News
CUARLFC 60 Staffordshire University 4
After Exeter Uni baled out of the fixture planned for Grange Road under the lights at late notice due to their own fixture backlog , the club had to work overtime to get a fixture to break the weather imposed break which the whole of field sports had been suffering from over the past two weeks.The final phone call went out to Gareth Barron late on thursday and come friday mid afternoon we had a game on up in stoke.Staffs uni haven’t had the best of seasons and are in a transitional stage but with Gareth organizing them they weren’t short of motivation to play as hard and physical as they were able and it was just what the side needed.
The game kicked off on a near perfect pitch and conditions compared to what we have had in cambridge and the Lions hit their stride early in the piece with some great lines at the ruck setting up great field position and with good awareness form the hooker and the halves trys started to be scored.For the second quarter of the game cambridge started to gift some cheap ball due to over eagerness to get the ball moving quicker and staffs set up a couple of great scoring positions from which eventually they crossed the whitewash.The half time score line of 24-4 was comfortable but as the players had witnessed watching St Helens come back from the dead the previous evening you have to keep the discipline of defensive shape and good tackling skills allied with good use of the ball when you have it.
The second half started with great composure and a first minute try settled the nerves of the players.There continued to be a procession of well constructed try’s and scoring them up the middle and on the left and right hand side of the field which gives the side many options when at the top of the field.Staffs had some great opportunities where they had the lions penned on their line for a couple of sets but the organization and desire to keep the line intact was visible and even with the physicality and size of the staffs forwards they could find no way through a very good blitz defence and the game finished with a final scoreline CUARLFC 60 Staffs Uni 4.
John Evans was happy to get a game played , “We were in a bit of a quandry when Exeter cried off and we had to work the oracle to get a useful hit out for players who haven’t had a lot of rugby league since they joined us in january before the cut off date.They all did well as well as our more experienced players who led from the front which was good to see.The scoreline doesn’t reflect the physical nature of the game as we scored four converted trys in the last 10 minutes which blew the scoreline out.We have to thank Gareth getting the game on and he has now received absolution for Armidale(he knows what we mean!!).We now look forward to the challenge of Coventry Uni at home in the BUCS Trophy next wednesday and the competition for places is going to be strong going into that game with 28 players reporting fit and available to play.“
The KCJ Man of the Match today was Will Brewster at full back who returned the ball with interest every time Staffs kicked the ball to him.
Scorers for Cambridge were : Trys. Sykes(3) , Shearman(3) , Bray , P.Hunt , Glass , Schroeder , Wingate-Saul , Tyson.
Cons. J.Hunt(5) , Sykes(1)