On Saturday, March 8th, Camberley's senior men’s first team faced off against third in the south-central league CS Stags at Watchetts Park. Before Saturday, Camberley and Wimbledon RFC were level, both with 62 points, leaving them in fourth and fifth place, respectively. They are set on catching CS Stags in third place.

The Stags kicked off the game pinning Camberley deep into their half, forcing the home side to clear. From here the visitors did well to chip the ball over the defensive line which they regathered and scored after some accurate offloads with their winger dotting it down (0-5).

A knock on gave the Stags some dangerous field position where they had a lineout 5m out from Camberley’s try line. Fortunately, this was overthrown but then regathered by the visitors. However, Camberley’s try line defence held strong, resulting in a knock on, Camberley scrum on their 5m line.

Daring to run the ball deep from their half winger, Max Boucher skates infield offloading to captain and flanker Chris Bird who received a high tackle giving Camberley a good exit with a line out on half way.

The sides engaged in an extended period of territory-based rugby, which Camberley came out on top of, resulting in a lineout 15m from the Stags' try line. A driving maul and tight set forward play moved the home side to the 5m, where they had to fight hard to get over the line with a dominant scrum. Ben Henderson was the one to get Camberley’s first point of the day, levelling the game 5-5.

Signs of set piece dominance start to shine with Camberley utilising their scrum and maul, especially to get on the front foot. After a well-set maul, which put the visitors on the back foot, the ball was expertly moved wide. Camberley was able to get on the outside of the Stags' defence with fallback Max McCarthy dummying past the final defender to score under the posts. Leaving fly half Alex Seers to convert, making the score 12-5 to the home side.

From here Camberley's defence within the 22m was tested, especially after receiving a yellow card. Even with this setback, Cambos' defence held strong, turning the ball over on their 5m line to prevent a try. In fact, Camberley’s centre Connor Hayhow made an excellent read to intercept the ball before running 60 metres to offload it to scrum half Jacob Ham, who ran the remainder of the way to score between the posts. Which would then be converted again by Alex Seers pulling Camberley further in front making it 19-5.
However, after spending a large amount of time within their own 22, Camberley's defence finally broke after some great footwork and a good line to score Stags second try of the day. They converted to tighten the game 19-12.

Creating together a strong attacking set which drove Camberley forward, spreading the ball across the pitch, they were awarded a lineout 10m from the opposing tryline. Flexing their forwards, Camberley chose to keep the ball in and utilize their strong maul which drove them over for the final try of the half in the corner. Score 24 – 12.

At the beginning of the first half, Camberley managed the game well as they pinned the visitors in their own half. Although they managed to exploit the blind side where they made a line break out of their half and eventually into Camberley’s to then score their 3rd. Score 24 – 19.

After an attritional battle of the midfield, the visitors stretched Camberley over a barrage of phases resulting in the Stags getting into the outside channel, where they picked off defenders to score another 5pts, which after being converted turned to 7pts, moving the score to 24-26.

Camberley then came back, banging on the door of the stags' defence with dominate carry after dominate carry. However, the Stags' defence held out with one try scoring attempted being held up with another being knocked on. This gave the visitors the momentum to trundle up back up the pitch before scoring in the corner. Score 24-31.

Refusing to stay quiet, Camberley kept the game within the Stags' half. This pressure continuously gave Camberley great field position to launch at a very strong defence. Phase after phase went by with Camberley continuously getting so close but just being held out, eventually led to some fast hands to hooker John Murphy to score in the corner to level the score in the final few minutes of the game. From here, Alex Seers had a difficult kick from the edge to level the game. A great strike of the ball from a tight angle tied the game up 31-31 in the final minute of the game.

As for the league table, both teams are awarded 2 points putting Camberley in 5th place with 64 points and CS stages at 67 points. 4th place Wimbledon won their fixture and so gained 4 points so are no longer drawing with Camberley. However, Camberley have a game in hand to improve their score so there is still more than one opportunity to move up the ladder.

Overall, a great game of rugby in the South Central League which had some great tries and impressive defensive performances.

Author: Alife Rankin