Blues lose uphill battle

Kettering started the game with a changed line-up, with Josh Cox returning to the squad, and Harry Luthayi coming in for injured skipper, Tom Bridgeman. With Billy Burrell unavailable, Ryan Conyard was given scrum-half responsibilities and Josh Luthayi took over at fullback. Harry, unfortunately, only lasted a minute as he dislocated his shoulder in the very first tackle.
Playing down the slope and with the wind behind them, the Blues could not have wished for a better start, with Bruce Keir converting an early penalty, which was quickly added to when a sublime grub kick by hooker, Steve Fraher was gathered up by Jordan Butlin, for the winger to cross wide out on the left. Keir added an excellent conversion to give the visitors a 10-0 lead with only 10 minutes on the clock.
ON's then exerted some pressure on the Blues line, but with a first half tackle count of 52 tackles made and only 2 missed the Kettering line held firm.
Then a fortuitous bounce saw a hole open up and Conyard sized the opportunity to dart through the defence to score, a converted try to open up a 17 point lead after 25 minutes. The hosts reduced the lead with a penalty, to see the score 17-3 to the Blues at the break.
Both sides knew that the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half would be crucial, and so it turned out. The hosts scored 10 points in a frantic opening, as half-time talks went out of the window and the Blues self destructed, to see the gap close to 4 points within 5 minutes.
The Blues did then settle down, but as the injuries mounted with both Dan Martin and Jordan Butlin having to leave the field, the home side seine do their opportunity and scored 2 tries to open up a 25-17 lead. Keir did reduce the gap with a penalty, which eventually secured the losing bonus point, but that was as near as the visitors came, as ON' finished on top to run out worthy 25-20 winners.

RAJ Man of the Match: Archie Toseland