Cambridge Pythons’ season came to a brave end in the first round of the national championship playoffs, with a 55-0 defeat against national powerhouses Birmingham on Sunday. The game came one week after Pythons had closed their regular season with a resounding 34-0 win away to Buckinghamshire New University.

The BNU result left the Light Blues with a 7-1 record for the regular campaign, their best result since 1995. Watched by an enthusiastic crowd of sheep and horses at the Berkshire College of Agriculture’s playing fields, the game was a scrappy one. The first and third quarters ended scoreless, but as usual, solid defense and powerful running were enough to give Cambridge the win. The second quarter saw running tries from Alex SJ and Sam Alderson, the latter stripping the ball from the BNU quarterback before storming home for a 31-yard defensive score, converted by Seb Funk with a run. With the fourth quarter opening 14-0 to Cambridge, the Pythons finally opened up a big margin as BNU’s discipline unraveled. Touchdowns came from quarterback Joe Yarwood with a 6-yard scramble (converted by a Tom Carr catch), receiver Jake Moore with an athletic catch from a Yarwood pass, and Alex SJ with a run to seal a powerful drive. Summing up BNU’s day, their captain was slapped with a personal foul and ejected from the game after butting a Cambridge player after the whistle.

The powerful Birmingham side were always likely to be a different proposition. On a warm, sunny afternoon, the Brummies took control by suppressing the Cambridge running game that had proven too much for Pythons’ rivals in the South East A conference. Birmingham ended the first half with an 8-0 lead after passing their way to a touchdown at the end of their first offensive drive. Cambridge were forced to go three-and-out on two occasions in the first, as their running backs got nowhere.

In the second quarter, Birmingham demonstrated the depth of their quality by switching between passing and running plays at will, finding the end zone with both approaches. The quarter opened with a 19-yard running touchdown, which was converted with a kick for an extra one point. With Cambridge’s Yarwood suffering a sack, Birmingham were back on the offensive soon afterwards, this time capping an 8-play drive with a short run from 1 yard. This time Birmingham failed to convert, but Cambridge remained under pressure for most of the rest of the first half. Despite a standout run from Brad Idzik, the Pythons were pinned back, and the half ended with Birmingham passing in a touchdown from 27 yards. Following another kicked conversion, the half ended 28-0.

Birmingham clearly knew the value of a quick start, and opened the third quarter with a vicious sucker-punch. Pythons’ kickoff was returned with a blistering run from the Birmingham number 9, following which some hard running offense pinned Cambridge further back. Birmingham burst through for a running touchdown to cap the drive, but were unable to convert. With Cambridge still struggling to make yards in offense, the next Birmingham drive also yielded a score, this time converted with the kick. The third frame ended 41-0.

Birmingham were no slower out of the blocks in the fourth, scoring with an 8-yard run as the final quarter opened. This, too, was converted efficiently with a kick. The middle stages of the fourth were brutal for Pythons’ quarterback Yarwood, who endured two sacks and an interception. On the brighter side, some characteristic defensive grit from the Light Blue defense did momentarily slow down the Birmingham machine, forcing the hosts’ offense to go 4-and-out. Normal service, however, resumed when Birmingham drove home a running touchdown from 17 yards, once more converting with the boot. This proved to be the final score, with the game ending 55-0.

Although the result underlines the step up required to compete with the very best teams in the country, this season remains a tremendously successful one for Pythons. The Light Blues finished the regular season placed second in their conference, only 2 points behind traditional south-east pacesetters Hertfordshire. It was a notable campaign for the Cambridge defense, which conceded just 2 scores in regular-season play after Christmas.

MVP’s for the battling Birmingham game were Ram Sarujan (offense), Jake Moore (defense) and Sarujan and Guy Peters (special teams). This follows the award of MVPship for the BNU game to Joe Yarwood (offense), Sam Alderson (defense), Guy Peters (special teams) and George Bickers (rookie).