Royle flourish seals Caldy’s comeback in Cambridge tie
CALDY’S Nick Royle spoiled the party at Grantchester Road with a late try to claim a share of the spoils with Cambridge on the day of Matt Hema’s milestone 100th appearance in Blood and Sand colours.
It had started well for Richie Williams’ side, weathering early pressure from the visitors and taking the lead 15 minutes in.
A break from the bustling Ben Adams, an inside pass from the Aussie back row and Kwaku Asiedu dotted down for his second try in two games.
Laurence Rayner missed off the tee, but he managed to land a 15-metre penalty four minutes later for a deserved 8-0 lead.
That lead was extended five minutes later as Hema burst through, drew the defence and unselfishly squared for the giant Kieran Frost to cross the line for try number two.
Rayner made it 15-0 with the kick from in front of the posts.
Ben Jones’ penalty eight minutes from halftime sent Caldy in with a 12-point deficit and gave them more than a glimmer of hope for the second half.
Cambridge director of rugby Williams hit the nail on the head when he said: “I don’t think we scored enough points in the first half and were tentative in everything we did.
“Credit to Caldy for getting back into it in the second half, but we were the architects of our own downfall.
“We weren’t as accurate enough as we needed to be in attack.
“We built ourselves a good lead and were in control of that game. I don’t think we made them work hard enough for their tries.”
Caldy – fielding three brothers in Tom, Joe and Jack Sanders – wrestled back possession and territory, finishing a prolonged spell of pressure on the hour with a pushover from Adam Aigbokhae, converted by Jones to cut the lead to five.
Cambridge countered with a superb score from Hema, collecting from another deft kick from Rayner to take the roof off the stand with the
noise that greeted his score.
And Rayner’s conversion left the home crowd in little doubt that at least four points were on the way.
Caldy – and Royle – had other ideas, however.
Oliver Hearn added an unconverted second touch down and, with time running out, the former England Sevens wing, so often a thorn in the side of the Blood and Sand, sprinted home from half way, leaving the simplest of tasks for Jones to tie the game with the boot.
Williams rued the result, and the lack of a win for Hema on his milestone appearance. “It would have been scripted perfectly for Matt to have touched down and won the game,” he said.
“Sadly, rugby’s not a fairy tale. In seasons gone by, we would have lost that game.
“We’ve made huge strides in the last month or so and there’ll be a spike in our performance when we go to Chinnor next week.”
The draw leaves Cambridge in eighth place in the table with two wins from their six outings
Caldy are 13th. having won two, drawn two and lost two of their six matches so far this season.