Cambridge unable to find answers to consistency riddle

Cambridge 26 Blaydon 28 - National League One

A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma feels the best way to describe Cambridge this season.

It may seem melodramatic to be using Winston Churchill’s famous line about Russia in the context of a run-of-the-mill rugby game, but watching Cambridge is just that.

The reversal to Blaydon marked their third loss in a row – and the same number of consecutive home defeats – but despite those disappointing runs, it does feel as if there is a performance there bursting to get out.

And that is what must be so infuriating for the coaching staff.

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For the first 38 minutes, the hosts were in control of the game and did not look under any real pressure. But in a cumulative 20-minute period – spanning the end of the first half and the start of the second – they pressed the self destruct button as Blaydon amassed 22 points.

It is these spells that are constantly proving the undoing of Cambridge. They are the opposite of the purple patches which Bob Crooks’ side have so often in the past used to demolish opponents. But how do they eliminate them?

While many things can be ironed out and worked on in training, those passages of play cannot be replicated, and the only answer is for the players to empower themselves to stop them happening.

The errors start with one or two individuals and then spread through the side, like the plague, until reaching the more senior players, who are then tasked with trying to settle their younger team-mates. And when the affliction creeps in, it feels that opponents sense it and exploit it to get their scores on the board.

Finding that level of consistency – balancing the good and bad – and executing when they do, so they put opponents to the sword, is what is needed. That is exactly what happened against Blaydon, with only a 13-point lead after dictating play.

Tom Wheatcroft’s intelligent kicking was exploiting space behind Blaydon, making them think whether to drop deeper or play a high line.

Ien Ascroft-Leigh was getting about the pitch well from blind-side flanker and was making some big hits to keep Blaydon in their own half, as Cambridge exuded a relaxed rather than tense demeanour.

The line defence was functioning well, and even when the visitors did create a four-on-three miss-match overlap, the Cambridge scramble defence was up to keeping Blaydon out.

Wheatcroft’s kick into space was picked up by Toby Berridge to cut inside to give Cambridge the lead after 11 minutes, and the inside centre then used his boot to kick two penalties.

Andrew Baggett replied for Blaydon, and then

Mike Ayrton was sin-binned. The Cambridge winger was deemed to have deliberately tripped Tom Jeffreys, but it seemed as if the touch judge reacted on the vociferous appeals of the Blaydon bench.

From the penalty and resultant line-out, Cambridge stole possession, but then conceded another needless penalty, and from the second set-piece, Robert Bell dived over.

It left the hosts with only a three-point half-time lead when it should have been more, and they did not cope very well with being a man down after the break. Three minutes in, they were moved around before Dave Sheldon eventually touched down. Baggett soon added a penalty and then, from a turnover in midfield, Blaydon simply moved possession through numerous hands for Jeffreys to score and make it 25-13.

Cambridge were asleep and it was not until after Will Lawson’s break on 61 minutes led to Berridge’s second try that they started to rise from their slumber.

Elliot Bale kicked a penalty to reduce the arrears to 25-21, but more poor and foolish play ended with a cheap penalty which Baggett converted on 80 minutes.

Lawson got a try in the last play of the game, but the angle was too acute for Bale’s conversion, so Cambridge were condemned to another defeat.

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