Under 11s
Newark 14 Kesteven 38
It was a dry but windy morning in Newark and we knew we had a tough game on our hands based on previous encounters
Well the first 3rd of the game K’s played out of their skins and spent most of their time in the Newark half, our pack dominated and after much pressure Adam Sharp forced his way over for K’s first try which Jake Lund converted, giving K’s a 7 – 0 lead
K’s showed some good passing movements with Philip Fletcher threatening the Newark defence on a number of occasions , after further pressure by K’s Edward Bloodworth forced over for K’s 2nd try which Jake Lund converted to give K’s a 14 – 0 lead
Just before the end of the first third Newark had a penalty, which was taken quickly and caught K’s off their guard, Newark forced over for their first try which was converted making the score 14 – 7 to K’s
At the start of the 2nd third Newark scored within in a minute of the re start which was converted making the score 14 – 14, these two lapses of concentration brought K’s back to life and from then on K’s dominated the game and from a good passing movement Philip Fletcher scored K’s 3rd try which Jake Lund converted, giving K’s the lead once more 21- 14, with continued pressure Phil Fletcher weaved through the Newark defence to go over for K’s 4th try which Jake Lund converted to establish a 28 -14 lead
In the final 3rd some intelligent kicking by K’s kept Newark under pressure and from a good run Cameron Frankcom forced over for a further try which was not converted giving them a 33 -14 lead, to round the match off Phil Fletcher scored the final try to bag a hat-trick on the day, the try was unconverted, the final score was 38 – 14 to K’s
This was undoubtedly the best performance of the season so far and puts them in good shape for the NLD final against Paviors and Derby early next month, well done boys you should be proud of this performance
Squad that travelled to Newark:
Joshua Adams, Josh Allen, Hugo Barker, Ed Bloodworth, Andy Cartwright, Edward Cole, Sam Danford, Ben Ellis, Dan Fay, Philip Fletcher, Cameron Frankcom, Alex Harrod, Jake Lund, Alfie Moore, Callum Pearl, Thomas Rigby, Joseph Ryder, Adam Sharp, Daniel Singer and Connor Stewart
Coaches: Mark Whittington and Andrew Singer
Under 9 Report
Kesteven went to Newark on Sunday and produced some of the best Rugby all season.
Kesteven 15 Newark 5
The Under 9s started well and gave a big Newark little room to move and create anything.
Rucking well and supporting the breakdown Ks started to look like a competent team.
All season they have had players able to break the line but often play as individuals.
This was a good team performance throughout. Kesteven scored first in the corner then produced
a great try with Smith breaking through, passing to Law at the tackle, who in turn passed to Rogerson
to score in the corner. Newark were able to get a try back before half-time.
The second half showed both sides cancelling one another out with Law breaking through close to the end to seal
the game.
Kesteven 10 Newark 15
Newark started the better in the second game and their heavyweight players started to cause trouble in
the Kesteven back line. At half-time they were 10-0 up and crusing. An early second half try brought Ks right
back into the game, but sloppy defending allowed Newark to immediately counter. A try in the corner by
Rogerson produced a late consolation for Kesteven.
Kesteven 10 Newark 10
The final game was hard fought and with tiredness beginning to show both sides made mistakes.
Newark pushed on and were 10-5 up at the break. Kesteven produced a fine second half and were
rewarded with a Lawrie-Marshall try in the corner towards the end of teh game. Although they nearly
produced a winning try clsoe to the end Kesteven were held short of the line.
One Win, One Loss , One Draw - Honours even
Tries Law (3), Rogerson (3), Lawrie-Marshall
Squad
William Taylor(C), Marc Clydesdale, William Edwards, William Kappen, Matthew Law, Jack Lawrie-Marshall, Thomas Milner, Egan Pashley,
Jack Rogerson, Eliot Smith, Toby Whinney.
Under 8s
Kesteven were unfortunate to come away from Newark with 1 win and 4 losses. Although they didn’t quite reach the heights of the last two weeks, they fought hard and each game was closely matched.
Results:
Newark 30 - K’s 25
Newark 50 - K’s 35
Newark 50 - K’s 45
Newark 5 - K’s 35
Newark 35 - K’s 30
Ed’s Note
The agregate score was actually 170 points each!
