Defeat at the hands of Bedford Junior Blues

It was a bitterly cold day at a club whose parking issues make Kettering's look like a free flowing motorway! Anticipation was in the air for the first match of 2015....could Kettering put a disappointing December behind them and find the form from the start of the season that saw them top the table?

It turned out to be a testing day for Kettering and when the teams ran out onto the pitch the supporters feared the worst as the Bedford pack were considerably larger than Kettering's. It also seemed that at least one of their forwards would have been comfortable playing men's rugby!

From the kick off the pack was under pressure but more than held their own at the scrum by pushing the Bedford pack backwards on several occassions.

There were early good breaks by Owen Griffiths, who gained 40 yards breaking several tackles on the way, and then again from Arthur Jones. However, both became isolated as team mates failed to provide support and Bedford rucked over and recovered the ball. This became the pattern of the game with Kettering players making good ground only to find no one had come with them.

Brandon Lawrence was penalised for an allegedly illegal hand off on the half way line and, from the resulting penalty, Bedford raced up their right wing to score the first try of the match on 17 minutes. It was too far out for their kicker so the score remained at 5-0.

This seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Kettering defence - having worked very hard for the first quarter of the match - and the floodgates opened. Bedford scored their second try 2 minutes later and then again 3 minutes later with this last try being converted. The score ticked on to 17-0 to Bedford. These three tries were not so much scored by Bedford as conceded by Kettering.

As is becoming as certain as death and taxes, Chris Gosling went off injured and was replaced by Tom Burges-Lumsden at Full Back. Chris lasted 27 minutes before going off so that was an improvement over the game at Rushden (off after 5 minutes) but not as impressive as against Amptill (off after 25 minutes of the second half).

The final minute of the half saw another try to Bedford following a flowing move which was converted. However, the try was controversially awarded as the ball appeared not to be grounded after a fine chase back and tap tackle from Jake Lewington.

The hosts led 24-0 at halftime.

Another aspect of Kettering's performances that are as certain as death as taxes is that Jacob Lewington will score a try from 50 yards out. And, so it was on this occassion, as Jake raced in to score under the posts after 3 minutes of the 2nd half. Arthur Jones converted to make the score 24-7 and to give the crowd thoughts of a Kettering come back.

Kettering played some good rugby but, just like the first half, a period of 5 minutes in the middle of the half saw Beford score 3 tries to take the score to 41-7 and the thoughts of a recovery dashed.

And, just like the first half, the final minute of the second half saw another Bedford try which was converted to make the score 48-7 at the final whistle.

Although missing a few players - it's hard work with just 2 substitutes - there should have been no reason for making basic mistakes such as tackling by trying to take the opponents shirt off and watching Arthur and Owen make great breaks but not think to trundle up and support them. Perhaps a few training sessions of "back to basics" and "game management" are in order?

Mom - Good performances from Arthur Jones and Luke Benson. But this weeks Man Of The Match was Ben Gordon who was vocal and positive - a real Workhorse in the pack.

Dotd. Anyone who "washed" rather than showered - This appeared to be the entire squad but especially Dylan Hodgeson, Luke Benson and Ethan Bailey.