Powergen Midlands 2 East

Kettering 41      Melton Mowbray 15

‘Gibson’s power sets up Blues victory!’

Kettering moved up a place in the league with this win against the bottom side and it really should have been a more comprehensive victory as they led by nearly thirty points at half time, and then finishing the opposition straight away in the second half, but Melton Mowbray never gave up and made the Blues work hard for the rest of the game being rewarded with two tries of their own.  The squad showed an enforced change from the side selected, Steve Freeman being called into work and young Nick Forscutt was given a starting berth in the back row having made his first team debut last week from the replacements bench.

Melton kicked off in good rugby conditions and in front of a decent crowd, but were quickly defending as the Blues set a cracking pace with forwards and backs looking to get involved and it was this combination that created the first try after seven minutes, eventually the ball reaching Paul Gibson who straightened the line before putting fellow centre Nathan Satala in for the try.  Straight from the kick off though an offside at the restart catch allowed Melton to get on the scoreboard with a penalty.

Kettering were playing all the rugby but too much kicking was giving away possession and this was shown not to be the right tactics as the Blues kept the ball in hand with some deft rugby and Gibson once again made the hard yards before this time putting Tom Bridgeman in under the posts to give Tim Jones an easy conversion.  The home sides forwards were also having a good day and their work created the next try as they turned over a Melton scrum, the ball was moved quickly wide as the Melton defence was caught wrong footed and Satala held the visitors defence before putting Luca Rodger away for the try.

The game was all but over straight from the Melton kick off as prop Joey Hamilton took the restart and ran straight back at the Melton forwards who he found to be wanting in their tackling and he reached their twenty two before offloading to supporting fellow prop Kevin Osborne who ran in for the try, Tim Jones kicking the conversion.  Kettering then increased their lead before half time as Gibson once again broke the Melton line and this time put young Nick Forscutt in for his first ever first team try as he did the support work like a seasoned campaigner.

Half Time:     Kettering Blues 29            Melton Mowbray 3

Kettering started the second half looking to continue their assault on the Melton line, and were soon scoring again as from a penalty and then the line out Joey Hamilton was driven over by the forwards for a typical try, and then the game was certainly all over as again straight from the kick off the Melton fly half tried a chip ahead only for the ball to be caught in the air by Tom Bridgeman who raced in under the post to give Tim Jones another straight forward conversion.

Kettering then rang the changes bring on all three replacements including ex skipper Martin Roberts who has had two seasons of injuries.  These changes seemed to put paid to Ketterings attacking skills as they saved themselves for bigger games to come and Melton Mowbray in the last twenty minutes scored a couple of tries one of which was converted as they refused to lay down.

The Blues travel to Market Bosworth next week and will be looking to continue this good run of form, but the coaching staff will be asking the side to maintain a high tempo of play for the whole eighty minutes as they start to prepare for some big forthcoming games which will have major impacts on the sides season.

The Raj Restaurant ‘Man of the Match’ – Nick Forscutt

Final Score:  Kettering Blues 41          Melton Mowbray 15

Other Scores:

Luton 2nd XV 5 Kettering 2nd XV 14

East Midlands League

With many players unavailable to travel, this was a terrific league win against a National League sides second XV, and the victory was well merited.

Scorers: Patrick Brown; Will Griffiths plus 2 conversions from George Chudley.

Towcester Colts 0  Kettering Colts 14

East Midlands Colts League

Kettering’s unbeaten league campaign continued with this hard fought victory at Towcester.

Scorers: Alex Norwood plus 2 penalties from Bruce Keir and a drop goal from Rob Vials.

Daventry 2nd XV  44  Kettering 3rd XV  10

Scorers:  Jack Hawkes; Ben Watts.

Kettering 5th XV 12  Rushden & Higham 3rd XV 0

Scorers: Martin Cheatham; George Wilson plus 1 conversion from Shane Jackson.       

Kettering Vets 39 Stewarts & Lloyds 3rd XV 0

Scorers: Neil Price (4); Simon Handy; Harvey Smith and Craig Andrews who also kicked 2 conversions.

 

Back to match reports