Kesteven 1st XV travelled to Boston on Saturday for their re-arranged Lincolnshire Cup fixture. Despite being well beaten at Boston earlier in the season K’s were confident of an upset: Martyn Parker, Dom Brister and Phil Jordan formed what looked like a strong midfield partnership and Tyrone Miles made his 1st team debut at Number 8 with skipper Dougie Hayward busy looking after new arrival Maxwell. Congratulations to both Dougie and Nicola.
K’s started the match in excellent fashion using the strong wind to their advantage, a long kick by Brister chased by Phil Jordan and Ian Charles resulted in the Boston winger being tackled behind his own line and a 5m scrum to K’s. From the scrum Parker cut through the Boston defence and scored under the posts.
Boston responded by playing a fast running game and only some excellent tackling back by Rupert Jordan and Rob Cooper prevented Boston from scoring. Towards the end of the half there was a long stoppage for an injury to Cooper.
When the game commenced another long kick by Parker bounced awkwardly and the chasing Charles gathered the ball and fed inside to replacement Ian MacAllister, who scored with his first touch of the game. At half time K’s led 10 - 0.
Credit to Boston they came out all guns blazing in the 2nd half and first put over a penalty and the scored a try to reduce the deficit to 2 points. A little bit of indiscipline saw Brister and Clarke sin binned, during this time Boston scored the decisive try to take the score to 13 - 10 in their favour.
K’s did have a couple of chances to win the match but Boston defended well and the score remained at 13 - 10. Despite the defeat it was a much improved performance from K’s and they will be confident when Boston visit Woodnook next weekend for a league match on Ex Players Reunion Day.
On a sad note injury problems continued for K’s with Ian Charles leaving the field late in the game with a badly broken leg. We wish Charlie a speedy recovery.
Team was R Cooper; I Charles, P Jordan, D Brister, R Jordan; M Parker, D Turner; T Smith, P Dolan, P Shields, T Harron, A Clarke, A Peabody, R Dolan, T Miles Rep I McAllister
2nd XV penant match
Kesteven 2nd 37 Lincoln 3rd 12
Kesteven were looking to extend their good run at home. Conditions were good with a strong wind blowing down the field.
K’s kicked off into the wind and immediately took the initiative Andy Brown snapped up the ball and took play into the Lincoln 22. The visitors were penalised for killing the ball and Andy Price kicked the goal.
The K’s pack were very strong and provided goo dball for the young backs, but Lincoln too contributed to a good game and came close to scoring. The Kestteven defence held and it was the home side who added to their score. Richie Bowles broke from a maul and good inter passing sent young Mark Sayle over for a try between the posts. Andy Price added the conversion to give K’s a 10 - 0 lead at half time.
Turning round with the wind at their backs, Kesteven raised their game. Dingley and Oakes kept the ball going forward with some good kicks. The first try of the half came when Lincoln won lineout ball in their own 22. hey failed to clear and Chris Lock, on as a half time sub for Bowles, pounced on the loose ball to score.
This setteld the side and they began to vary their game well. Pearsey was strong on the ball, and Dingley gave a super performance at standoff. He created the next try when he turned bad ball into a try with an astute kick to the corner for Will Price to gather and score. Dingley was next on the score sheet when he excahnged passes with Oakes to go over, then Jamie Flear who gave a fine performance in the centre used Will Price as a decoy to take the cover defence away making space for a try and finally Andy Brown rolled over from a maul for his try. Dingley added the conversion to take the score to 37 - 0.
In the last 10 minutes Kesteven lost a little bit of concentration and allowed Lincoln in for two well earned consolation tries. The 2nd was converted with the last kick of the match maikng the final score 37 - 12.
The form of the 2nds continues to delight. The mix of youth and experience is working very well with Andy Pearsey leading the pack well. Mark Sayle is a very good forward, whether it is in the line out or in the loose, while the two Jordans , Smith and Hughes are like terriers foraging for the ball.
In the backs Oakes was the strength at scrum half while Dingley gave an assured performance at stand off. Tony Burton was a powerful presence in the centre with Jamie Flear while the pace of Will Price on the wing was always a threat.
Team was A Price; W Price, J Flear, T Burton, D Blackley; C Dingley, S Oakes; A Brown, A Dowling, G Purvis, R Bowles, M Sayle, J Hughes, J Smith, A Pearsey Sub C Lock.
