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Cambridge just focused on a game at a time, says full-back Joe Tarrant




Joe Tarrant on the way to a try for Cambridge against Plymouth Albion. Picture: Chris Fell (55789780)
Joe Tarrant on the way to a try for Cambridge against Plymouth Albion. Picture: Chris Fell (55789780)

Joe Tarrant reiterated Cambridge’s focus to take it game by game in the push for the top of the National League One table.

The full-back was in exhilarating form in the 48-24 win over Plymouth Albion last Saturday, scoring two tries and assisting in a further four as the hosts ran in eight in ideal weather for running rugby.

It took time for Cambridge to see off the threat of the struggling south west side, who only had 18 players, as they eventually pulled clear with three tries in the last 10 minutes.

“They’re coming out fighting to stay up in the league and it always poses a different sort of challenge,” said Tarrant.

“I think at times we played the same sort of rugby they were playing and got involved in the game they wanted to play. But I think we showed enough in key areas of the game to go and win.

“It’s not going to be good enough potentially in the weeks moving forward but we’re just happy with the win.”

Tarrant helped get the scoring started with a back-of-the-hand pass for Joey Green to touch down inside two minutes.

He then got two himself to give Cambridge a 19-12 lead at half time.

Tarrant set up Jake McCloud and Will Wand directly, then started the move for Kwaku Asiedu’s first try. Asiedu and Green got one more apiece to complete the win, with Lawrence Rayner and Scott Lloyd kicking the conversions.

“It all becomes a bit of a blur after the game,” said Tarrant about his performance. “Until you watch the game back, you don’t really remember what happens.

“I think it was one of those days at the office where everything seemed to go my way, although there were a few mistakes.

“I’ve had a few injuries this year which means I’ve been out for a few weeks but since Christmas I’ve been back involved and just trying to get a bit of consistency, focusing on getting the basics right and anything else that happens is a bonus.”

It was a big weekend of results as leaders Rosslyn Park lost 31-24 at Blackheath, which means that Caldy have gone top.

Cambridge remain in fourth, 10 points off the lead, but only five points behind second-placed Park, who they face away on April 16.

“Performance is important, of course it is, if you perform well you give yourselves a better chance of winning,” said Tarrant.

“But, having said that, we’re just taking it week by week at the moment and if we can scrape a win, it doesn’t really matter.

“We just want five points – four with the bonus.”

There are five games remaining for Cambridge and next up is a trip to Leeds Tykes, who beat them at home before Christmas.

“Of course we’re looking at the table,” said Tarrant.

“We know it’s down to other teams’ results as well so all we can do is focus on ourselves and just do what we can every week.”

He added: “We owe Leeds a bit, but they will be a difficult challenge.

“I think they’ve picked up a good few results in the last five or six weeks so they’ll definitely be a team we’ve got to focus on.

“They are scrapping away so we can’t take anything for granted.”



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