Cambridge 'not good enough' in winless season
Otumaka Mausia (right, with Eparama Rokodrava) was one of Cambridge's five try-scorers in their final Champ Rugby game
- Published
Cambridge head coach Craig Newby said his side "just haven't been good enough" after going through the entire Champ Rugby season without a single win.
The Blood and Sand lost 75-33 at Ampthill in their final game, conceding 11 tries in the process, and will play in the third tier of English rugby again next term, having been promoted in 2023.
They have struggled to make the step up since then and their total of 13 points from 26 games left them 22 adrift of next-to-bottom London Scottish and they ended the campaign with a points difference of -743.
"I find it quite hard to let go. My mind's always working and ticking over and I'll struggle in this off-season because the responsibility falls with me at the end of the day, and at times it's a pretty lonely place," Newby told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.
"I've got a couple of days to mope and cry and sulk about it and then I'll park it and plan for next year."
Newby was reappointed in February 2025 following spells in Japan, Ulster and Ealing Trailfinders, having previously been in charge from 2013 to 2015.
Cambridge won three games in 2024-25 but also finished bottom of the table and found it even tougher this season, which began with a 45-24 home loss to Ampthill.
Craig Newby played for Newcastle and Leicester and won a Sevens gold medal for New Zealand at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
The only game in which they avoided defeat was a 12-12 draw at Doncaster in January and their relegation was confirmed by a 31-7 loss to Ealing on 15 April.
"I've never been through a campaign like this when we've not had a win - [but] I still feel the love from the supporters, the board and the players. The club have been through some tough times before and hopefully we can bounce back," said Newby.
"Next year in National One is going to be a difficult challenge. There are some good teams in there that have goals as lofty as ours but hopefully we can consolidate. "
On their final Champ game, he added: "We knew it was going to be a festival game, a beautiful day, both teams with nothing on the line in terms of the league.
"At one point, when it was 40-odd to 20-odd, I thought 'OK, can we get the next one?' But we didn't and then they had a purple patch.
"It's disappointing to finish that way but being relegated a few weeks ago, the last three games have been hard to motivate the group in terms of execution and individual performance.
"As a collective, we've stuck together and fought for each other [but] we just haven't been good enough from number one through to 23."
