Another cliff hanger against Newbold

The Blues went into this game with, literally, 15 first team squad players unavailable for one reason or another, which meant that the side had little time to prepare for what was always expected to be one of the toughest tests of the season. To their credit, all the players who came in worked exceptionally hard to compensate for the lack of preparation, but in the end, the visitors were justifiable winners, thus reversing the last minute win by the Blues in the earlier encounter at Newbold.

Newbold took the lead with an unconverted try, well taken by their right winger, although the Blues will be disappointed with their defence at that point.

Kettering hit back and Bruce Keir dummied his was over for the try, close to the posts, which Joe Daniel duly converted, to give the home side a 7-5 lead. A second unconverted try gave Newbold a 10-7 half-time lead, which they then extended in the 2nd half, with a 3rd try, which again went unconverted to stretch the lead to 8 points.

The Blues then had their best spell and seemed to have turned the tide, when firstly, Gareth Rees finished off in style in the left corner, and with Daniels excellent conversion it was a one point game. Then Daniel kicked a penalty to give the Blues a 17-15 lead going into the final quarter.

Newbold came back strongly and looked to have scored a try, which was disallowed by the referee. From the resulting scrum the Blues defended magnificently and appeared to have weathered the storm, only for a disputed penalty to be awarded under the posts, which made the visitors task a simple one to regain the lead, 18-17.

Daniel did have one more opportunity to snatch the win, but his long range penalty drifted wide and the visitors held on for the win, which they deserved on the day.