Blues finish strong

The hosts started strong and showed a real determination to win the points required to guarantee their safety. Their direct forward dominated game earns them an early penalty which was converted to give them a 3 point lead after 2 minutes. The Blues began to get to grips with the Newark tactics and the pace of their game started to cause some real problems for the home side, although it took a further 20 minutes for them to open their account when a drive from 2nd row Jamie Bishop was carried on by man of the match, hooker, Steve Fraher, who offloaded to scrum-half, Tom Bridgeman to score. Fullback, Joe Daniel converted to give the Blues the lead.

A quickly taken penalty then saw, wing forward, Jamie Manley on the end of the break, with some excellent play by wing, James Taylor creating the opportunity, withDaniel again converting. Then a well planned move from a scrum saw centre, Joe Newman breakthrough, and when he was stopped the ball was quickly re-cycled and Daniel provided the final pass for winger, Matt Nield to score in the corner. The conversion was, this time missed as the Blues led 19-6. Newark responded and kicked a 2nd penalty, before captain, Chris Chapman broke through and dummies his way past the bemused Newark fullback to score close to the posts. Daniels conversion brought an end to the half, with the Blues leading 26-6 and playing some scintillating rugby.

The game was over after 10 minutes of the 2nd half, when firstly, Fraher burst over the line to score, and then Chapman crossed for his 2nd try, with both converted by Daniel. Newark, to their credit, came back and scored 2 tries without reply, only for Kettering to respond with the impressive number 8, George Newman collecting a Bridgeman chip to score and then, fittingly, supporters player of the year and skipper, Chapman completed his hat-trick to bring up the 50 points. Daniel converted both to give him 7 out of 8 successful kicks at goal, as the Blues achieved their last 4 game target of finishing the season with a positive points difference and 16 league points, which saw them comfortably in mid-table after battling in the relegation places for much of the season.

This was a great way to end a troubled season where the Blues had to completely re-build after the loss of 14 players from last season, and introduced a handful of 17 year olds to 1st team rugby, which they all adapted to well in the most difficult of circumstances. The challenge now will be to keep the side together and continue their development, which includes the continuation of all the good personal health practices introduced through the Save Your Season campaign.

Once again, fine performances from many players made to man of the match decision really difficult. In the end Fraher won the vote for his support work, scoring and setting up a try and not doing an inside, reverse, double loop pass, when a simple offload was the better option!

RAJ Man of the Match: - Steve Fraher