News
CUARLFC 26 Sheffield University 4
A change of venue due to the wet pitch at trinity saw the blues play this BUCS match at cambridge rugby union club and thanks to Bob Crooks for helping the club out at short notice.Sheffield university showed the last time they came to cambridge that they are a tough combative team who are organized and played with shape and structure.The weather and pitch conditions were going to be a telling factor and the first ten minutes belonged to the men from sheffield with pressure applied to the ball carriers and forcing a goal line drop out which was a test for the blues’ defensive qualities and attitude and they came out of that period with solid collisions and good communication.Momentum shifts quickly in rugby league and with some good plays at the ruck forcing penalties from sheffield and it was pleasing to see tries coming directly from plays practiced on the training field and which give the players more options in the scoring zone.Half time came and the score line read , CUARLFC 20 Sheffield 0.
The second half was always going to be more difficult with the wind no longer in the blues’ favour and the persistent drizzle always going to have an impact on ball security.The match became a slugfest in the middle of the field and with some disruption due to blood injuries meant that the blues lost some shape and structure to their play and invited sheffield into the match and they had the majority of possession in the second half and the final quarter in particular.The blues scored a converted try against a late try from sheffield to reward their never say die attitude and great team spirit.
Final score. CUARLFC 26 Sheffield Uni 4
Club president , Rupert Wingate - Saul was dissapointed with the performance , “We had set the bar higher this week after the great performance up in sheffield against league champions Hallam and we didn’t live up to it.The conditions had an impact but we all need to look at improving our individual game ready for the visit of Scottish Exiles.Winning the match is secondary to our performance and we need to take the positives out of it as the matches now follow thick and fast over the next ten days.“
Coach Evans was more philosphical , “We need to give credit to sheffield for their performance.We travelled up to sheffield last week and it is a long trip which means you need to start well and they did just that.We had some late team changes that changed some of the plays we wanted to put on but we gave them too many sets with poor security and that meant we lost the territory battle in the second half.The players will learn from it and make sure they keep it tighter when the conditions dictate.We are taking each game on it’s own merits and we are achieving the goals we set at the beginning of the season.“
Scorers.
Tries.Varley(2) , Sykes , A.Sanders , Shearman
Cons. Sykes(2) , Cushing (1)