A high-energy performance characterised by grit and resolve was not enough for Cambridge as they fell just short against a physical Army XV who capitalised through the middle of both halves. Constant ebbs and flows made it a breathtaking and at times tense watch for a healthy crowd at Grange Road on Wednesday night. The battle ended 50-43 to the visitors, but the Blues can take heart from their performance, which acts as a prelude to the Varsity Match on 28th February.

Cambridge blitzed their way out of the starting blocks winning a series of penalties on the halfway line before capitalising in the sixth minute from the lineout. Attacking the far side, a sharp throw was brought down, followed by a rampaging rolling maul that was securely bundled over by the hooker Will Kennedy.

It was not long before Cambridge added another try to the scoreboard. A crafty chipped box kick from the scrum-half was collected by the Cambridge wingers, who fed the ball back to Ben Cook in the middle of the pitch. He was in the clear and leapt over the try line under the posts to give the home side a solid advantage with only nine minutes on the clock. The conversion was added to put Cambridge 12-0 up.

“A typically thrilling spectacle that we have come to expect from Wednesday nights at Grange Road”

There was a sense among the crowd that this game could be another one of those one-sided clashes that Grange Road had already played host to this season, after the Royal Air Force team were comprehensively thrashed late last year, while a stellar Trinity Dublin dished out a heavy beating to the Blues in October. This was not to be the case however.

The Army quickly regrouped and had a penalty after a good jackal just outside their opponents’ 20-yard line. A couple of phases after the lineout, Jefeti Vakalalabure scored in emphatic fashion to put the Army on the scoreboard and show they weren’t there to be rolled over. The first scrum of the game came in the 19th minute, not far from the Cambridge try line. Moving the home team’s pack backwards, the lead soon belonged to the Army as number eight Matt Dawson peeled off the back of the scrum and made it 12-14.

Capitalising on the swing in momentum, the Army scored a series of tries, exposing pockets in the Cambridge line through their nimble footwork, lightning speed and sheer force. Sitiveni Vasuturaga added his name to the growing list of Army try scorers before a superb try from Tomasi Vula, who finished a length-of-the-pitch try under the posts. It looked like the game might slip away from Cambridge when the ball was bundled over again by the Army, but there was contention over whether the it had been knocked on by Ben Hurfond-John. After a brief word with his touch judge, the referee gave the try to make it 12-31 just after the half-hour mark.

“Cambridge came out in the second half with a greater verve, intensity and aura about their play.”

It would have been easy for Cambridge to dip their heads and surrender their efforts against an evidently talented opposition. Rallying calls from their captain kept the body language positive though, and they had the final say before half-time. Will Kennedy flung the ball wide to his fly-half Nate Bottomley, who played a deadweight grubber to the corner that was smacked down by Tim Andrew to keep the deficit to 17-31 at halftime.

Cambridge came out in the second half with greater verve, intensity and aura about their play. They immediately closed the gap to just seven points with a try in the right corner by the Grange Road entrance, followed by a post-splitting conversion. They could not keep Matt Dawson from scoring his second of the match for the Army however, and this constantly turning tide was to characterise the second half.

When the brigade of Cambridge defenders held the ball up on their own try line just minutes later it felt like this could be a turning point in the match, the kind of spirited resolve needed when losing to flick the switch. The Army’s pressure remained sustained though as Vakalalabure showed good footwork to put the Army up 19 points up with around fifteen minutes left to play and leave the score 24-43.

The last ten minutes were truly gripping. The Cambridge captain George Bland dummied and weaved past the last Army line and finished under the posts to give his side the hope and momentum they needed to try and draw back level. Ben Barlow closed the deficit to just seven points hardly two minutes later. The Army side looked nervy while their captains ordered a message to “keep calm, keep the ball and win this game”.

The Grange Road scoreboard was showing full time, yet a different figure on the referee’s watch meant the crowd were treated to more action. The Army rallied their way back into the Cambridge half, scoring in the corner and hitting a half-century of points on the night. That turned out to be the match-sealing try, as Lewis Cooper’s subsequent score for the Blues turned out to be a mere consolation; the final score 43-50.

It was a frantic, energetic and classy display of rugby from both sides, who put on a typically thrilling spectacle that we have come to expect from Wednesday nights at Grange Road. Cambridge’s attack looked sharp and has been suited by the artificial surface. With a tighter defence against an Oxford side that they have beaten three years running, they look in pole position to keep their Varsity Match crown in two weeks’ time in North London.