Friendly
Kesteven 3rds 39 Spalding 3rds 19
Haven’t got a full report on this but it looked a fun game. The cast looked like a who’s who of Kesteven with the family Sheardown leading the way. Andrew led the side; Robert and latterly sub Martin played their part. Tony Wade, Matt Clarke Graham Smith and Mike Money were there and there was support from the colts in Will Holey, Chris Jones, Rob Camm, Chris Braybrook and Chris Cluse. There were debuts from Kevin Robertson, a new recruit from Cranwell, Andrw Singer, coach of the under 11s (he marked his debut with the opening try), and a special first game for Martin McGrath one of our complete newcomers, while Nick Hardy-Gillings who has joined us from Oakham is settling in well to his new club. Stu Bowles played his first game for some time and celebrated his 21st birthday in the best way possible, and Jason Hall made a brief appearance. It’s great to see the spirit in this side and ref Mark Sayle more than added to that spirit with the after match activities in the clubhouse.
A good, hard game that highlighted weaknesses on both sides. The Devils remained invincible in their rucking with some great moves coming from off the rucks, whilst the Amazons produced mauls which were brought about each time by their No. 12. Many of the Deeping Devils were playing out of position due to injuries and the match saw a great debut performance from Lorna Thornley.
The Devils went into the game with a positive attitude following the win at Harlow last week. It began with a good kick into the Woodbridge half followed immediately by the continuous pressure from the Devils that was to show throughout the game.
The first converted try came from a break in the Deeping defence within the first few minutes of the game by the Woodbridge No. 12.
Strong lineouts from the Devils made some marvellous ground. A lineout in the Deeping half brought an advantage which gave us huge forward progress. The Woodbridge ball was won by Monique Nolan who passed to the scrum half Judith Jagger who kicked into the Woodbridge 22 which then deflected off the Woodbridge No 14 to win Deeping another line out.
Fantastic runs and outstanding tackles were continuously being made by the Devils which led to injuries on both sides.
At half time the score was 7 – 0 to Woodbridge.
A convincing positive start to the 2nd half, keeping on the enormous pressure produced some fine tackles by Jess Logan, Sadie Sharman and Emma Farrow. The Devils pushed slowly but progressively forward. However, the experienced Woodbridge No. 12, previously a Welsh International, would break through and score.
After the game the Woodbridge Captain said that the game was the hardest they had played and that the score certainly didn’t reflect the quality of play from the Devils
Despite the lack of tries, the Deeping Devils had a fantastic game. The Head Coach said that even with girls playing out of position, they had put their heart and souls into the game. She also felt that the final score didn’t reflect the how well the girls had played and that she was proud of them. They held their heads up and came away from the game feeling very proud.
The Devils next match is at home, Linchfield Road, this Sunday, 2nd March 2:30pm kick off.
Deeping Devils Player of the match: Jess Marshall
Deeping Devils Forward of the match: Gemma Wilson
Deeping Devils Back of the match: Jess Logan
Sleaford - Won 1 Match
Deepings - Won 1 Match
Deepings U9’s struggled in their first game suffering from a lack of match play losing 7-2. After some serious match talk from the coaches a refocused side came back to beat Sleaford in their second game 5-3. Good fazed play throughout allowed Fraser Leiper, Connor Barnes and Aaron Woodcock successful runs to the try line.
Deeping Mini’s are next in action at home to Oadby and Stamford on Sunday 9th March.
A Malvern side with several changes in the pack due to injuries and absence travelled to Finstall Park to take on a struggling Bromsgrove side in the senior County Cup on Saturday. With a difficult league run in to avoid relegation, the boars opted to field a weakened side, resting many first choice players for their main objective. However, the Malvern forwards struggled to gain any supremacy in the battle of the packs, a distinct lack of ball carrying allowing the keen Bromsgrove second stringers to stifle much of the ball won by Malvern. With little platform to work from, Malvern’s backs were forced to take hurried ball under pressure and it was testament to their skills that the league leaders finally ground out a victory.
It was winger Ryan Henshaw who broke the deadlock by opening the scoring in the 10th minute with a typically powerful run, bursting down the right to collect the try. It took another 25 minutes for Malvern to add to the score, the strength of Ted Lang giving skipper Ryan Watkins the opening to score and Adam Dixon to convert. Dixon left the field with a thigh injury shortly afterwards to add to Malvern’s injury woes, Jamie Gwynne moving to scrum half and Anderson out to stand off. Hooker Luke Greenwood was unlucky to collect a sin bin card when trapped at the bottom of a ruck but adjudged not to have rolled away.
