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After Ely and Newmarket both failed to raise sides to play the 2's and 3's Cantabs travelled to Bury with a combined 2s and 3s squad looking to build on previous weeks good performances.
Cantabs were out on the pitch early for the warm up to allow plenty of time for people to familiarise themselves with some fresh combinations.
With a strong wind and steep slope to play down Ash won the toss and Cantabs were briefed to make the most of the advantage they had this half and to go out and enjoy themselves. From the kick off it was obvious our boys were up to it, with Josh putting boot to ball with great effect to give us territory and good chasing all across the park putting pressure on Bury. With ball in hand our boys looked dangerous, Nat was back in the Cantabs shirt and hungry for contact, with his carries normally only ended under the combined weight of several Bury players. It wasn't long before Cantabs went over for their first try in the bottom corner (the conditions didn't help the conversion) but this allowed Cantabs to build.
The Cantabs scrum was also looking dominant, with the front row of Darren, Spud and Tozer combining well in the scrum and with ball in hand, indeed all of them played their part in first half scores, with quick taps, barrelling runs and Darren even passing to the free outside as he stormed towards a committed (and very scared) Bury fullback.
The Centres combined really effectively, with Wy making the hard yards and Laurie picking some excellent lines making sure that Cantabs were able to make use of the pace of their back three, all of whom had good games chasing relentlessly. Special mention goes to Ben Newman on the wing had a cracker off a game and showed real pace in his first game for Cantabs.
With a dominant platform in the scrums to work off, and the wind restricting looping line out throws the back row where able to cause all sorts of issues for Bury and cutting off their runners at source.
Bury got a brief respite during the half as some chest high tackling allowed Bury's outside flanker to race up field and dot down to get themselves on the board. None the less, the whistle blew for half time with Cantabs up 30(ish) - 5.
On the turnaround Bury had both the hill and the wind but Cantabs were into the full swing of their running rugby and weren't about to be stopped. Fresh running from Craig, Tom and Pedro and with Luke now bossing the forwards kept the blue and white machine trundling up the hill and over the white wash with the game only broken up by a significant bout of scrummaging as sloppy handling got the better of both sides.
Bury did manage to notch up another score with their forwards sneaking over under a pile of bodies but this was only a brief respite for them in a wave of navy attack.
Moment of the match came close to the final whistle when, with the kicking tee missing and a conversion on the far touchline to take, shouts of "just drop-kick it" where answered by Luke perfectly bisecting the posts.
Final score finished at 72 - 12 with the Cantabs boys smiling at a job well done, if both teams can carry that sort of form into next week's games against Saffron Walden and Thurston (and beyond) then there should be plenty to celebrate this season.