Tough trip to Brackley for the 4s

A spirited start saw Kettering attack with intent and indeed produce the first opportunity of the match with a penalty in the home side 20m. Hindsight being a wonderful thing perhaps the 3points should have been taken but having chosen to tap and go the opportunity was passed up allowing Brackley to counter attack. Unfortunately Kettering appeared to have forgottten the basics of tackling and allowed Brackley to break through on too many occasions. This resulted in 3 or 4 "soft" tries which put Kettering on the back foot. In turn this gave Brackley more confidence to pass the ball through hands to make space on the outside for more tries in the first half.

The second half saw Kettering up their intensity in the tackle and despite playing for the first 10-15 minutes on the second half with 14 and then 13 men with two sin bins, kept the home team at bay. Brackley scored a couple of well worked tries in the second half but despite going down to 14 men permanently during the last 15 minutes (2nd yellow card) Kettering kept their heads high and continued to put some great tackles in to stop Brackley breaking the 50 point barrier.

Despite the defeat the 4s can hold their heads high for not giving up and putting their bodies on the line for the cause. Days like these are the making of players and the inexperienced ones will gain a lot in defeat.