In the second half a spirited fight back by the Bromsgrove youngsters, the slope in their favour, saw them pull back a score. However, another moment of individual brilliance from Chris Hooper saw the full back run right through the heart of the Bromsgrove defence to score under the posts and convert his own try. With a couple of minutes left, the game Bromsgrove side worked their way into Malvern’s 22 metre area and came off the back of a ruck to score another try, but Malvern’s backs had carried the day.
Robins unhappy with display
“We made life very difficult for ourselves today because nobody would take on the responsibility of carrying the ball forward” said Malvern’s Director of Rugby David Robins. “With Gareth Taylor out injured and Phil Rawle and Owen Jones not yet available, we struggled up front and Bromsgrove’s back row played a great spoiling game to ensure we didn’t get much in the way of good ball to our backs. If Chris Smith hadn’t been so dominant in the line out, we could have been in real trouble. We will have to work really hard in training this week to address these issues, with potentially our toughest match of the season coming up this week at Walsall. We weren’t too bad in the tight, taking a couple against the head, but we were poor around the fringes at the ruck. In the end, it was the sheer talent of our backs which won the game for us.”
Nottinghamians RFC continue their climb up from Midlands East 5 North with a hard won victory over North Derbyshire. The foundation to the victory was forged by a dominant display from the forwards with a blend of youth and old hands, never more so than on the front row with three decades of experience and a teenage debutant causing havoc at times. Three smartly taken tries by the every improving backline gave a 21 -7 win .
This means three wins out of four in the league and the prospect of the relegation battle between 5 clubs going to the wire.
Kenilworth eased past their Warwickshire Cup Quarter-Final opponents to book an encounter on March 5th with Broadstreet, who have beaten them in the last two finals. Although both sides were missing several key players, the gulf between the first and third tiers of Midlands rugby was evident.
Old Laurentians opened brightly, but it was Kenilworth who drew first blood. After Chris Brown had carved open the defence, Chris Collett was in support to cross for a try, to which Brown added the extras. The ex - Nuneaton and Broadstreet fly-half was in sparkling form, and again shredded the defence before touching down for a converted try. The main threat from the visitors came in the form of their outside centre and right winger, who made promising breaks. Their pack was distinctly second best, yielding several against the head. The men from Rugby were rewarded with a penalty goal on 21 minutes, when referee Rose spotted someone coming in from the side. Te remainder of he half was one-way traffic. First, Jez Non finished a move started by Andy Whitehall and carried on by James Hersey and Alex Taylor. Whitehall then superbly drew his man before passing to Dave Clements, who scampered in at the corner. The final score was a converted Ian Phillips try, after Dan Crandon had secured the ball from a maul.
With the added aid of a stiff breeze, Kenilworth were now even more in control at the start of the second half; Chris Brown gaining territory by a mixture of of astute kicks and eye-catching breaks, one of he latter leading to a Whitehall try. A brief spell of pressure by OL’s culminated in a push-over try after 10 minutes. The response was swift and clinical. Nick Collett surged clear before the ball was spun by Chris Brown, Taylor and Hersey to Noon, who recorded another unconverted try. Clements was next on the score-sheet, after a sweeping move, then Chris Brown, following a break by Gareth Renowden. The final try went to Hersey, who having controlled a difficult ball, shed Old Laurentians like Autumn leaves on his passage to the line.
Kenilworth:Whitehall, Clements, Hersey, Taylor, Noon, C. Brown, Clendinning-Fenton, N.Collett, Varney, C. Collett, Phillips, Careless, N. Smith, Nock, Crandon. Replacements (used): Renowden, L. Brown, Powell, Carrick.
Next Saturday (March 1st), Kenilworth return to league action, at home to Longton. Kick-off is at 3pm.
Blaydon Colts 22 Kenilworth Colts 13
The long trip to Tyneside for this Fifth-Round National Plate tie proved a journey too far for a gallant Kenilworth side (writes Bob Jones). Exhibiting superior team-work throughout, and leading at half-time, they eventually succumbed to a bigger, stronger outfit from the National League club.
