The Penguins first game of 2020 was their traditional visit to Grange Road for the annual encounter with the students of Cambridge University, who were in buoyant mood after their Varsity Match victory at Twickenham in December 2019, and also looking to reverse last January’s defeat to the Penguins.

After plenty of heavy rain earlier in the week, come the night, the conditions were fortunately fine and dry allowing both teams to play positive attacking rugby. As the game went on, the pitch started to cut up making handling towards the back end of the second half a little more difficult. With Coach Steve Hill reinforcing the Penguin ‘Mantra’ of playing with ball in hand and giving it a go if it is on, regardless of where you are on the field, this 2020 Penguins squad took a while to hit their straps as the students came out of the blocks firing and dominated possession and territory for the first quarter. However, thanks to resilient defence the home side could only manage to cross for one try from centre Rory Triniman which went unconverted. 

Once the Penguins did get a foothold, their handling was sure and effective which led to a first half hat-trick of tries from right wing Morgan Dayes, who finished each effort with aplomb. Unfortunately for full-back Brad Burr who had the kicking duties, they were all scored in the corner and despite his best efforts he was unable to add the extras on each occasion. Cambridge were able to add two more tries of their own from full-back Joey Gatus, who impressed with his power and speed, highlighting why he has been picked up by the Harlequins, which centre Mike Phillips was able to convert both for the students to lead by 19 points to 15 at the interval.

Double try scoring hero from the Varsity Match, wing Fergus Jemphrey added to his tally with a well taken try in the corner after just 5 minutes of the second half, but unfortunately after the six tries and plenty of attacking rugby in the first half, the second ended up being something of a ‘scrum-fest’ with most having to be reset by the referee as the front rows struggled to get a solid footing on the soft ground. The Penguins pushed hard to get a score to narrow the home side’s advantage and set up a ‘grandstand’ finish, but the student’s demonstrated committed and determined defence to repel each attacking sortie and keep the visitors out. With the final play, Man of the Match Gatus completed his hat-trick with a perfectly executed chip and chase to score near the post for Stephen Leonard to convert in his final game as the Cambridge Blues Captain. This resulted in the final score having a slightly flattering appearance of 31 points to 15 in favour of Cambridge University.

The Penguins will now look ahead to their second ‘Varsity’ encounter when they travel to Oxford on Wednesday 19^th February, kick-off at 7.15pm at Iffley Road.

Scorers:

Cambridge University 31

Joey Gatus (3T), Rory Triniman (1T), Fergus Jemphrey (1T), Mike Phillips (2C), Stephen Leonard (1C)

Penguins 15

Morgan Dayes (3T)

Penguins Starting XV:

1 Vaughan Bentley (Bury St Edmunds) 2 Sam McNulty (Coventry) 3 Tom McCrone (Bishops Stortford) 4 Simon Everton (Rams) 5 Harry Charter (Coventry) 6 Charlie Friend (Cambridge University) 7 Dave O’Brien * (Kew Occasionals) Captain 8 Jack Sharp (Bishops Stortford) 9 Will Flynn (Coventry) 10 Austin Pope (Bishops Stortford) 11 Conan Osborne (Jamaica 7’s) 12 Ollie Clough * (Richmond) 13 James Herbert (GPS Rugby, Brisbane) 14 Morgan Dayes (Coventry) 15 Brad Burr (Bishops Stortford)

Replacements:

16 John Aaron Henry * (Oxford University) 17 Naj Mundicha (Bishops Stortford) 18 Iham Kassam (Cambridge University) 19 Finn Creighton (Coventry) 20 Paul Wells (Coventry) 21 Mike Stanway (Bury St Edmunds) 22 Max Machin (Bury St Edmunds) 23 Will Simmonds (Bishops Stortford) 24 Riccardo Notarangelo (COQ Mosan Belgium)

# Denotes International * Denotes Oxbridge Blue

Penguins Management:

Head Coach – Steve Hill (Richmond)

Team Manager – Tim Stevens (Oxford University)

Match Officials:

Referee – George Jones (RFU)

Assistant Referees – Gareth Langley & James Matcham (CUDRSS)