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Match Reports 16/17
Tigers build momentum in friendlies!
The Tigers squad is looking sharp ahead of the big game against The Other Place on 4th March at Grange Road; two warm up fixtures have seen versatile attack and solid defence from the team, with plenty of tries and lots to get excited about!
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(A) vs. Norwich Medics - Sunday 19/02/2017, 14:00 KO
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FINAL SCORE: Norwich Medics 0 - 74 CURUFCW Tigers
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Back of the match: Mia Forbes
Forward of the match: Fiona Shuttleworth
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(H) vs. ARU - Friday 24/02/2017, 18:00 KO
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FINAL SCORE: CURUFCW Tigers 69 - 5 ARU
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Back of the match: Tabitha Burgess
Forward of the match: Charlotte Spruzen
Final BUCS fixture; CURUFCW vs. Cardiff Met
The Cambridge Women have had many a challenging fixture this BUCS season, and this match against 10 times BUCS champions was due to be no different. Keen to continue a revived and adapted attacking play from last week against Gloucester, the Light Blues were determined to get some points on the board.
The first half got going with a dodgy kick off from the Light Blue Captain; entirely down to the bog like mud patch in the middle of the pitch, obviously :-p
From here Cardiff started as one would expect, moving the ball quickly and ever looking for the quick offload to cut through the Cambridge defence. This was prevented well, but couldn’t stop a few well worked tries round the edges of the field. However, some penetrating kicks from the Turtle at 10 (Kate Marks) with wingers and fullback chasing shook the Cardiff defence and their confidence seemed to waiver. The Light Blues capitalised on a bit of momentum and a massive scrum shove was followed by a cheeky peel off from Nikki Weckman at 8, quick hands through Molly Byrne, to fullback Alice Middleton who took it over the line for a well-deserved Cambridge Try! A conversion followed and spirits were high in the Light Blue camp.
7-25 at half-time and the Light Blues were looking to get one of their best scores against the strong Welsh side. In the second half Cardiff continued to show their experience and the tries unfortunately kept coming, but throughout there were huge positives to be taken from Light Blue creativity, ever improving defence, and incredible passion and work rate.
A tough 80 minutes for all players involved, with close opportunities that didn’t quite materialise for Cambridge, saw a final score of 7 - 61. All in all a match from which the team will continue to build, and can look back on with pride, despite the result.
Our line up included some of our recent recruits, notably Georgina McCoig and Charlotte Spruzen who both stepped up to the occasion, and hats off to Jess Lister for coming on with a nasty bout of the Queen’s cold!
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FINAL SCORE CURUFCW 7 - 61 Cardiff Met
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Ooo photos
Varsity 2016 - Disappointment for the Light Blues
The match the Light Blues had all been working toward and looking forward to was finally here. Twickenham 08/12/2016.
A recent warm up match which couldn't prepare them better, and weeks of drinking ban, team meals, meetings and events had all been exciting to be part of.
And so the big day came, and Cambridge arrived at Twickenham with this excitement, confidence, and of course nerves that they were hoping to channel into the match.
Unfortunately a physio assessment the night before ruled out our starting Scrum Half, Lydie Thorn with a knee injury. The Blues are a tight knit team and this was a blow, but Molly Byrne was ready to step up, with plenty of past experience in the position, and Gabby Johansson was to line up in the pack.
So the game started, and nerves were evident early on, with some back and forth between the teams. The deadlock was broken at minutes with a holding on penalty in a kick-able position for Oxford, points on the board, 3 - 0 to the Dark Blues. Little did everyone know that that would be all the action the score board would see in the Women's game.
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The Light Blues looked threatening a number of times, all the way up to the 80th minute. We all felt a try was coming, but 80 minutes was not enough this time and handling errors proved costly. In the meantime Oxf**d held their lines well, and showed evidence of big improvements on the defensive front from the match last year.
Clearly I am from the Light Blue camp, but I'm not convinced that the Dark Blues ever looked like scoring a try... and I'm pleased to report that this makes it a couple of years since they've managed that in any Women's Blues clash :-D
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The disappointment this year was a tough one to take, but the women and support team picked each other up to enjoyed the team meal and night out that followed. They of course also thoroughly enjoyed the Light Blue victory in the Men's match- let's hunt the elusive Twickenham double next year!
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FINAL SCORE Oxford 3 - 0 Cambridge
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Away vs. Gloucester - 09/11/2016
Another away fixture for the Light Blues started strongly as they went up by two tries in the first half, one of which was converted. Both tries came from confident hands and wide play, with one for Lara Gibson and one for Mary Coleman. The game went on with plenty of line breaks from the Cambridge Women, and some great breakdown work, but the rub of the green seemed against the Light Blues and a number of consecutive penalties resulted in a yellow card, leaving them down to 14 Women for 10 minutes.
A couple of tries on the back of a further penalties saw the Gloucester Women put the score at 12 - 12 going into half time.