The majority of the first period was played in Blaydon territory, with the Kenilworth pack soon getting the measure of their opponents, and securing ball that Tom Palmer and the threequarters found useful. Accompanied by strong surges by Matt Cooper, Ross Lowthian and Andy Bladon, this lead to several assaults on the home line. When the hosts managed to break the shackles, the defence was excellent. Reward came on 20 minutes, when Palmer slotted a penalty goal for an offence within the Blaydon 22.
The second half commenced as he first had ended. Thus, it was disappointing when, after just three minutes, an uncharacteristic gap appeared in the Ks defence, and allowed the Blaydon left-winger to escape for a try, which the fly-half converted to take he lead. This was short-lived, as Cooper smashed his way over for a unconverted try. Gradually, the superior height and bulk of the home squad began to tell, but it was their individual, rather than collective talent that was to the fore. They regained the lead with a penalty goal on the quarter-hour, after the Ks had failed to roll away. With a man yellow-carded, the visitors found the going extra-tough, especially against the home No 5 and No 8, both exceptionally large and strong young men, who both ran in tries, the second converted. Although the game had slipped frm their grasp, to their eternal credit, the boys from Glasshouse Lane, urged on by a substantial contingent of parents and camp followers, did not relent. With a few minutes left, a Palmer penalty to touch in the Blaydon 22, followed by secure lineout ball from Lewis Jones, and a forward drive, saw Lowthian touch down for he final score of the afternoon. As the clock ran down, yet another great Cooper run, which ended with him having to retire injured, was followed by one from Rhys Jones, but to no avail.
Towcestrians entertained Brackley in this ¼ final of the Northampton Alliance Cup, with the local visitors seeking to continue some recent good form and cause an upset against a Tows side in mid table of the higher League.
Tows soon demonstrated a clear advantage when in the forward battle at the first scrum the Brackley eight buckled under pressure 5 meters from their own line. However, it took Tows 15 minutes of scrappy play to eventually get on the scoreboard when a neat move from the three quarters saw Pepi Nanci score in the corner. Against the run of play Brackley twice hit back with well taken penalties and suddenly Tows found themselves 5pts to 6Pts behind. Nevertheless, despite the Brackley resistance, the Tows forwards continued in the ascendant and they eventually drove over the Brackley line for Richard Tustian to get the touch down. Gag Evans converted and Tows were an disappointing 12Pts to 6 Pts ahead at half time.
With Brackley having weathered the storm of the first half, and still very much ‘in the game’, the match then disappointingly went into stalemate. Both sides worked hard to no avail until Marc Yeates broke the pattern by crossing under the post to put Tows further ahead. Soon after, Tows winger Pete Wallis took the ball from his brother Jim and crossed and Tows seemed to home and dry. To their credit, Brackley then rallied and in the closing quarter they not only had the better of the exchanges, but definitely looked the more dangerous and more likely to score. However, as the Tows defence held out, the home side ended the game 24Pts to 6 Pts ahead which saw them into the next round of the competition.
Next week Towcestrians continue League duties at home to Stewarts & Lloyds. Kick Off 2.30pm.
Towcestrians RFC 2nd XV 15Pts vs Peterborough RFC 3rd XV 10Pts
A try from Johny Burns converted by Rob Bodily was followed by a solo effort from Dan Nash who ran from his own half to score. To seal the game for Tows Darren Harrison slotted a penalty secured the League points.
Towcestrians RFC 3rd XV non league game against Bletchley was cancelled because of injuries in the Tows sides. Tows have extended sincere apologies to the Bletchley club.
For more information contact: Bob Price on (01604) 858795 or David Taylor on (01327) 352248. e-mail: david.taylor@towcestriansrfc.net
Melbourne had to make 5 changes to the side that beat Barton last week and even more positional changes to face a very well organised east Leake side that were wanting revenge from the defeat earlier in the season. Paul Macer and Steve Bell came into the back row, Bob Stowell into the front row and Euen Holden and Nathan Goodyear into the back line.
Melbourne started the game slowly and allowed the East Leakes forwards to test the defence working off their fly half. The scrummage and lineout play that had been dominant the week before now struggled and Melbourne were battling to win any first phase ball.
It was not surprising that East Leake took the lead after sustained pressure and touched down in the corner, a well taken conversion that bobbled onto the crossbar before going over made the score 0:7.
