Saturday saw the Blues travel to East Grinstead for a tough fixture against a side who only last season were narrowly relegated from the South of England Premiership.

A promising start saw Cambridge’s James Whittle win the opening face-off to give the Blues first possession. However, the well organised East Grinstead defence immediately pressured the ball and stole possession back minutes later.

The Blues’ defence reacted quickly to keep out a formidable East Grinstead attack. But after a series of take-away checks from both sides’ defences gave a few possessions each, East Grinstead began to dominate.

Their first goal came five minutes into the first quarter from a feed to the crease and a quick shot on the run. This was the beginning of the onslaught and the well drilled East Grinstead team soon began to pick apart weaker areas in the Cambridge defence. Cambridge managed to pull a goal back from a rapid open-field dodge from Captain Carl Tilbury. However, this was their only tally in the face of mounting East Grinstead scores, with the scoreline 11-1 to East Grinstead at halftime.

Cambridge’s defensive play improved in the third quarter and the opposition scoring soon slowed, with some big hits from defender Paul Brazinski flooring the opposition on occasion. The East Grinstead long poles responded with take-away checks of their own, however, playing high pressure lock-off defence as soon as the ball was carried into their half, which prevented Cambridge from getting many more chances.

The fourth quarter saw some man up advantages for Cambridge with East Grinstead players being sent off for slashing and head checks, but the Light Blues were unable to convert.

The game finished 17-2 and although it revealed some weaknesses in the current squad, it gives the side ground to build on and develop in time for the return fixture when East Grinstead visit Cambridge in February.

The performance of the Cambridge long poles, though, was exceptional at times and the Blues’ player of the match was Michael Lipton for some key caused turnovers, ground balls and clears.