St Ives 1XV vs. Kempston 1XV
After torrential downpours throughout the night and the morning, Saturday was beginning to look like it could be a messy, scrappy day for St Ives in this latest instalment of the 2006/07 season; thankfully the team had other ideas and turned out one of their best performances so far.
With one of their strongest squads of the season, St Ives were keen to take the game to Kempston from the start, and from the kick off a good chase by the forwards put the visiting team under pressure – forcing the knock on just outside the opposition 22. Unfortunately this prime possession did not result in a score, but it was not going to be long before St Ives opened their account. The very next attack provided another opportunity with Kempston penalised for a ruck infringement. Jack Blackley stepped up for the attempt but was unfortunately unsuccessful.
The ball then found its way to John Paxton, who took the chance to launch an attack down the right hand side, rapidly running out of room; John chipped the ball through for the chasing support. Mike Sykes was quickest to react and some good footballing skills saw the move continue towards the posts. Mike was unfortunate to be unable to complete the move, with the ball stopping dead in one of the many puddles but Marc Sands was on hand to collect and score for St Ives’ opening points. Jack Blackley was successful with the conversion.
It was not long before St Ives scored their second try of the afternoon. From the restart the attack found space for Charles Paxton out wide, who took his chance with ease and strolled in under the posts to give Blackley another easy conversion chance. A third was not far away either, some good support play and efficient rucking from the St Ives pack created the space needed on the wing for Marc Sands to score his second of the afternoon, again under the posts and again Jack conversion attempt was good. It was becoming increasingly apparent that the Kempston defence were simply unable to cope with the pace of the St Ives backline, and the St Ives forwards were working overtime to ensure that the ball supplied to them was as clean as possible.
With the first half drawing to a close, St Ives were provided with another penalty chance just to the right of the posts, Jack Blackley was successful with this attempt and the half time score came in at St Ives 24 – Kempston 0.
The half time talk from Ross Thompson concentrated on ensuring that St Ives maintained their game plan and that the free flowing game did not encourage people to try one man attempts. The squad took this on board and enjoyed an equally thrilling second half. Battling now against the slope and into a blustery wind, Kempston were finding some of the possession coming their way. They had upped the pressure in the tight and the St Ives pack had to work harder to keep the quick ball supply. It did not take long for St Ives to provide the killer blow again. Kempston were resorting to kicking for territory, using the wind behind them. Fortunately for St Ives, the accuracy was not great with one of the kicks finding its way into the arms of Marc Sands. Marc then sprinted off up the field, breaking the first and only tackle to score once again under the posts and completing his hat trick. Jack’s conversion attempt was good.
St Ives then saw Steve Parkes and his opposite number sent to the sin bin for a bout of hand bags at dawn, soon to be followed by Mike Sykes for playing the ball on the ground. With thirteen men on the field it became apparent that St Ives had to shut up shop and ensure that no points were conceded in this time. In fact the opposite occurred, a series of infringements from Kempston found St Ives marching their way up the field and quick thinking from new boy Oli Jones saw the opportunity on the left for Charles Paxton to cross the line for his second of the day, unfortunately Jack could not convert the attempt.
After 10 minutes of solid defence Steve and Mike were able to rejoin the game and St Ives could open their expansive game once again. The final points came from John Paxton, whose constant harassment finally paid off, breaking the gap and scoring on the right hand side. Jack was unsuccessful with the attempt and the score came to 41-0.
The final 15 minutes saw St Ives relax and unfortunately concede a try too but by this point the game was easily won. Speaking after the game Ross Thompson was ecstatic with the result. This has been threatening to happen for a number of weeks now and I’m glad that it has come good! The backs played tremendously well today and the forwards have toiled relentlessly to provide them with the ball they needed. Mike Sykes is enjoying himself at inside centre at the moment and he and Jack Blackley seem to be working well together. It is also good to see that there is still room for improvement! We must keep the momentum going now as we travel away to Market Harborough next weekend.
Final score St Ives 41 – Kempston 7