Williams rues first-half show
U18S FELL FOREST – PAGE 38
CAMBRIDGE director of rugby Richie Williams rued a “pretty lacklustre” first-half display from his side as they recorded a 20-15 defeat to Nottingham on Saturday.
The Blood & Sand trailed 10-0 at the break at Volac Park, as the visitors ran in two unconverted tries to put the hosts on the back foot.
Cambridge scored two tries of their own in the second half, but a further score from the away side after the break left the Blood & Sand with too much to do.
“It was pretty lacklustre in the first half,” Williams told the Richie & Jacko Podcast.
“I think we’d spoken a lot this week and last week around how we wanted to attack and play, and to be honest, there was a very similar focus to what we wanted for the Bedford game.
“They’re two very similar teams in how they play, how they attack and defend, and we felt that if we could capitalise on our entries into the 22 today, we’d come away with points, but first half we had zero entries into the Nottingham 22.
“I think the main Achilles heel today in that first half was our lack of control in the middle third. We coughed up possession far too easily, we gave away some cheap penalties, which gave them field position. To only go in at 10-0 down, we thought the game was still there to be won second half.”
The Blood & Sand got back into the contest six minutes after the break through Sam Edwards’ try, reducing the arrears to 10-7, but N o t t i n g h a m’ s response came just five minutes later to make the score 17-7.
The away side extended their lead to 20-7 through a penalty with five minutes remaining, before Cambridge built some late momentum. Eli Caven went over two minutes from time, while Steffan James slotted home a penalty with the final kick of the game to earn his side a losing bonus point.
“I thought the last 15 minutes was probably the best that we’ve played this season,” Williams added.
“I thought the attack, when we stuck to script, when we moved the ball to width, when we got that go forward in the middle and generated quick ball, we showed what we could do as an attacking team, but too little too late I guess.
“We have got something from it. I’m clutching at straws a bit, but I think when the shackles were off and we were chasing that game, we showed that desire to keep our hands on the ball and put their defence under a lot of pressure, and we did that reasonably well, but we didn’t do that for long enough periods of the game today.”
A fifth straight defeat leaves Cambridge second from bottom in the Championship table, on 17 points from 15 matches played.
The main Achilles heel today in that first half was our lack of control in the middle third.
Richie Williams