BLUES ESCAPE TO VICTORY
OLD NORTHAMPTONIANS 19 – KETTERING 28
See match day pix
Kettering knew that this was always going to be a difficult game, against a side fighting for their place in Midlands 2 East, but no-one would have predicted that it would be quite so tense and in the end the Blues were fortunate to come away with the 2 points, after they trailed by 5 points with 15 minutes to go.
The game began with both sides competing physically for every scrap of possession and O.N.’s drew first blood with a penalty, after Joey Hamilton had somehow been sin-binned for retaliation when the original offender escaped unpunished.
Kettering hit back and Will Griffiths scored an opportunist try from a quickly taken penalty, which man of the match Tim Jones converted. A second O.N.’s penalty closed the gap, and then right on half-time, another penalty gave the hosts the lead.
With Kettering struggling to maintain any continuity, and making too many unforced errors, the warning signs were already there for all to see. The Blues took the lead again, however, in the 47th minute, when Griffiths made the initial break, fed Paul Gibson who in turn moved the ball on to Rory Keir. The wing forward then passed the ball to Darren ethridge, who burst clear to score a fine try, which Jones again converted, to make the score 14-9.
O.N.’s then put the Blues under constant pressure for the next 5 minutes, at the end of which Jono Barton was sin-binned, again for retaliation while the O.N.’s forward again going unpunished! From the resultant penalty the home side crossed for a try from a catch and drive at a lineout. And then with 15 minutes left things went from bad to worse, as a quick turnover at a ruck saw O.N.’s hack the ball upfield, and when a tiring Griffiths lost the race to the ball, the chasing home sides centre picked up and scored an unconverted try to give the O.N.’s a 5 point advantage.
With Kettering back to a full complement the tide began to turn, and a spell of pressure close to the home line, eventually saw Paul Gibson smash his way through a number of tackles to score under the posts. Jones’ conversion gave the Blues the lead, and the impetus to go on and win the game, which was finally achieved when Darren Etheridge spotted a space behind the defence, chipped over the top and Nathan Satala collected the ball to score the final try, which was again converted by Jones.
The Blues go into the 2 week break knowing that they will have to perform better than this to secure the title, but pleased with the character they showed in fighting back, when they could quite easily have folded under the pressure exerted on them by their fired up opponents.
RAJ Man of the Match: TIM JONES
KETTERING 2ND xv 42 OLD NORTHAMPTONIANS 2ND xv 0
The Kettering 2nd string had an impressive win over their local rivals in their final Wells Bombardier Merit League game, which means that their nearest rivals for the title, Peterborough 2nds need to win their last game, away at Luton, by 68 clear points to wrestle the top spot from the Blues.