Gloucester used the momentum and the extra Women to their advantage, and went up 12 - 19 before Alice Middleton got a try in to level the score once more. The game continued to look like it could go either way, but most would agree that the Light Blues looked to have the edge in attacking potency- this was not to be, however, as Gloucester got a final try to tip the score their way in the closing stages.
The Cambridge Women came away disappointed with the final result, but will reflect back on the successful aspects of play with pride, and draw lessons from other areas.
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FINAL SCORE: Gloucester 24 - 19 Cambridge
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Back of the match: Tabitha Burgess
Forward of the match: Nikki Weckman
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Varsity Warm Up, Home vs. Oxf*rd - 02/11/2016
Stakes were high as The Dark Blues made the journey to Grange Road for the first BUCS clash against the Light Blues... the second of which takes place at Twickenham just over a month later...
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But it was first blood to the Light Blues at 27 minutes, when the first of what would result in a 4-try victory came from Lara Gibson, with her second impressive display of speed bringing her another try at 51 minutes.
Returning Blue Laura Suggitt made a huge break for her try between the two, just before half time.
The Cambridge Women had some fantastic line breaks, and made some hard hits throughout, with players in new combinations settling in nicely.
A final try came from Alice Middleton before the final whistle was blown, the game was unfortunately stopped just passed 70 minutes, with what looked to be a very painful leg injury to one of the Oxford girls, we wish her the best with a speedy recovery in the coming weeks.
With one conversion from the collection it finished 22-0 to The Light Blues. A great result for the BUCS League standings, and an exciting platform for the Women to work on ahead of The Varsity Match!
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FINAL SCORE CURUFCW 22 - 0 OURUFCW
Click left for a photo album from The Varsity Match Company.
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Click below for photos from Mark Bunting Photography:
Tough away fixtures for The Light Blues
The CURUFC Women have been far and wide in recent times, travelling to Cardiff on 19/10/16 and Exeter on 26/10/16. Both sides bring with them a wealth of experience and The Light Blues battled hard to hold off strong attacking play in both fixtures.
We recorded two losses from these games; 72-0 In Wales vs. Cardiff Met, and 92-0 at Exeter, but have drawn lessons from them both and have been working hard from learning points taken from these games.
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Team spirit and resilience remains high and we move forward
with pride to our next fixtures.
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Home vs. Bristol Uni - 05/10/2016
Friendly vs. Birmingham Uni - 05/10/2016
Cambridge Women struggled with limited availability and a close game was unfortunately lost in the last 5 minutes with a couple of well worked tries from the Birmingham squad.
Cambridge 24 - 27 Birmingham
Read more here:
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Lots of positives to take from the game, and some great individual performances from players out of position, same time next year Birmingham?
CURUFCW 7 - 38 Bristol
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Cambridge faced their biggest challenge yet in the form of the newly promoted Bristol 1st team. Despite the disappointing score-line, Cambridge came away having recognised some key issues to work on and are moving forward with enthusiasm.
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Bristol scored their first try with a centre line break, utilising their height at tackle to offload balls to oncoming players at speed. This try was then converted leaving the score at 0-7, 9 minutes in. Some ferocious defence led by aged veteran Jess Charlton at number 8 caused Bristol backline to fumble and concede two scrums. After an initial shaky start at the scrum, Cambridge rallied and provided a strong block to Bristol’s forceful push.
Another line break from Bristol’s fly half and centres led to a second try at 25 minutes but which was not converted bringing the score to 0-12. A try-saving tackle from captain Alice Middleton prevents an attempt from Bristol’s speedy fullback but in only another 6 minutes Bristol score again but fail to convert. Strong work from new forward Emma Pierce see in quick succession smashing tackles and a turnover, orchestrated by Charlton, resulting in some hands down the back line. Pressure from Bristol defence pushes the Blues into touch and the subsequent lineout leads to the final try of the half for Bristol. The score at half-time; 0-24.
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The second half showcases more of Cambridge talent as Bristol falls victim to fatigue in the latter quarter. However, they come out strong and 5 minutes into the Bristol’s number 5 manages to sneak one over the line bringing the score to 0-31. The Blues rally around and a ball steal from Alice Elgar leads to a succession of swift offloads between Elgar at 6, Middleton at 15 and Lara Gibson on the wing. They make ground but are held off by Bristol’s defence on the 10 metre line. Bristol come back and taking advantage of the Blues bunching are able to turn an overlap into their final try of the match. It is at this point that Cambridge’s pre-season and dedication to fitness kicks in.
New player Mary Coleman at 12, having demonstrated impressive tackling consistency, now displays her attacking potential and leaves four players in her wake. Superior support from Lydie Thorn playing at 10 and Charlton brings the ball up to the opposition 22 metre line and a failed interception from Bristol leads to a scrum in Cambridge’s
favour. Cracking pressure in the scrum from Cambridge delivers a neat ball to
plucky scrum half Molly Byrne who picks and offloads to Middleton who storms
past players to deposit the ball over the try line. Middleton then in turn delivers a
powerful kick to convert near the sideline and brings the final score to 7-38.
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Back of the match: Lydie Thorn at 10
Forward of the match: Jess Charlton at 8
