Mugford return eclipsed by the battling of his old pals
FORMER Cambridge fly-half Dan Mugford starred for Plymouth Albion, but it wasn't enough to prevent his old side taking their highest-profile scalp of the season.
Two second-half penalties from Jack Green gave the Blood & Sand victory, but relentless work from veteran flanker Darren Fox, aided and abetted by scorer Rob Conquest and No.8 Jake McCloud, earned them the four points.
Director of rugby Ross Stewart felt early on that his side were on the verge of a famous win.
“We were pretty confident. Conditions were windy and we ultimately managed the conditions better,” he said. “I thought for the 80 minutes we were as close to perfect defensively as we could be.”
Mugford was of similar mind, citing the wind as a factor.
“I don’t think we took all the chances we created in the first half,” he said, “And unfortunately we didn’t build a big enough score before the break.
“Cambridge played into that wind well, really fronted up and got a couple of scores. In the second half, they kicked the corners well, put us under pressure, and made it tough.”
Those first-half chances were taken well. On 17 mintry utes, Mugford broke after a pick and drive from a line out in the corner, reversepopped the ball into the hands of Matt Shepherd and converted the full back’s score.
Cambridge were back on terms after laying siege to the Albion line, with Conquest’s long arm touching down and Ben Penfold adding the extras.
That parity was shortlived. Mugford broke again, turned on the gas and put centre Dean Squire
in at the corner before adding two more points. But Penfold’s last-gasp penalty kept his side within touching distance.
In the second half, Cambridge’s pack, prodigious for the first 40 minutes, kicked on again and the 37year-old Fox came to the fore, his experience cajoling his younger team-mates into every breakdown.
Plymouth gave away a penalty on the hour, which Green landed from 35 yards to leave Cambridge a point adrift and Penfold's replacement added another from the 22 seven minutes later.
That left an edgy 13 minutes to play, and Fox's presence was crucial as his side kept their heads and protected the lead.
Mugford enjoyed his return, though not the result, as Albion appeared to suffer from recent postponements.
“We’ve had a lot of missed rugby,” he said. “You can get a lot of shape in training, but we were slightly lacking that hard edge. We weren’t off it by much, but that hard edge just wasn't there and it probably allowed Cambridge to dominate us a little bit around the fringes and gain the advantage.”
Stewart wasn’t too bothered about his side’s lack of tries. “Let’s be honest, we’re not happy with the way we’re attacking. But I was really chuffed with our game management,” he added.