KRFC U15's make it 3 wins from 3 games this season

On a perfect day for rugby - blues skies; no wind; a solid ground that had benefitted from a heavy downpour the day before, and a growing warmth in the air - the Kettering RFC U15's decided to psyche out their opponents by taking a leisurely stroll around the pitch rather than undertake the traditional warm up exercises as had been demonstrated by Northampton Mens Own for the previous 15 minutes. I am led to believe that they wanted to make sure that all the lines had been marked on the pitch! As they were using the First Team pitch I think it would have been highly unlikely that line markings hadn't been done!

Eventually the coaching team persuaded them that a warm up period would be beneficial.

The match kicked off in what is becoming a traditional manner with Ketttering receiving the ball and running to the opponents try line and scoring. This week, it was Tim Hale who had the honour of scoring the first try. Chris Gosling added the extras to make it 7-0 to the home side after 2 minutes.

And this is where the plan to warm up for a reduced period of time seemed to backfire. Mens Own were plenty warmed up and exerted plenty of pressure from the restart. Kettering contrived to lose the ball twice in their own 22 and were undone by a good team try from Mens Own. The conversion was narrowly missed to make the score 7-5 to Kettering after 6 minutes.

A sense of normality resumed from the restart as Tim Hale ran in his second try after 8 minutes. Unfortunately, it was too wide for Chris Gosling to make the conversion so the score remained at 12-5.

Kettering thought they'd now warmed up enough to defend their line but, on 12 minutes, Mens Own replied with another good team try (although there was a hint of a double, if not triple, movement). Again the conversion was missed and the score ticked along to 12-10.

This second try seemed to convince Kettering that they had, indeed, warmed up fully. Mens Own exerted good pressure from the restart but Kettering held firm this time. Kettering won a scrum on their own 22 and, despite having his pack pushed back, Owen Griffiths delivered quick ball to Chris Gosling who offloaded to Tim Hale in the tackle. Tim made good ground before passing out wide to the so-far subdued Jake Lewington. Jake doesn't often fail with ball in hand and 40 metres to run and so it proved on this occasion. Chris Gosling took the conversion with his usual quiet composure to make the score 19-10 after 16 minutes.

The restart was taken and was clumsily knocked on by Kettering on their 22. However, the now warmed-up pack won the scrum against the head and Owen Griffiths again provided quick ball - this time to Tim Hale who raced through on the blind side and decided he didn't need Jake Lewington's assistance. Running through 6 Mens Own players, Tim scored under the posts to allow Chris Gosling an easy conversion. 26-10 to Kettering after 19 minutes.

A slightly less frenetic passage of play ensued from the restart with Kettering taking the ball and advancing up the pitch through various passages of play. From 35 yards out the ball popped out of a ruck to Jake Lewington who, unusually, decided to run straight to the opponents line rather than take a lateral path and run round the opposition! This straight line running suprised Mens Own as Jake ran straight through and over the defence to score.

While all this handbags at dawn stuff was playing out, Chris Gosling adding the extra 2 points to make the score 33-10 with 5 minutes of the half remaining.

Kettering again knocked on at the restart (note to coaches.... high ball catching practice?). From the resulting Mens Own scrum, Kettering found themselves offside. Mens Own exerted good pressure but Kettering produced some resilient defence on their own try line. Another scrum to Mens Own saw their pack drive over the line but the referee decreed the ball had been held up again. This was good solid defence from Kettering. From the 5 metre scrum, Mens Own produced quick ball and passed through to their left wing where they had a 2 man overlap. However, the ball was overthrown to the winger and it went out to give way to half time.

So, at half time in this pulsating league match, Kettering led 33-10.

The second half saw Kettering attacking the club house end. Brandon Lawrence caught the kick off and kicked from inside his own 22. Tim Hale latched onto the loose ball and kicked it downfield to other end before eventually knocking on inside Mens Owns' own 22. Mens Own won their scrum and kicked from defence. This was taken by Chris Gosling on the half way line and he made 30 yards before being brought to ground. With help not quick enough to arrive, Mens Own rucked over the ball and cleared their lines with a kick that was taken by Owen Griffiths whose excellent darting run resulted in another try for Jake Lewington. With Chris Gosling making no mistake of the conversion the score moved on to 40-10 and the game was running away from Mens Own.

At this point the game got a bit scrappy for a while. There was good running from Tim Hale and from Joseph Daniel-Wileman who took a bang to the head while being tackled and went off injured. The highlight of this passage of play was Jack Smith managed to destroy one of his boots and had to be temporarily substituted for running repairs.

Mens Own pressed and much of this scrappy play took place in the Kettering half. They forced a line out on the Kettering 22 by bundling a Kettering player into touch. But, Kettering stole the ball at the line out and quick ball out to Jake Lewington saw normal service resumed as he ran first across the field and then towards the try line as he ran round the Mens Own defence. With 2 more points from the assured boot of Chris Gosling the score advanced to 47-10 with a quarter of the game to go.

A curious passage of play resulted from the restart. Brandon Lawrence caught the ball on his 22. Nothing unusual about that or the fact that he decided to run with the ball. What was unusual was that he thought his name was Jake Lewington and he decided he could run round the opposition and, having got bored with doing it once, he turned infield and proceded to do it again bamboozling the opposition, his own team and all the spectators!! Then he make a dash for the try line and by the time he got there he had a couple of Mens Own defenders clinging on but his momentum took him over the try line. This took the score to 52-10 as the conversion was missed

However, there was still fight in the Mens Own team and 2 minutes later they scored a try of their own in the right wing corner. It was too far out for the conversion so the score stayed at 52-15.

Another curious passage of play ensued from the restart. Harry Simmonds restart kicking had been exemplary all game but, on this restart, he overcooked it and the ball ran into the goal area. However, Mens Own chose to run the ball out of defence with great success - although there was a high degree of consternation coming from the mouths of the Mens Own coaching team - as the ball eventually went out for a Kettering line out about 40 yards from the Mens Own line. Kettering duly won their line out and good passing across the field saw Jake Lewington do what he does best to take the score to 57-15 with 22 minutes of the second half gone.

Just 2 minutes later and Jake Lewington was over the whitewash again. Having taken the ball from the restart he outran Mens Own tiring defence to advance the score to 62-15 which is how it stayed until the final whistle.

It was an excellent all round team performance with noteworthy displays coming from those who scored and especially Owen Griffiths and Harry Simmonds.

It was also encouraging to see that the squad has strength in depth. Arthur Jones was unavailable through injury but his boots were filled admirably on the day by Sam Lloyd, Harry Simmonds and Chris Gosling. Look at that Arthur.... it took 3 men to fill your boots!!

Man Of The Match = would have gone to Owen Griffiths for another outstanding performance. However, he had departed so Jack Smith was given the honour of downing the gunge
Dotd = Harry Simmonds for the worlds longest double movement (something I appear to have missed in my match report. Sorry Harry).