Scottish try blitz too much for Cambridge

■By STEVE

JACKSON L Scottish ………60pts

Tries: Wilkinson 4, Davies 10, Carr 19, Hyde 22, 69; Wallis 45, Law 53, 57; Brown 62, Kerins 76

Conversions: Bellamy 11, 23; Lloyd-Seed 58, 63, 70

Cambridge …….33pts

Tries: Nearchou 28, Brownlie 36, White 38, Caven 64, Dawson 73

Conversions: Caven 29, 39, 65, 74

A FIRST-HALF try blitz from London Scottish looked to have sealed the points early doors as Cambridge disintegrated at the RAG.

The hosts racked up the try bonus point in 20 minutes before Cambridge came alive.

Scottish director of rugby Bryan Redpath said: “It was a really weird one – we scored a couple of scrappy ones in that period and went 24-0 up. Cambridge are a good attacking side and were expecting them to come back at us.

“We were really clinical in the second half. I’m delighted for the boys.”

The Exiles first try came from close range by Matt Wilkinson with Josh Bellamy adding the extras. Ioan Rhys Davies galloped in for the second, the Cambridge 22 opening up for him, but Bellamy’s conversion struck the upright.

Zach Carr struck the third from range which was converted. Hayden Hyde was the eventual recipient of the fourth as the visitors failed to score in the Scottish far corner, the ball made its way back to the middle of the 22 and was then hacked on for three Scots to outpace the Cambridge defence and Carr got the final touch.

While that 20 minutes or so was fairly representative of a wretched few weeks for Cambridge the comeback was also well within their collective capabilities.

Zac Nearchou finished off a solid attack with Eli Caven adding the extras. Ben Brownlie finished off a driving maul. Then Pete White made ground to take a pass from Joey Green, who’d run three quarters of the length of the pitch, to touch down.

After half-time, Scottish re-asserted themselves and struck twice in quick succession. Hooker Austin Morris came up from the maul holding the ball. Jonny Law ran almost the length of the field to score another – then repeated the feat four minutes later to put the game to bed.

Cambridge – and Caven – weren’t done. The winger burgled the ball in the Scottish 22 to score and converted his own try for the bonus point. Hyde struck again, Matt Dawson added a fifth and Stephen Keins completed the scoring.

Cambridge interim head coach Anthony Allen said: “We could have scored more but that’s the tale of our season. We do something good then clock off and lose concentration.

The boys are working hard but it’s not always paying off. We got back into the game then conceded way too many tries from distance in the second half.”