Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 22 - Cambridge 63

The gap in qaulity between Level 5 rugby (where we were last season) and Level 3 (the league from which Cambridge were relegated) was there for all to see for the vast majority of this non-contest.

It started brightly for the hosts when Sam Winter side stepped two defenders to score under the posts inside the first 2 minutes (a score converted by Sam Coleman) but thereafter until the final 5 minutes it was very much one way traffic as a tide of Red and yellow engulfed our team.

Cambridge were utterly dominant in the scrum and that level of supremacy spread to almost every other aspect of the game as we were similarly out muscled in loose play across the pitch.

Cambridge ran in no fewer than nine tries all of which were converted. Two of those tries were interceptions and another a turn-over created by aggressive defence as Stortford pressed the Cambridge line. Our only scoring response during these 70 minutes was a penalty from Sam Coleman

To their credit our guys kept going to the end and were rewarded by two tries at the death the first for Right Winger Ross Bird and the second immediately from the restart by Captain Tom Coleman. Sam Coleman converted is brothers effort.

We knew this league was going to be tough but nonetheless this really was a rude awakening having been able until this game to remain competitive with all our previous opponents.

Next week we make the long journey down to the Devon / Cornwall border to take on Launceston or as they now like to call themselves the Cornish All Blacks. Lets hope thats the only thing they have in common with their illustrious namesakes from the Southern hemisphere!