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I Write this piece high on emotion, and full of Rammer Pride. I have just witnessed one of the Best Camden Performance’s in recent times from its premiere Grade.

Visiting the undefeated Shamrocks on their own turf is no easy feat, given the calibre of players that were out for Camden, it made the Mountainous task even more difficult to climb.

With regular 1^ST grade stars Gavin Holder, Mark Nightingale & Johnny MauMau all unavailable for various reasons, Camden visited short on fire power, but not in belief and determination.

Camden 1^st XV

With the smell of crisp new jerseys, and a healthy number of travelling fans on hand the Rammers 1^st XV were simply brilliant.

Led well by what can be described as a true Captains Knock by Lee “Axe” Russell, the team was efficient, dominant and courageous in the eye of a green storm.

The Camden Pack was led upfront by Dane Russell and David Gleeson, who are now known as the old war heads of a young budding pack. Andrew Black played to a stand still, but that is no surprise, as you know what to expect of such a player every time he takes to the field for Camden.

The starting Debutant Jarryd Kelly, simply looked brilliant, showing some scintillating pace and great positional awareness eliminating Shamrocks outside back’s, as he Tyler Aitken and Andrew Brown worked together to snuff out half opportunities when they presented themselves.

The game was a see saw event that saw Camden take the lead at half time through 4 penalty kicks, by their Maverick Fly half Rhys Millar to lead 12-10.

The second half came to life when Tyler Aitken put a grubber in behind the defence, regathered and drew the Full back to put Andrew Brown in to space and over the line. The score converted again by Millar. Shamrocks however hit back with a try of their own to make the scores 19-15 with just under 15 mins remaining. A penalty to Camden, converted once again by Maverick Millar saw Camden skip out to a 7 point lead with a little over 5 minutes remaining.

Camden defended stoutly for the 5 mins as Shamrocks threw all including the kitchen sink at an impenetrable Force that was the Camden Rams. As the game sunk into extra time, a blatant knock on was missed, and an undeserved ensuing penalty was awarded. With no time left Shamrocks took a tap and spread the ball out wide. The Rams had their backs to the wall, as they now were truly under the pump. Led well in defence by Their Captain the attitude was there, belief and determination not to give in.

Best summed up by Jim Berry who out on his haunches made a last ditching tackle to stop an overlap from being created. Shamrocks however kept the ball, and as light faded, and the brunt of 80+minutes of body War took its toll, the crack finally appeared and Shamrocks crashed over in the corner.

 The successful kick and FT result being a 22 all draw and the reaction from the players left myself and others in no doubt these 2 teams will once again figure prominently at the end of the year, jostling for finals positions.

Great Captains knock by the Axe, hard luck to Maverick Millar who seems set for a stint on the sidelines after injuring his shoulder in the final play of the game. Special mentions to all the Premier XV standout performance as a unit.

2^nd XV

The second XV have been the form team of the Club, with some great Football being brandied around by the team. Led By 300 gamer Matt Searle and young Captain Brady Millar the team looked set to register 5 wins on the trot and announce to the Illawarra their intentions to take this competition by the neck and leave the rest in their wake.

However reality hit home. The Structure which Camden XV pride themselves on went astray in the first half, but it was clear to see that Shamrocks struggled to find any holes in a tough Defence. With almost 90% (self imposed statistics) of the ball in the first half Shamrocks managed only 1 try and 2 Penalties.

Its a testament to Camden that with an even share of possession in the second half they kept Shamrocks scoreless and scored a try themselves. With only handling errors letting them down from stealing an unlikely victory, final score 5-13.

Strong Performers were Brady Millar, Matt Searle and Shane Martin.

3^rd XV

Coming into the Game, Camden were 1 and 3, and struggling for form. After hearing during the week that Captain John Nettle was out with a burst appendix it was left to a few other old heads and the energy of the up and coming Rammers to try and pull out a victory in what is a graveyard for many under strength teams that visit Shamrocks.

However from kickoff, to the FT whistle it was evident the season so early on was hanging in the balance for Camden. It was a measuring stick, a litmus test to see whether we could mix it with another strong force in the competition, a resounding Victory of 22-7 was anything but comfortable, but the experience in playing one of the hardest road games in the competition for the young Rammers will be an invaluable learning curb.

MOTM was Owen Everett, who has pretty much made himself a home at the side of the scrum and is fast turning into becoming another handy Camden Footballer.

New boy Danny Halse was a strong contributor as well as Andy Prisoner of Her majesty, who made a welcome return from injury lay offs in 3^rd grade.

