On Wednesday afternoon the Blues showed their strength in front of a packed Grange Road with an important late season win against the invitational Steele-Bodgers. With the drinks flowing and the brass band in full swing hundreds of Cambridge supporters were treated to not only a party atmosphere but also an impressive Blues performance across the park.

After a two week rest the Blues looked both refreshed and composed and their first half performance was immaculate. The forwards performed their job at the breakdown proficiently; winning their own rucks and even snatching a few turnovers. On top of this they repeatedly ran crash balls in both the scrum half and fly half channels to test the Bodgers’ tackling. This test proved too much for the away side when first Andy Daniels and then Pat Crossley blasted over the line to give the Blues an early fourteen point lead. Cambridge were playing well as a team and the Bodgers, whose players have never played together before, could not organise themselves to cope with the pressure. Even with Sandy Reid out due to injury the backline also looked threatening every time they had possession. This was epitomised by the work of the centre partnership who tore the Bodgers’ defence open when Freddie Shepherd broke the line and was supported by Fred Burdon to beat the visitors’ full back in a classic two on one.

The Steele-Bodgers looked frustrated after the first half-hour as their lack of unity didn’t let their individual talents show. Frequent knock-ons and poor organisation in defence let them down and even when chances came they were squandered. Cambridge on the other hand were playing like a team possessed and managed to fit in two more tries before half time. The first of these came when fullback Jimmy Richards broke through at pace and offloaded to Joe Wheeler who used his strength to fend off three defenders and touch the ball down under the posts. The second showed off some of second row Will Jones’ flair as he dummied a pass to his winger but instead gave a lovely inside pass to Richards for a stunning try. This set the score at 33-0 at half time with four of Cambridge’s five tries converted.

The games running up to the Varsity match, on December 10th, are the perfect place for the Blues to fine-tune their squad and make any last minute adjustments. Perhaps for this reason, and also to steer well clear of any injuries, the Blues used all of their substitutions throughout the second half and the team who finished the match was very different to the starting line-up. This inevitably weakened the side and for the rest of the match the two teams were very even. The two teams nabbed three tries a piece and both possession and territory were relatively equal. Cambridge captain Dan Vickerman shrugged off the suggestion that this change in play showed lack of depth in the team saying “We are a squad and I’m confident in every one of my players.” It seems like the downturn in the second half was merely a reflection of how the Bodgers started to regroup against a team who had spent forty minutes sitting on the bench. Coach Tony Rogers seemed equally calm about the situation commenting “It gets a bit disjointed, that’s just the way it happens sometimes.”

With only one match to go before the chosen team steps out at Twickenham there are still a few small things for the squad to concentrate on. Both Vickerman and hooker Jamie Gilbert recognised that there is room for improvement on the set piece, a Cambridge strong point in the recent past: Gilbert noted, “We didn’t dominate the line or the scrum today”. However, the significance of Wednesday was that the Blues scored tries and lots of them. Richards, who racked up two tries, said, “It was our highest scoring match so far this season with over forty points and that’s important.” It is the self-confidence to go out, score well worked tries and dictate a match that will be most important come December 10th and this week the Blues proved that they have that confidence.