For their first league match of the season, the Cambridge team travelled to the West Midlands to meet the Bridgnorth ladies.

The game started off strongly in defence, with a good line, powerful tackles by forwards and backs alike and a strong scrum from the Cambridge team.
However, this proved to be not quite good enough, and several fumbles over the ball meant that Bridgnorth were able to dominate possession and score their first try which was then converted.

The first half finished with some good play from Cambridge, with the ball making it out to a strong back line including new player Devan Kreisberg. Excellent tackles from Jess Gurney and Sian McGuiness and a stolen lineout gave Cambridge a positive outlook for the start of the second half.

Unfortunately, this was not enough and in the second half a lack of solid recoveries on the Cambridge side resulted in Bridgnorth adding two more tries to their score, despite a good Cambridge defence and particularly excellent play from Tia Knight and Bryony Coombs.

The match ended with a disappointing result for Cambridge, yet the team showed immense promise; the match highlighted areas of play that they look forward to working on over the coming season.

After this heavy defeat, the Cambridge ladies had something to prove against Doncaster the following Saturday. The game began well with an early try from newcomer Kreisberg. This was quickly followed by Poppy Brewer, a returning Blue, breaking down the wing to attempt try no. 2.

Unfortunately, their 14 was almost as quick as the Cambridge player and managed to catch her. Brewer had to pass the ball and McGuinness was there on her shoulder ready to take the glory of the second “under the post” try.

Doncaster then had their turn with the ball, showing some promising breaks through the line. Cambridge began to tackle a bit high and the opposition weren’t going down that easily. The Doncaster no. 14 managed to score the first try for Doncaster, despite a big old tackle from Brewer.

Clare Donaldson decided to take things into her own hands, got the ball, ran straight through the centre of their pack, dodging the arms as they reached out to grab her and scored a third try under the posts.

Things got a bit tense after this and Cambridge had to put up some solid defence on their own tryline as a scrum at 5m and a penalty against Cambridge almost saw Doncaster get their second score of the game.

Thankfully a double movement on the tryline saved Cambridge, who were frightened into a fantastic try at the other end of the pitch. The ball began at McGuinness, who passed to Kreisberg, on to Knight, to Brewer, back to McGuinness, on to Molly Byrne and finally back to McGuinness again who was there to score the try, which she then converted for Cambridge.

The following kick-off went straight into touch, providing Cambridge with an opportunity to try out their new flare line-out move. It almost worked.
Cambridge obviously got a bit too comfortable in the second half, and Doncaster upped their game.

A line-out near the Cambridge try line allowed their players to use their size and strength to overpower the defensive line and score their second try.

This was followed by some more faffing around the try-line, allowing Doncaster a third. Brewer managed to scamper round their players and score another two tries to even out the second half score.

Cambridge jubilated in their victory, final score 49-16. There next match will see them facing Oxford Brookes on 16th October.