Cambridge started strongly and were 5 points ahead within 5 minutes, capitalising on a good chip kick in behind Stortford's defence and a good chase to secure a turnover, from which patient rugby produced a good team try. After 11 minutes of the game, it was the visitors' turn to capitalise on a turnover, when Tom Crozier stripped an opponent on Cambridge's 22 to feed Chris Aldam, whose drive and pass to Nick Hankin allowed the centre to round his opposite number to level the scores. Nine minutes later, though and the home side were ahead again, when another clever grubber kick from their flyhalf. breached the Stortford defence and a missed tackle in midfield gave an easy converted try. After 25 minutes, the visitors were back on terms, when Mike Gallagher crashed over under the posts from a short pass from Tom Coleman of a second successive scrum taken in lieu of penalties. Stortford were now firing on all cylinders and some excellent interplay between Sam Winter and Hankin after 32 minutes created room out wide for Gallagher, who made twenty yards before flicking the ball inside for Marcus Cattell to touch down, after the winger was stopped just short of the line. Coleman's excellent conversion stretched the lead to 7 points and this was doubled 4 minutes later, when Tom Banks scored under the posts after the scrumhalf had taken a quick penalty, made ground and then took a return pass from Steve Ball, after the flanker had almost made the line.

Stortford were almost unrecognizable in the second half, as the home side redoubled their efforts. A poor chase and two missed tackles off a short kick out of defence by Hankin got the period off to the worst possible start, as Cambridge ruthlessly exploited the turnover to run in a try, which was well converted to narrow the lead to 7 points. Stortford seemed to have lost the fluency they found in the first half, but still added 3 points to their tally after 15 minutes of the half, with a Coleman penalty for offside. Within 3 minutes, though the lead was narrowed to 3 points, when a poor kick out of defence and quick passing by the home side, allowed Cambridge's outside centre to exploit a mismatch against a Stortford lock to round the defender and canter in for an easily converted try. Stortford again fought their way doggedly back into Cambridge territory and another penalty to Coleman after 23 minutes, following another quickly tapped penalty by Banks, had established position stretched the lead to 6.Far from defending this lead, though, Stortford managed to butcher possession, when a pass from the base of a scrum now under some pressure was hurled over Coleman's head and, when the loose ball was not picked up in midfield, a Cambridge back was able to swoop on the ball and scoot over the line unopposed to establish a one point lead after 30 minutes.. Stortford's increasingly frantic efforts to retake the lead proved fruitless and in fact it was Cambridge that, a couple of times came closest to scoring off turnovers in the Stortford 22, as the visitors now proved incapable of working the kind of openings they had prised in the first half against a strong tackling opposition.