Rob Conquest eager to build Cambridge fortress at Volac Park

Win over Plymouth Albion could be a taste of things to come

Rob Conquest believes Cambridge’s 16-14 victory over Plymouth Albion can help propel them into the top six.

They were the dominant force at Volac Park, and a try from Conquest, five points from Ben Penfold and two second-half penalties from Jack Green gave them a deserved win over one of the division’s leading sides.

“It was a great win, especially against Plymouth who are top four in the table,” said Conquest.

“We’ve spoken about making this place a fortress in the second half of the season and I think that’s going to send a massive message out to the league.”

It was the forwards that provided the foundation for the win, with their work at the set piece – in both defence and attack – catching the attention in the difficult conditions.

They hardly put a foot wrong at the line-out, and defended their 22 as if their lives depended on it.

“We pride ourselves on our forward work, especially our rolling maul and our scrum,” said Conquest.

“With the pitch how it is now, it shows how hard we had to grit and get that go forward, and as a biased forward I would say that has won us the game.

“It’s hard in this wind, but with the players we’ve got, like Jake (McCloud), George (Bretag-Norris) and Josh Peters coming off the bench, who are all very good jumpers, it’s trusting to throw to anyone. We put a lot of effort in training wise with our line-out, and it shows massively.

“We had a hard game down at Plymouth, they don’t stay over and left at 5am in the morning so they could have that as an excuse, but I think we were too strong on the day and believed in ourselves, and that’s all that matters.”

He added: “We’re capable of matching that top four. Throughout the season, Ross [Stewart, the director of rugby] has put us as a top six side and hopefully this win can lead us on to better things.”

Cambridge have a trip to Rosslyn Park this Saturday (February 3).

In London & SE Premier, Shelford suffered a 29-0 defeat at Westcliff.

And in London League 2NE, Cantabrigian lost 26-19 at Woodford.

It was nip and tuck all game, but two tries from Matt Houlden and one from James Hayward were not enough as Woodford scored the winning try four minutes from time.