A tough day against a superb Camberley outfit

Darts made another long journey this time to Camberley hampered by yet more M25 chaos. It has been a tough start in London 1 for Darts with unavailabilities and injuries all coming at the same time and they knew that against a top set of backs things were going to be difficult with 5 changes in the backs both positional and players.Earlier pressure saw Darts on the attack but a dropped pass was picked up by the home side who proceeded to sprint up field and when the last ditch tackle was made the referee deemed it high and the penalty was duly slotted for a slender early lead. What followed set the tone for the rest of the match as the home side moved the ball wide, their 13 breaking tackles to set up a flowing attack out wide for a converted try. What followed was a period of pressure but with the home side giving away a series of penalties consecutive lineouts on the home sides 5m line went astray. From that moment Darts found themselves on the back foot. The home side were very effective with theirs backs being strong ball carriers, who were direct and had pace. What followed was a procession of regular tries, with one crash ball down the 10 channel, all scored our wide as their 13 ran riot.In amongst the mayhem Darts did manage to convert a nice driving maul, which saw Kenny Lee go over for an unconverted try. It was a case of every time Darts made a mistake the home side pounced. This despite the home side clearly on the wrong side of the referee as their penalty count mounted, eventually a yellow card was produced just before half time.

Half time 38 v 5

The second half followed a similar pattern, Darts showed more adventure and had a number of line breaks but the home scrambling defence always managed to spot that final pass. Darts did manage to turn one period of pressure into an unconverted try for Joe Scott. But either side of this the home side converted a number of opportunities as the Darts try line was breached on a regular basis. Lewis Potter was man of the match for Darts continuing his improvement having come into the team and there was no doubt who Camberley's MOM was in the form of their centre who scored six tries

Full time 76 v 10

A very hard day at the office, and one this squad has not experienced for a while. Yes mistakes happen but we still created a number of opportunities, and we are not slow learners. We are playing at a higher level and bad days are punished. The team is aware what is required and know it is not just the skill levels that are being tested but their mental toughness. It is clear that we can compete forward wise and that we have a lot of talent coming through which was shown with the debut of 19 yr old Kieran Clarke at flanker but with so many of last years team missing it is tough on the undoubtedly talented players coming up en block especially against an ambitious club with money to spend with as good a set of backs as we will come across. The team as usual never gave up and fought to the end and showed great team spirit with all of them putting their bodies on the line.

Apart from the result a good day at a really nice club who look like they are going places