Recap
Saturday was our first game back of the new year, after a year of rock hard pitches, frozen pitches, and felled posts!
We were all pretty well-rested and looking forward to our first home league fixture of the new year, however our scheduled opposition, Bletchley, had insufficient numbers and it had to be postponed. All was not lost as our trusty Fixtures Secretary, Simon, had a friendly fixture ready in his back pocket as a contingency, and so we lined up to play a familiar and friendly 4th team from Old Northamptonians.
Numbers were high on the K’s side, and so we were happy to make up numbers on the opposition side to ensure a game could go ahead.
It was variously a wet, windy, sunny and chilly afternoon, and K’s made a strong start from the word go with our (not so) secret weapon Ewan Casey dotting down early in the first half, as was to become a habit three more times throughout the match, twice for Kempston and once for ONs.
ONs, supported by K’s, fought back hard with tries from both Ewan Casey and Frazer Harrison (putting in a solid shift for both sides as a guest appearance from his home side of Berkhamsted, and thanks to him and his teammate James Cain) but Kempston were too strong, with our own cross-code superstar Ryan Blagg scoring twice to put the icing on the cake. James Cain also managed to notch up a try for Kempston.
Replacement no. 10 Josh Thomas scored late on in the game too,to add the finishing touches as the weather started to turn again for the worst.
Notable for K’s was their strong scrum, putting in some huge drives when it mattered.
Final score: 43-13.
Taking nothing away from ONs, they showed the true fighting spirit we know them for right up to the end.
Man of the match: Joel Cain, for his immense effort as fullback and ability to be almost everywhere throughout the full 80.
Doofus of the day: John Higginson. Our captain tried to sell 3 dummy passes which nobody bought, and thinking the opposition would buy his fourth, tried it again, only to come off injured late in the second half.
Honourable mention goes to Richard Lovesey who managed both a thin air tackle AND a faceplant at the same line-out. What an effort!
On to the next league match, we face Stockwood Park away in a bid to retain our place at the top of the East Midlands 3 South merit league table.