Jesus 17
Pembroke 5

Having had a couple of frustrating cancellations owing to waterlogged pitches, Pembroke and Jesus 1st XV Rugby teams finally met on Tuesday afternoon, this time in perfect rugby conditions. Both teams were fired up after the long anticipation and were keen to get their Cupper campaigns off to a good start: the winners would have a fairly open run in the draw. Although Jesus came out as favourites, being in second place in the 1st division, Pembroke have also had a strong season in the 2nd division, with prospects of promotion and they were fielding their Blue back-row player Nathan Johnson. The stage was set for a classic cuppers contest.

Straight from kick-off, Pembroke played some very positive rugby with breaks through the centres made by Jamie Shaw-Stewart, but although they made much ground, they couldn’t convert possession and territory into points. After this initial burst of Pembroke pressure, some good kicking for territory from the Jesus fly-half Mickey Barr allowed them to get back into the opposition half and start exerting pressure of their own. It was a very physical game with both sides receiving multiple injuries, resulting in play being a bit stop-start, which unfortunately slowed down the game.

After a missed penalty from Pembroke’s kicker Tom Richardson, Jesus finally converted territory into points with a dynamic run from their fly-half Mickey Barr who scored not far from Pembroke’s posts; the try was duly converted. This blow didn’t seem to take the wind out of Pembroke’s sails, as they came straight back after the restart with some good forward mauling and successive scrums in the attacking twenty-two. Having defended several of these solidly, Jesus were eventually penalised for handling in the ruck and Pembroke’s Blue (number eight) took the penalty quickly and drove over the line. A narrowly missed conversion put the score at 7-5 to Jesus going into the break.

Play resumed with an even division of possession with some fine kicking from both fly-halves. Pembroke continued to look strong in the ruck but as both teams began to tire, Jesus’ Blues flanker Richard Bartholomew started to turn over an important ball at the break down, giving Jesus the edge in possession terms, whilst also sabotaging Pembroke’s attacking play. This notwithstanding, Pembroke continued to look strong in defence and it took a charged down kick by Bartholomew for Jesus to increase their lead. A conversion from Kouj Tambara put Jesus more than a converted try ahead of Pembroke and thus allowed a little breathing space.

With a lot of time still left arising from various injuries, both sides knew the final result was far from set in stone, so the game continued to be hard-fought. Pembroke still looked threatening but they seemed unable to get past Jesus’ twenty-two and thus into a really dangerous scoring position. They eventually lost possession to some strong rucking from the Jesus pack. Pembroke’s realistic chances of getting back into the game were dulled with five minutes left when they conceded a penalty in a kickable position. Jesus’ kicker duly scored to put his team 17-5 ahead. Despite this, Pembroke’s heads didn’t go down and they exerted a final five minutes of pressure on the Jesus back line deep within their half, but it was ultimately too late as the whistle blew for a Jesus victory. Perhaps the score line didn’t reflect the close contention of the match but overall Jesus were the stronger side and deserved the win.

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