In a top of the table clash the Blues demolished local rivals Shelford, scoring nine tries and keeping a clean sheet. The Blues play twice a week at the moment, in both the BUSA league and a local league, and this match showed that they can handle the pressure of a full schedule.

The girls dominated Shelford all over the park and were clearly stronger in both the backs and forwards. The scrum was executed with precision forcing the referee to ask the Cambridge pack to hold back, whilst in the back-line a host of moves, making the most of a strong centre pairing, continually tore the away team apart. Coach Andrew-Mark Hanrahan had introduced a range of new moves before the match focusing on link-up play across the field and no teething problems were visible as the Blues showed off their new artillery.

The Cambridge pack gave the team a brilliant platform and it was in the three quarters that the Blues saw the results prompting No. 8 and captain, Talia Gershon, to say, “The backs were more clinical and cohesive than they ever have been before”.

Fly-half Anne Venner played some positive rugby, always coming up fast and managing the dual discipline of taking on her opposite number whilst organising the rest of her backline. Inside centre Lauren “Daisy” Iredale scored four tries during the thrashing. It was her who opened the scoring too, going over the line twice in the first ten minutes. Daisy was outstanding throughout the match and her tries ranged from a well timed interception to simple strong running. Outside centre Laura Britton also managed a hat-trick and punished Shelford on many occasions for their weak defence. Despite having the larger side, Shelford’s tackling was poor and when the Cambridge girls took them on they almost always found a way through. Shelford were not helped by their fullback, who seemed afraid of contact, and subsequently allowed a couple of tries that could otherwise have been stopped. The Shelford coach noticed this too and wasn’t shy about expressing himself. The fact is that the Cambridge girls knew how to play hard, fast rugby and their opposition were not equipped to deal with it.

In high scoring matches such as this, members of the tight five can either drift into the background or step up and contribute to the whipping; the Blues second row were definitely in the second group.  With one try each, locks Lucy Chumas and Lou Anning made a significant impact on the pitch and gave Cambridge options in tight as well as out wide. If they, and the forwards in general, could be faulted on anything it was their shaky lineouts. Whilst the home side managed to steal the Shelford ball on a number of occasions, quite a few of their own were either fumbled or penalised for wayward throwing.

It was an impressive spectacle to see the Light Blue girls cause so much damage to a side who are supposed to be close rivals. The squad will be very happy with their result and captain Gershon summed it up when she said: “We’re definitely coming together as a side, and it’s really exciting to see.” There is no doubt that she was right and it really was exciting to see.