Head coach Craig Newby felt that his Cambridge side passed up a good opportunity to end their long winless run during Saturday’s 33-22 defeat at Sheffield.

Cambridge made the trip to Yorkshire looking to record what would have been a first victory since they got the better of Ampthill in December 2024.

But while they were much more competitive than during recent losses to the likes of Plymouth Albion and Camborne, a string of errors and missed opportunities meant that they once again came up short.

Newby told the club’s social media channels: “We played really well in the first half. We controlled possession and made some really brave decisions around how we wanted to play.

“We did some really good stuff, which is nice. At half-time, we went into the sheds with that positivity.

“But I’ve been around a long time, and I knew in the back of my mind that we bombed three or four tries. They were significant at the end of the day.

“It’s one of those games where we’ve left so many points out there that we (only) have ourselves to blame. We didn’t get beaten – we lost it.

“We practice a lot, we put them under pressure in training, and we put scenarios in to replicate games. We review and preview pictures and shapes, and we talk about things, so there is plenty of effort and work going into it.

“And that’s from the players, it’s not just from the coaches. The players are putting the work in.

“Unforced errors are a coach killer, and a game killer. Sometimes if teams defend well then so be it, but there were times when it was unforced and other frustrating mistakes.”

Jake McCay, Benji Ritson and Harry Tunningley all dotted down tries for Cambridge, who will take a break from action this weekend before returning to the home comforts of Ellgia Fields on 31 October against London Scottish.

Newby added: “The coaches will review now what we’re doing well, and what we need to improve on. The biggest thing is how are we going to get those improvements? Or how are we going to continue to drive growth? We’ll work pretty hard next week off the field around things.

“The players will get their bodies right because they’ve been banged up. We lost a couple more (to injuries against Sheffield). This week (with no fixture) has come at a good time.”

Cambridge will go into the Scottish match at the end of the month sitting bottom of the table with a seven-point deficit to Dings Crusaders above them.