Melbourne did begin to settle at this point and began to get the ball out to the backs where they looked as though they could test the East Leake defence. A srum taken against the head midway in the East Leake half allowed Ian Lucas to pick and run blind, popping the ball to Holden who found Stringer entering the line at pace to cut through the defence and score under the posts, the conversion was good to level the scores at 7:7.
The rest of the half was played out without incident and you could tell by the spectators reaction that Melbourne were playing well below their usual levels. East Leake did attack Melbournes line in the final few minutes of the half and only a last ditch tackle by Bob Stowell prevented a certain try. A series of scrums and penalties were played out before the referee blew for half time with the scores all level.
Bob Stowell had to be replaced at half time due to injury and was replaced by Goodyear coming in at hooker and Smith moving to loosehead. Morris came onto the wing to make his 1st XV debut.
Melbourne again started the half on the back foot and allowed East Leake to make inroads into the Melbourne half and again conceded a try early in the half this time nearer the posts to allow the kicker an easy conversion to increase the score to 7:14. East Leake increased their lead to 7:19 soon after this when poor defence allowed their number 8 to score in the corner.
Melbourne began to put together a few phases of better rugby and retained possession for the first time in the match with forwards and backs linking well. A good break from Paul Devanney looked as though he would sprint clear to score under the posts only for the East Leake hooker to regain 10 yards on Mr Devanney and tackle him inches from the line. Good support play from forwards and backs allowed Will Judge to score under the posts, Euen Holden converting to narrow the score to 14:19.
Melbourne continued to attack into the East Leake half and test the defence but on too many occasions chose the wrong option making it easy to defend against. With time against them Melbourne were throwing everything at the game and gifted East Leake an interception, a great covering tackle by Ashley Stringer prevented the try from being scored under the posts but the supporting East Leake players passed the ball out wide to score in the corner 14:24.
This proved to be the final score and Melbourne walked off the pitch very despondent, this was a game that Melbourne needed to win to cement their position of safety within the league.
A non league week next weekend will allow injury’s to heal for some and the chance for others to gain more experience within the 1st XV.
Kesteven Colts 19 Stamford Colts 7
Kesteven hosted a quality Stamford Colts side at Woodnook on a cold but sunny Sunday. The Stamford side included 2 Northampton academy players who have also been involved with England training camps. Kesteven fielded a colts side bolstered by 3 of last years colts.
The first half was fairly even , Stamford perhaps just taking the edge with some organised play and good attacking moves one of which was stopped metres short of the Kesteven try line by a fine Jordan Hughes cover tackle. Good clearance kicks by Jack Berry, Curtis Dingley and Zak Douglas also managed to keep Stamford at bay.
After a squad talk at half-time which highlighted a few problem areas,Kesteven came out for the second half with a better game plan of controlled phase rugby, this produced the 1st try of the day after some slick passing left Hughes to go over in the corner. Stamford then came back and attacked the Kesteven line for a good period of time and they eventually scored from a good backs move ,the try was converted which left Stamford 7-5 up.
This score certainly had an effect on Kesteven who upped their game and started to attack from numerous positions on the pitch, this stretched the Stamford defence and 2 well taken individual tries from Tom Price and Dan Turner, both converted ,took the final score to 19-7.
Kesteven were impressed with the Stamford side and they look forward to playing them again in 2 weeks. For Kesteven it was a very good team performance with fine displays from all the players, worthy of particular mention would be Jordan Hughes with another outstanding performance at No7,Jamie Flear playing out of position in the centre, John Hall with some very aggressive running, altogether a fine team effort. Odams, Turner, Purvis, Braybrook, Shields, Hughes, Sayle, Smith, Cluse, Dingley, C.Berry, J.Berry, Douglas, Hall, Price (c)
Replacements; Bowles, Jones
TIGGERS 2008
Under 11s
K’s 41 Bourne 5
Tiggers travelled to Bourne on a lovely sunny morning in February; however all didn’t go according to plan, as the pitch was regarded as being dangerous to play on as it was still thawing out.
During this time Andrew Singer kept the sixteen members of the squad warmed up, whilst the spectators cheered them on drinking hot drinks and munching on rolls!
At 11:30 am a decision was made to play, with the necessary safety rules being communicated to both teams by the Referee, as the playing surface was still a bit slippery.
The first half saw K’s always in the Bourne half, apart from kick offs.
