Blues lose out up front

The home side opened the scoring with a 50-metre penalty after 30 seconds play.
The Blues responded, with Ollie Furniss just wide with a penalty attempt, and then took the lead when a fine handling move saw Alex Linnell cross wide out in the right hand corner for an unconverted try.
For a number of reasons the Blues pack had spent little time together before the game and this, along with the size of the Newbold pack, began to take its toll on the Blues efforts.
Time and again the Blues were either pushed off the ball or driven back at such a rate as to make quality ball almost impossible. With the extremely wet conditions making handling increasingly difficult, the Blues struggled to maintain any momentum and as the half wore on, Newbold took the lead with the first of 3 pushover tries. With this converted they led 12-5. With conditions in their favour in the 2nd half, Kettering were still very much in the game, at 12-5 down.
Then, on the stroke of half-time, a second push over try, this time unconverted, saw the hosts lead 17-5 at the break.
The game became something of a stalemate in the 2nd half with both sides struggling in the wet conditions. But it was Newbold who scored the decisive try when they turned over a Blues scrum and drove the visitors over for their third score.
Then with the last play of the game Newbold scored their fourth and bonus point try to complete a disappointing day for the Kettering side.

Raj Man of the Match: Alex Linnell