Kettering U15's triumph in a very one-sided affair

The U15s first league match of the season resulted in the demolition of a Casuals side who could only raise 11 players. Kettering lent them 4 players with Sam Lloyd, Edward Richards, Josh Campbell and Joseph Daniel-Wileman donning the black and yellow kit in the first half and Chris Gosling, Dale Sanderson, Logan Norman and Steven Grey swapping sides for the second half.

Right from the first kick off Kettering made their attacking intentions clear and it only took a few minutes before Arthur Jones collected the ball inside his own half and evaded several attempted tackles before scoring a try under the posts. He followed this with the conversion .

Brandon Lawrence then followed suit by collecting the ball on the wing from inside his own half to race through and score in the corner.

A feature of the game was the apparent inability for the two sets of forwards to scrummage within the laws of the game, as delivered by the referee, with Kettering being on the receiving end of the referees' impatience several times.

Kettering went to sleep after scoring the second try and they conceded yet another free kick at the scrum. Casuals took full advantage and ran through some sloppy tackling to score with a conversion

This was the wake up call that was needed and Kettering attacked again. Arthur Jones made another of his surging runs and provided a great offload in the tackle to Tim Hale who ran in from 30 yards. Arthur Jones added the conversion.

From the restart Tim Hale caught and ran 60 yards to dot down under the posts. Arthur Jones again added the conversion.

Following another period of pressure, good forward interplay resulted in Owen Griffiths kicking through and chasing to score under the post. Arthur Jones scored the conversion.

From the restart, Casuals knocked on but, with the referee playing a good advantage, Tim Hale showed his football skills to kick the ball from the half way line to score under the posts. Arthur Jones added the conversion.

With half-time approaching, the Kettering pack again fell foul of the referees' interpretation as he delivered another lecture to Ben Gordon and Brandon Lawrence before yet another penalised scrum. However, Kettering defended well to see the half out.

Half time score 40 - 7 to Kettering.

From the restart Brandon Lawrence powered over again with Arthur Jones kicking the conversion.

Jake Lewington finally got the chance to stretch his legs out-foxing Chris Gosling (who was playing Full Back for Casuals by this point) to score his first try of the match. Arthur Jones converted again.

From the restart good passing from the forwards made space for a pass to Jake Lewington who scored again. Arthur Jones kicked the conversion. .

Casuals then played well and pressed Kettering hard but a missed pass was collected by Jake Lewington who scored his hat trick. I probably don't need to say this but Arthur Jones kicked the conversion.

At this point, the referee gave Casuals the option to stop playing as, accordind to league rules, if one side gets of lead of more than 50 points then the game can be stopped. Casuals do not know when they are beaten and opted to continue the game. Hats off to them for carrying on.

From the restart there was more sustained Casuals pressure. Kettering were penalised again and this time it was Arthur Jones who received the lecture from the referee. However, Kettering soaked up the pressure and were awarded a penalty of their own. Jake Lewington ran through a tiring Casuals defence to score his 9th try in two games. Sadly, there was no conversion.

From the restart Tim Hale ran 40 yards before being tackled. Ben Gordon was spoken to again by the referee for going over the top at ruck resulting in a penalty to Casuals. Casuals kicked for territory and took the line out. At this point Harry Simmonds was then spoken to after a breakdown in play.

However, from open play, Tim Hale then broke through for another try under the posts. Arthur Jones converting.

Jake Lewington then broke through from the restart to score his 10th in two games. No conversion

In the final moments of the game Tim Hale, out on the right wing, decided to kick and chase when facing Chris Gosling - he just beat Gosling to touch down. The conversion attempt came back off the post which was the final kick of the game.

Chris Gosling was unlucky to be facing the awesome duo of Tim Hale and Jake Lewington. Black and yellow does not suit him. Or anyone else with blue and white socks!

All in all, it was a good run out for all members of the squad and, for some players, an introduction to the "referees' lecture"!

Man Of The Match - Tim Hale for being great in attack (5 tries) and awesome in defence

DotD - Ben Gordon for (apparently) throwing a teenage strop after a lecture from the ref.