Courageous Colts Give All

The 3rd round of the National Cup against our old adversary Bedford Ath on a bright but chilly autumnal afternoon at a busy Waverly Road, where else would you want to be!!

Fair to say Kettering had been looking forward to this contest for a number of weeks, preparation had gone well and all players were available with the exception of Leuri who picked up a bad ankle injury last week at Buckingham. Selection was tough however the majority of those not in the squad turned up to support the team, thank you guys.

Before the warm up Big G walked the squad around the pitch and talked through the game plan and from the attitude on display it was clear Ketts had come to win.

With the warm up complete the squad retreated to the dressing room and Captain Reece Coles asked for no coaches or managers to be present during the team talk - 'no problem Reece all yours mate'.

2.15 prompt the ref got the game underway and from the off Kettering had a focus and belief to their play not yet seen this season. Across the park Ketts were dominant particularly at scrum time winning a number against the head, but for maximum 1.5m push allowed at this level the Blues would have surely had more advantage on the day.

Fly half Ollie Furniss took advantage of the dominance and brought the back line to life with some excellent line breaks mixed with grubber kicks, Garryowen's and cheeky chips. Bedford were surprised by the intensity and variety Ketts brought to game.

A great box lick from Featherstone came down just inside the Bedford 22 with the defender knocking on to give Ketts there first real attacking scrum about 10m from the touch line. The packs lock horns and Ketts got a good nudge on with the ball quickly getting to the No. 8 Connor Tilley. Tilley went blind of loading from the tackle to scrum half Conor Featherstone who drew the defender beautifully before passing to Ashley Marshall. Marshall pinned his ears back and beat two cover tackles to score in the corner. A difficult conversion was missed by Furniss.

Having taken the lead Kettering were inspired and 5 minutes later scored again in the opposite corner through a well executed back line play. Good hands produced a 2 on 1 overlap allowing Calum Whitehead to draw the last defender and offload to the on hand (in form) winger Luke Conyard to score in the corner. Furniss hit the upright just missing the conversion.

A 10 nil lead to Kettering and a rumble of excitement amongst the spectators with a few onlookers from the cosy central heated clubhouse deciding to get a better view from the side line.

Kettering continued to press at every opportunity and turn the Bedford defensive line with some intelligent kicks and good straight running. Bedford were definitely out of their comfort zone and appeared to struggle with the pace and variety Kettering had brought to the contest. Again a well placed kick from Furniss into space was followed up by Joe Allen and Calum Whitehead resulting in the ball coming back to Furniss who saw an overlap and made a great 10m left hand pass to Conyard to get his second in the corner. Furniss was unable to add the extras.

Bedford weren't sure what was going on at this stage however wisely used the opportunity to gather under the posts to regain there composure.

With 20 minutes gone and a 3 try lead Kettering had control of the game and maybe, just maybe overplayed a few moves along with a couple of ref decisions that seemed a tad harsh which gave Bedford the opportunities they needed and they took them well. The next 15 minutes belonged to Bedford who wisely decided to bring their powerful back line into play and punch holes through the Kettering midfield. The Bedford half back pairing started to get more ball and began to use there real pace to kick start the Ath back line. Strong running and equally smart kicking opened up the Ketts back line who missed a number of cover tackles which cost Kettering dear. Within 15 minutes Bedford had converted a penalty, scored 4 tries and landed 3 conversion giving them a healthy 15:29 lead at half time.

The half time huddle was all about one thing, missed tackles. 'Fix that lads and your in the game' 'You know you can score - get on the board first this half and see what happens'.

Rehydrated and enthused, Kettering took to the pitch determined to start the second half as they did the first. The pack continued to exert great pressure with Freddie Morris putting in some awesome hits in the loose alla classic number 7 play. The backs stepped it up a gear defensively which was a good job as Bedford started the second half, as they finished the first running aggressively at every opportunity. Unfortunately Bedford managed to break through the defence twice and put another 10 points on the board with Kettering being unable to add to there tally as they spent the majority of the second half containing the Bedford threat.

Congrats to Bedford whose coach Chris O Dell praised the Kettering effort and I suspect after 20 minutes was probably a little anxious. His team showed great character to respond as they did to going 3 tries down after 20 minutes.

The end of game huddle was emotional with obvious disappointment etched on a number of faces, it was clear winning really mattered today. Graham rightly praised the commitment, attitude and passion shown by everyone and reminded all that continuing to play like you have today will bring reward this season.
A few contenders for man of the match today however the honours go to Freddie 'Mad Dog' Morris for yet another outstanding open side performance.
The manner in which the game was contested was top draw, a classic Cup game with both sides wanting it and giving no quarter. A day when rugby was the true winner.