Clifton miss out in last 20

On their ever visit to Cambridge Clifton started brightly competing well in the opening exchanges but in the end could not compete with the power of the heavyweight home pack in the forward exchanges.

The visitors were also no helped by a raft of injuries around the hour mark when Darren in the space of 25 minutes was forced into making 4 changes when players could not continue. These changes made it difficult for Clifton to retain their shape and patterns in their plat. .

He will be hoping some of the injuries are of a short term nature and the players will be available on Saturday for the clash with Launceston..

Both sides showed a refreshing willingness to run the ball and it was Clifton who were first on the board.

They achieved a turnover in their own half and wing Sam Smith raced in from distance after 6 minutes with fly half Charles Foley adding the extras.

Foley added a 40 metre penalty after a quarter of an hour and was narrowly off target with a similar effort minutes later.

Lock Ben Purcell, flanker James Stephenson and hooker Paul Fincken were working hard for Clifton in the loose but No8 Steve Hipwell returning to action having recovering from a dislocated shoulder was outstanding for the home side.

Another Cambridge player to stand out was fly half Jack Green who directed proceedings with great tactical awareness behind his dominant pack..

Cambridge opened their account after half an hour when full back Jim Wigglesworth crossed under the posts He added the conversion and also converted a second try scored by winger Mike Gillick 3 minutes later.

Foley left the field with a cut head just before the break to be temporarily replaced by Brad Barnes who was off target with a penalty attempt.

Foley returned after the break but failed to hit the target with 2 further penalty attempts before retiring permanently 5 minutes in to the second halt.

Clifton were playing some good rugby and reward came when Barnes brought them within a point of Cambridge with a penalty.

The raft of injuries then started and with the resultant disruption in Clifton’s play Cambridge became more dominant..

Winger Pat Tapley who is duel registered with Bedford crossed after an hour when Wigglesworth set up the chance with a jinking run.

The conversion attempt was wide but Wigglesworth was successful with a penalty.

Tapley then became the provider for lock Rob Conquest who battered his way over for the bonus point try .

The final score came in the final minute when Hipwell went over.

This result saw Clifton drop out of the top spot in the table.

The outcome of this game was disappointing with our resources being stretched.

Unfortunately we did create opportunities which we were unable to turn into points.