Terrible conditions - great game !

Another Saturday and same old story ! With 2 props withdrawing from the team at short notice we travel to Old Scouts with the prospect of uncontested scrums. Fortunately Old Scouts have a spare Prop – allowing contested scrums, but had failed to secure a referee !

Rob Tilley once again took up the whistle to ensure a proper and fair contest.

Both teams started the contest a man down as Old Scouts had loaned one of their 15 to Kettering and in the spirit of fairness Kettering dropped a man until such time as Old Scouts 2 remaining players appeared.

Kettering opted to play with a 7 man scrum and quickly realised the error as Old Scouts dominated the early encounters. With strong scrummaging and rucking Old Scouts made their way up the pitch to post an early score.

Kettering then regained their composure and applied good pressure on Old Scouts. A series of rucks got them close to the line and a smart burst from JamieClelland saw him score under the posts and convert.

Continued pressure from Kettering and solid defence from Old Scouts followed. A touch finding clearance was quickly picked up and a quick throw taken by Kettering. Unfortunately the throw did not go to hand allowing an Old Scouts player to hack up field. This gave territorial advantage back to Old Scouts which they promptly turned into another 5 points.

A series of good and bad handling skills on show from both teams meant a stop start remainder of the half. A speculative kick to the Old Scouts 5 metre line produced confusion for the Scout’s fullback. He was quickly brought to ground and in trying to get the ball back fumbled it across the line. Richard McNab pounced on the loose ball to close the half at 15-14.

The second half saw Kettering on the attack once again and Jamie Clelland was once again the man on the spot, leaving a couple of Scout’s players for dead in a sprint to the line. Jamie once again converting his own try to give Kettering a 21-15 advantage.

Scouts started to apply pressure, particularly at scrum time and it was no surprise when they scored a 4th try. Scout’s number 10 was having a bad kicking day missing his 4th conversion and squandering the opportunity to put his team ahead.

More pressure from Scout’s finally paid dividends with a penalty conceded in the Kettering 22. Scout’s replacement scrum half taking over kicking duties to secure the 3 points and put them 2 points ahead.

Kettering continued to battle hard but were unable to make further inroads into Scout’s half to set up any last hurrah.