Daniel Singer went over within the first two minutes, forcing his way through the Bourne defence to open the scoring. Jake Lund converting, gave K’s a 7-0 lead.
K’s showed some good passing movements, which found Ben Ellis out on the wing to score his first try for the Tiggers, Jake Lund converting to make it 14-0.
K’s pack was no match for Bourne, and once again the forwards pushed back the Bourne defence, for Daniel Singer to score his second try. Cameron Frankcom this time took the conversion kick; dually slotting it between the uprights to give K’s a half time lead 21-0.
The second half kicked off, K’s once more taking the lead through Ed Bloodworth.
The coaches gave several players during this half an opportunity to take the conversion.
However, there was to be no more points from conversions during this half, as all the conversions were narrowly missed.
There was also the opportunity to alternate players from the centre to wing and vice versa during this half.
The pack of Adam Sharpe, Ed Bloodworth & Daniel Singer, pushed Bourne all over the place. The pressure told, as Adam Sharpe scored K’s Fourth try.
K’s were now storming through the Bourne defence, with further push over tries from Ed Bloodworth & Adam Sharpe giving K’s a 41-0 lead.
Always in control, K’s as they always seem to do, took their eye off the ball, which saw Bourne knocking on the K’s tryline for the last four minutes. Persistence paid off, and Bourne went over to score a consolation try, although they were unable to convert.
The final score was 41-5, although had the conversions gone over, and Josh Adams not being penalised for a hand off at the Bourne tryline, the result would have been far greater.
Taking nothing away from Bourne, they battled hard and deserved their try, but in the end it was the forwards day.
This was just the type of result that the Tiggers needed, bouncing back from their two defeats last week, ready to take on Newark next week, ready to avenge defeat!
Squad who travelled to Bourne:
Joshua Adams, Josh Allen, Ed Bloodworth, Andy Cartwright, Edward Cole, Sam Danford, Ben Ellis, Cameron Frankcom, Alex Harrod, Jake Lund, Alfie Moore, Callum Pearl, Thomas Rigby, Joseph Ryder, Adam Sharpe, Daniel Singer,
Coaches: Richard Bloodworth, Andrew Singer.
Sunday 17th February 2008
Kesteven V Oundle U14
Away at Oundle
Kesteven opened the score line 10 minutes in as James Whitty crossed the try line after a powerful drive by the K’s pack his conversion sailed a yard wide of the posts. 2 minutes later Callum Jackson hacked the ball forward which was chased down and grounded by Sam Woolley 5 yards to the right of the posts, a clean conversion by Will Cann added another two points. Oundle attacked back with vigour but 3 minutes later K’s punished them again as James Whitty broke away on the right wing and sprinted hard to place the ball under the posts to allow Will Cann a straight conversion kick. Ten minutes from half time a quickly recycled ball and fast passing opened up winger Will Bolus who blistered down the left handing off two players to ground the ball in a good position for Jack Danford to convert.
Half time score Kesteven 26 Oundle 0.
Oundle started the second half and pressed forward into K’s half but were quickly pushed back into their own as K’s forwards showed immense power as they drove the maul up to Oundle’s 5 yard line, the ball dropped into a ruck and was recycled back to Connaugh Pearce who forced his was across the line to open the scoring in the second half, Will Cann’s kick drifted just wide to the left. Oundle piled on the pressure again for the next 10 minutes but were not able to break through the line of black shirts. A very skilful kick forward by Will Cann was chased down by Will Bolus who scored the try under the posts, Jack Danford placed the kick straight for an extra two points. Oundle’s try came as they battled up the pitch to release their No.14 who made a great run on the right wing for five points but their No.10 was unable to reach the posts as the ball fell short. Just five minutes from the final whistle and K’s James Whitty claimed his third try after some fantastic cross field passing opened him up on the right wing to close the scoring as the kick was unconverted.
Final score…Kesteven 43 Oundle 5
K’s forwards dominated the pitch and kept possession for most of the match which gave our backs the chances to score points which they did very well.
It was a pleasure for us all to see just what you guys can achieve when you all work together as a team, Oundle were no pushover and continued to play hard right to the end which showed great team spirit and was fantastic to see but it was your team commitment that won you the game we still have some tough matches coming up, if we can keep up he hard work the team can claim some well earned payback! WELL DONE BOYS!
