That last home game of the calendar year and it felt like deja vu, to 2019, when the CABs were on the back of a series of losses and genuinely facing a serious mountain to climb if the result didn't go our way. This time, the situation wasn't so precarious and in fact the coaching team did put it into a little perspective, at the start of the week.
Twelve months ago, there was no rugby (apart from the very successful Pitch up & Play) and two years before that we were rooted to the foot of the table on 13 points. Going into Saturday, we had 22 points and were 9th in the table. One thing, we also wanted to players to take on board was to keep playing the CABs, or Launceston way (whichever moniker you were brought up with). This was in essence a fast, relentless, non-stop tackling defence that didn't give their opponents opportunity to think let alone breathe or play rugby & in attack, it was fast, pacy, powerful and again felt like a tidal wave of black superhumans that punished at every opportunity.
This was exactly how the first 30 minutes panned out. 18-0 up with wonderful ball retention, brilliant tactical kicking and a defence that gave Drybrook the impression that there were 20 players on the field and not 15! Tries from Rupert Freestone (of back of a driving maul), quick tap & go from Ryan Westren 5 metres out and the pick of the bunch was from a perfectly executed counter-ruck, followed by quick hands and great spatial awareness to give Dan Pearce a 1 v 1 opportunity, which he was never going to turn down. The only areas of frustration, at this point, was the lost points from the kicking tee and the unusually dysfunctional line-out -the latter proving to be a thorn in the CABs performance all game and hindered any chance of putting the game out of sight and also the extra try, for the bonus. Drybrook managed to wriggle through a hole in the defence to set up a terrific second half, with a late score before half-time. Drybrook started the second half bringing on their highly experienced and influential playmakers at 8 & 10 and things were starting to tick for them and a score after sustained pressure with 25mins to go, left the game at 18-12. The next period was crucial with the CABs defending their lead and very much having a 'thou shalt not pass/over my dead body will I let my team-mates down' for the next 15 minutes. Great defence with Drybrook being repelled time & time again; the CABs players growing with self-belief at every tackle till eventually Drybrook ran out of ideas and puff and the CABs were able to make their way up the field and earn a penalty with last play of the game. Instead of opting for touch and hearing the final whistle, the decision was to go for posts and deny Drybrook a losing point. The kick drifted wide and for the next 3 minutes Drybrook tried to work their way out of their 22 and create the one opportunity they needed. A knock-on by the Drybrook backs left the CABs celebrating at the final whistle and a very exhausted crowd cheering the team in!
