U16s trump feisty OGs

Sunday the 9th of October saw us conquer the Mad Mile roadworks to visit near neighbours Wellingborough Old Grammarians and face a recently formed U16 team that had performed well in the early season - beating Oundle and St Neots. They looked very impressive in warm up and had several big ball carriers and backs with pace who it was clear would pose an attacking threat to be wary of. This would be a game of three 20 minute thirds to give all the players a chance to show their stuff.

True to form we started cold and kicked straight to touch. From the resulting scrum the OG's burly no 8 picked and ran - straight into Josh Hewitt. The resulting turnover lead to a kick behind the home defence and a line out on their 10m line. A rusty throw missed its target , Dan tidied up and the backs were set in motion, with Robbie sending a probing kick high into the OGs 22. Karl chased well and came up with the ball before being flattened by a comprehensive brick wall of a defensive tackle. The ball still came back on Kettering's side though and Joe took the opportunity to show his sniping skills from scrum half (Mike Phillips eat your heart out) and cross for the first try. 0-5.

The OGs were fired up by the early action and came back strongly - forcing a knock on from Tom after he'd taken a good kick off and returned straight and hard. Both sides exchanged scrums and the play was briefly turning scrappy and Kettering gave up some cheap penalties as the home side made good territory and possession without being able to really threaten our try line. The OGs were giving us a lesson in jackalling at the breakdown and several times we went in with the ball and came up empty handed! Fortunately we then manage to turn over some of their ball with Dan showing how to dog it out in the dark corners of the breakdown before Tom launched himself into the line and made good yards. Wellingborough countered well though and made good territory towards our 22 before an injury to one of their players in the tackle saw him limp off and take no further part in the game. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Play moved back up into the OGs half and and although the home side had a good line out position we stole their throw and Joe darted once more into the gaps at the fringes, offloading to Dan who eventually found Archie who pounced to score the second try after 15 mins to the left of the sticks. 0-10.

From the kick off Tom received and returned well (again...!) setting in motion a great attacking move with incisive support lines and accurate offloads before we finally knocked on just inside the home 10m line. The forwards were now going through the gears in the set piece and a solid shove turned over possession with Chris taking the opportunity to thunder up the middle. The ball was recycled well for Robbie to pop up on the reverse crash ball and score to the right of the posts and make the score at the end of the first third 0-15.

The second third was well contested by the OGs for 5 minutes before George showed his wheels and carved a great line inside then outside the backtracking defence. In desperation he was accidentally lassooed around the neck by a retreating defender and from the resulting quick tap and go penalty Josh Langley skated over to the left of the posts - with Robbie adding the first extras of the game with a drop conversion to make it 0-24.

Sadly play was then held up for 15 minutes as our debutant Sam dislocated his elbow and both sides took time out while medical aid was given. Eventually Sam was carefully escorted into the back seat of his mum's car for the trip to A&E. As the assembled throng sportingly applauded him off the pitch Sam took the opportunity to show he was down but not out by flipping the bird and a cheeky grin to his new team mates. Welcome to Kettering RFC Sam - you'll fit right in. Get well soon!

Both teams took a little while to get their composure back after the break and it was Kettering who finally inched their way into OG territory with some controlled mauling before Josh L was bundled into touch. The resulting home line out throw was on the wonk again and from the scrum Kettering put the squeeze on with Josh H using the forward momentum to pick and go from 8 - nimbly offloading to Jess to score a welcome comeback try to the right of the posts - with Robbie taking the 2 points to make it 0-29 and time for the second third to conclude.

Kettering now bought on some fresh players and set about finishing with style. Dan showed some more magic in the loose to turnover a ball that required him at one point to fold himself in half before reappearing with the ball - WOW! The ball was whipped through the hands at pace and Cam joined the line on the left from full back to dart over in the left corner. 0-34.

OGs weren't giving up without a fight though and it took a few wise words from the ref to calm tempers on the home side and get everybody focusing on the ball rather than the man. As soon as the game resumed it wasn't long before a slick backs move saw Robbie let the scorebaord do the talking to crash over to the right of the posts for Kettering - 0-39.

Despite their best efforts OG's were now tiring and finding it tough to keep up with the relentless Blue wave. There were some great hands and support play from the away side as the tries started to flood in - with Cam notching two more, Chris and Josh bagging one a piece for the Owen clan and Ed sealing the win with possibly the try of the day after an attack from deep in our half that finished in the left corner. Henri converted one of the tries to make the final score 0-68.

Another exceptional performance against a feisty and powerful OGs side who are still finding their feet and they will continue to improve through the season. Thanks for your hospitality and we look forward to meeting again soon.

Congratulations Kettering on a third consecutive clean sheet and 159 points scored. However we must not rest on our laurels, and every player in the squad knows that he has a friendly team mate rival who is ready to step up when needed. It's good to look back at a great performance - but for now the backslapping must wait until the end of season tour. For the time being let's focus on working together as a team, training hard and playing with pace, precision and power. And a smile......!!

Until the next time....adios amigos.