Cainscross 26 Wotton 14
With a tumultuous season coming to an end, Cainscross found themselves in the Bill Adams Cup final against a robust Wotton side, writes Richard Stonebridge.
Cainscross started brightly with strong carries from Deano and Jameson, inroads made to the Wotton territory but the final pass just fell astray. Wotton pushed Cainy back with some rangy kicks but these were ably fielded by the back three of Connor, Cal and Kaine – with the former showing a tenacity many of the travelling support would recognise.
The breakthrough actually came from a bounce pass with King deftly catching one-handed and showing his pace and difficult to stop running style as he burst through from the 10M line and brushed off the would-be tackler in the process of scoring. The conversion hit by Jack.
Cainy were buoyed by the score and patterns of play were slowly emerging, Carter and Mills rolling back the years to make some excellent breaks through the centre. But it was left to Kaine Dyer to step, wriggle and stretch his way to the line – his determination to score epitomised his approach to the season and any time he pulls on the Amber and Blue. Conversion hit.
With the wind against them in the second half, Cainy knew they would be facing an onslaught from the Wotton side. Clear instructions from coach Carter and captain Newman were heeded as they started brightly with a deft blindside break yielding yards and frustration from Wotton who had a player sin-binned. The kick to the corner placed further pressure on the Wotton line as wave after wave of runners hit up with Will offering himself numerous times to make the hard yards.
A raft of changes came with Voyce, Ewen and Nash entering the fray, this gave impetuous for the next score by Deano burrowing over from close range. Conversion missed.
This was the jolt that Wotton needed and they brought on their mammoth outside centre whose huge stride seemingly ate up the ground beneath him, his off-loading skills enabled him to release his support runners and Cainy facing a comeback.
They need something to lift them as they saw a player sin-binned. Rather than be stunted by this Cainy, as you’d expect, came out fighting and strong carries from Carter, Marshall and Mills took play deep into the Wotton half. Gibbs used his trademark miss pass to create space out wide only for Dyer to be hauled down just short. The resultant 5m scrum led to play being spread wide again with Mills deftly setting up a ruck, something he had not been involved in directly for some years, this provided the platform for the talismanic Newman to go over at close range.
Wotton hit back with another score but this was set to be Cainy’s day as they held out for the final whistle. Met with rapturous applause from the huge travelling support.
A huge thanks to everyone who has pulled on the Amber and Blue this year and a special mention to captain Mark Newman who has worked tirelessly to get as many games played as possible. It was particularly heartening to see so many youngsters playing in their first final for the club.