This Sunday was Kettering’s first outing in a cup competition, with the aid of a bye we kicked things off straight into round 2.

Long Buckby travelling to Waverley Road as our round 2 opponents. Long Bucky have teamed with Rugby St. Andrews to merge their player pool. KRFC U14s got to site nice and early, a swift brief in the changing room about our intended game plan and then it was straight out for a warm up and stay out until kick-off.

We initially intended to play on Chesil Bank but due to some patches of frost we moved our fixture to the 1st XV pitch. A really wide pitch that would mean tweaking the game plan a tad to take advantage of the width.

Kick Off arrived and Kettering started strong, not afraid to play out wide, left then right and scoring early on to help settle nerves and raise confidence. Players getting their hands on the ball early to get use to on-the-ball decision making. Our back three looking hungry for the ball and working together in attack well, the back three are quick guys and grew more confident as the game went on.

Long Buckby took hold of the ball for a lengthy period of the first half, keeping possession and territory in Kettering’s half. Long Buckby were happy to throw everything at the Blues but Kettering defended well, motivated by players wanting to be top of the tackle count. There were some useful turn-overs by Kettering, quite often when Long Buckby looked close to scoring. This period of play was a great test and a highlight of Long Buckby’s morning.

By half time Kettering were a few scores up and looking to problem solve the opposition lineout. Long Buckby using an effective driving maul which KRFC struggled to contend with (something to consider come the New Year). Kettering were set some challenges at half time, looking at a kicking game and working on defence and defensive structure.

The second half saw Kettering trying to use a bit of pick & go and kicking long to defend as a blue line. Didn’t quite work out but the forwards stepped up with some scores of their own.

Some highlights of the game included:

Great defensive display from the Kettering midfield, 10, 12 and 13 are some of the smaller players but defended all day long putting in many tackles. As a consequence of the good work, just the pressure from moving forward caused turn overs. The middle of the pitch looked solid as a consequence.

The Kettering Back Row had a great day in attack and defence. The BR boys looked for extra work in defence, making tackles and looking for turnovers and in attack, they all carried well and supported ball carriers.

Long Buckby’s sustained attack on Kettering’s line in the first half, great defence from Kettering and an awesome effort from Long Buckby to launch attack after attack.

Long Buckby’s no.8 heroic defensive work in the second half, denied what looked like a straightforward score by hitting a tackle super hard and working hard to defend again instantly to keep Kettering out.

KRFC U14s will enjoy a break now until the New Year, Friday brings the players Christmas party, but other than that…..enjoy the break and see everyone in January.