LCRFC Dukes 66 – 6 Camberley

Mainly this is for the reason that if I am doing my job properly in the second row I don’t have enough of an overview of the game to give a true judgement, not like the luxury of standing at full-back watching! So in the absence of our balding correspondent, here goes...

Preparation for this, the first league game of the season could have been better. Firstly, this should have been a home game, but due to a lack of space at the Richardson Evans memorial ground, the Dukes were on the road again. Secondly, Camberley is the furthest team from us geographically, almost 40 miles in fact, this means there was some consternation in the camp about the best way to get there, I arrived at the Junction to meet just 8 players, always a worrying sight for a skipper. So off we start on our journey to middle earth (or middle England if the truth be told), with me firing text messages to various parties in the vain hope that many of them were driving straight there. Fortunately for me, this was the case, then starts the flood of “Am late as stuck in traffic” texts, “oh well” I think, at least they are on their way. On arrival we realise just how hideous our very old canary yellow change jersey is, I think it was Huw who drew the short straw and got the mouldy shirt.

Out we trot for a warm up with some players still arriving by car and joining in late. This was a positive warm up, certainly in forwards with some good lineout practise taking place. The only flip side to this was Jonny Hulbert-Powell praying to the west in the hedge and coming back over a nasty shade of yellow (or it could have been those hideous change jerseys), quick change to the starting line-up required anyway.

The ref (who I am not too sure about) calls us over for the usual pre match coin toss and with the niceties out the way with ourselves opting to kick, we get under way. We talked about aggression and simple rugby pre-match and that is exactly what happened. The mighty Tim Gibb getting us over the try line with within a couple of minutes, good start we think but let’s keep it going. Now it is important to mention at this point that Camberley are no push-over, they have a big aggressive pack and a couple of strong runners in the back line. So with one try under our belt we are not celebrating, until a few minutes later, when Gibb repeats this feat!

It was a sign of things to come when at only two tries down, Camberley opt to kick for the posts rather than the line. Following on from this we have to work hard to retain possession, there are bodies on the ground and hands in the ruck from Camberley constantly; on top of this I am beginning to think that the ref is not keen on us. Before half time there is still time for us to pounce for another try, and for Camberley’s fly half to kick another penalty, so at 17-6 at half-time we are far from safe.

At half time, the message was aggression in the rucks, go hard and go low. The pack responded brilliantly in the first few minutes of the second half, Mike Owers and Jack Davidson showing that there is way more to the front row than just shoving. We hit them with two more quick fire tries and the floodgates opened, Tom Rotherham at fly half kicked tactically all afternoon and man of the match Dan Drummond lead by example by breaking through tackles to lay the ball on a plate for his colleagues and get amongst the scoring action himself. After this there were further tries from Acton, Webster, Davidson, Crook, Lewis and lung buster from co-skipper Bevan, running it in from the half-way line! It was also great to see David Morris return after a season out injured coming off the bench in the second half. All in all, it was a great performance from the Dukes and a great way to start the league season, 11 tries for, none against. Plenty of positive to take into next weeks match.

Team: Jack Davidson, Mike Owers, Stu Russell, Steve Dixon (Capt.) , Tim Gibb, Huw Jones, Pete Crook, Tom Eckhardt, Mark Stringer, Tom Rotherham , Dan Drummond, Tom Acton, Dave Parker, Nick Lewis, Rich Webster. Subs: Rich Fisher (for Russell), Johnny Hulbert-Powell, (for Jones) Martin Bevan (for Crook), Dave Morris (for Stringer)