John Purley Fisher 15
Camberley 15

As the scoreline suggests, this was a very evenly contested match and Camberley can be disappointed not to have snatched victory in the final moments.

The torrential rain beforehand made the ball tricky to handle in a scrappy first quarter with neither side firing on all cylinders. Playing up the slope, Camberley defended well with Jasper leading our defensive press and when they kept possession of the ball looked dangerous in attack. Debutant Albert was the first to make a significant line break eight minutes into the match but the Fisher rucking forced the turnover.

A minute later Arran made one of his typical powerful runs upfield but again Camberley couldn’t quite keep possession of the ball and the chance was lost. Fisher kept possession well and dotted down for the first try of the match on 12 minutes. Fisher’s runners kept coming and stout defence led to Archie Mac picking the pocket of his opponent and looked set to score before his foot grazed the touchline. 5-0 to Fisher after the first quarter.

Camberley started the second quarter brightly with strong runs from another debutant Nathan (who ran hard and straight all match), Reece and Jack, as well as some well-timed passing from Albert and Archie Mart. Camberley were playing some good entertaining rugby but couldn’t quite find the breakthrough. Fisher nearly scored in the corner bar a try-saving tackle from Arran who appeared to be everywhere and backed up by some strong team defence on the tryline.

After soaking up the pressure, Camberley finally found some territory in the 22nd minute. After many scrums, Josh W shipped the ball to Archie Mac who managed to find Albert in space and his fast footwork aided him crossing the line to make it one try all. Immediately following the re-start Arran made an excellent tackle on the Fisher winger, backed up by Joe to force a free pass deep inside the opposition half. With Fisher offside in the middle, the ensuing free pass saw Josh W pass to Joe who distributed to Archie Mac who burst through a couple of tackles and made a magnificent step off his left foot to score making it two tries to one shortly before half-time.

The start of the third quarter saw Fisher hit back with a try immediately, squeezing into the corner. Fisher continued to keep Camberley pinned right on their line for most of the next set of phases. Finley kicked to relieve pressure and following a fumble the ball found its way to Arran who fended off a number of Fisher tacklers whilst rampaging up the slope, scoring a try to make it three tries to two. It wasn’t long, however, before Fisher sent their big runners trundling down the hill again to level the scores.

With the slope in their favour, Camberley were confident that victory would be theirs. Both sides upped their intensity in this final quarter and the supporters were treated to a fine spectacle with neither team prepared to give up. Camberley finally found some territory with another long kick by Finley accompanied with a great chase led by Jasper. The next few minutes saw Camberley lay siege to the Fisher line with wave after wave of attack.

However, all credit to Fisher: their defence was superb and Camberley could not make the breakthrough.

All in all, an excellent opening to what promises to be a great season for our growing U12s!