Camden travel to Vikings with great confidence, and are hoping to see more of you rammers down at Viking Park for another instalment of cracking Rugby.

Camden are slowly turning the corner, and with great expectations comes great responsibilities. Its up to the players to stand tall, and whether the eye of the storm to ensure we see a brighter future.

Yours sincerely

MDR.

Camden Advertiser

Camden Rugby Club's first grade team finally clicked into gear to produce a try fest against Bowral, winning 84-0 at their home ground at Wire Lane, on Saturday.

The Rams could have been closer to the 100-point mark if goal kicker Rhys Millar was more accurate with the boot, but to be fair, most of his missed conversions were from the sideline.

Millar was Camden's top try scorer during the 14 tries to nil rout in their Illawarra District Rugby Union game, running in four tries and booting seven conversions, to achieve a personal tally of 34 points.

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Camden COMES Home for its First Game of the Season

If Saturdays commitment shown by fans and supporters, was anything to go by it tells you one thing! Camden Rugby Club is a team of the People.

Camden hosted its inaugural Family Day, on its first home game of the Season. It was a fantastic start to the day, with the Sunshine embracing the locals who had turned up to cheer the Camden Rams.

Camden Rams hosted the Tech Tahs, and the day provided scenes of the Good, the Bad and the Very Very  Ugly as the unpredictable weather played its part once again.

Wire Lane no.1 was out of action, given the new patch of grass laid in the off season, and the amount of Rain we received over the week coupled with 3 home games on the trot coming up, it was the sensible decision to play our first home game on the newly Level laser no.2.

The First game seen the 3^rd grade team take on a very well drilled Tech Tahs team. Given the occasion and the previous few days weather, the encounter was always going to be a close affair.

It was a bruising forward dominating game, which saw defence King as both teams tried to pry open opposition defence. Tech Tahs took the lead into the break with a converted Penalty at 3-0.

After a few choice words from Coach Greg Wine and Captain John Nettle, Camden lifted a few gears and camped on Tech Tahs line for the ensuing 20 minutes, with a sole try to Uoka Ah Lam the only reward for some enterprising football and credit must be given to the Tech Tahs who saw little quality ball, and dug their heels in and defended resolutely.

The try looked enough to get the Camden boys home, but Tech Thas stole the game at the Death, and took a well deserved dogged win as well as Camden swallowing a bitter pill of disappointment. A Much improved showing, and the team will only build going forward.

Camden Second grade has started the season as a very well drilled and in form team playing high on confidence, and bringing their training ethics and applying it into their games.

With 2 very dominant and eye catching performances, Camden 2^nd XV have put themselves in a very good position early on in the piece. Stand out performers include the usual suspects in Gleeso, Mark Morrison and Eamon. Who all are pushing for top grade honours.

Tech Tahs were never really in the game, as Camden scored 3 Quick fire tries in the opening 20 mins and scored a 4^th early on in the second to all but seal a comfortable Victory. Very strong performances from the backs under the guidance of Venu Ah Sam, and the ODD Couple Ethan and Jake Sadlier had very Strong games in the Centres.

The Big Show, had rolled into town! The First XV were ready to rumble, against one of the competition heavy weights. Casting back a memory of one of the most memorable games in the history of the club. Last year saw Tech Tahs as the only undefeated team in the Competition sitting on Maximum Points and having gone through the first round undefeated.

On that Glorious day, Camden knocked off the Tech Tahs and in doing so ended the Tech Tahs record of being unbeaten in 2011.

The game started in a eerily similar fashion. A Penalty kick to the Tech Tahs followed by an Early try to the Rams through Tyler who was menacing from Full Back.

However, Tech Tahs did not read the script and hit back with 2 quick fire tries. It was a gloomy game as the weather proved to make things even more difficult. As the weather deteriorated so did the chances of Rams catching the Tech Tahs as the game became a war of attrition and Camden’s strength in its attacking outside backs was limited.

Camden stayed close, but as the game fizzled out due to the weather so did the reach of the game.

A Very committed performance from out 1^st XV. The beauty of round play is, we get to again next week, and have a chance to write the wrongs and improve on our efforts.

A Special thank you must be acknowledged to all the brave souls who stood on a windy,wet, muddy hill cheering on the Boys! It would have been easy to pack it all in and leave, but as true rammers you stood by to the final whistle! You guys are our 16^th man out there, and as long as the support stays strong, i have no doubt the results will turn for the better for all teams and your faith in us restored.

Your sincerely,

MDR

Camden's Golden Oldies Gala Day featured in Today's Article within the Macarthur Chronicle. 

Check it out at: http://macarthur-chronicle-camden.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/rugby-un...