but the half blue status of the sport at cambridge , in my view , is holding the development back.Oxford are three years down the road of full blue status and they are showing the impact with the likes of Swanson and others joining the club the become double blues.“
Evans added , “I would like to thank the efforts of all the players and staff this season which was again successful in SRL terms and this is in no small part to what we have tried to do at cambridge.Our sponsors KCJ are very supportive of the club and the sport and will be sponsoring the club again next season which allows the club the plan.“