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.
