Cambridge University RUFC:    (24) 50

Tries: Mallaband, W. Smith, G. Smith, Tullie, Mather, Cherezov, Abraham, Brakeley

Cons: Abraham (2), Tullie (3)

Spoons A-A’s:                            (24) 36

Tries: Mottram (2), Aiken, Lilley, Lee, Ledingham

Cons: Mottram (3)

The Blues were victorious in a fourteen-try extravaganza against invitational outfit Spoon A-A’s in their final home fixture of the season.

The opening try was one for the Cambridge pack as both sets of backs started slowly, Mallaband getting on the score sheet after some dominant mauling.

But the A-A’s soon announced their arrival scoring three tries in the space of ten minutes.  Fly-half Mottram was superb all evening, though was gifted his first try by a huge hole in the Cambridge back line.  When Aiken waltzed though untouched for the A-A’s second and Lilley exploited a huge overlap on the left wing for a third try straight from the kick-off, it looked like it would be a tough evening for the Blues.

The teams traded counter-attacking tries from unfortunate kicking moves, Will Smith scoring for Cambridge and Mottram running in his second for the A-A’s before the Blues composed themselves.  Although a lack of support runners meant they failed to capitalise on a number of breaks, they were able to achieve parity by the interval. George Smith went in for an excellent individual score before scrum-half Tullie who sniped round the side of a ruck to touch down.

The second half started scrappily, the first score coming for A-A’s Shone following a telegraphed interception and a hint of a forward pass.  Then the Blues began to hit their stride, responding with another mauled try from the forwards to bring the scores level again, then Ilia Cherezov capitalised on  some uninspired A-A’s play to give Cambridge the lead.

With Will Smith picking gaps in the A-A’s line at will, he popped a pass to Abraham to take the score to 43-31.  The other Cambridge backs were less proficient where quicker hands would have exploited several overlaps, and it took a direct approach from lock Brakeley to add another score.  Tullie, who had taken over the kicking duties from Abraham in the second half, converted to bring up the Cambridge half century.

An excellent final A-A’s try again had Mottram at the heart of it, flicking an offload to Ledingham to go over in the corner, but Cambridge snuffed out any chances of a late comeback to achieve their first win of 2013.