Results and Reports 23rd September 2007
Kettering under-17s 24 points, St Ives 12
St Ives under-17s travelled to Kettering on a sunny, windy day for their eagerly awaited first game of the season. The first of their three pool matches in the East Midlands league pitched them against a strong Kettering side. Undaunted by the physical disparity, St Ives forwards started superbly and drove back the Kettering forwards, Tom Dowding prominent in the surge. This gave the team heart and, despite a lack of primary possession from lineouts, St Ives began to attack from deep. Dan Breed chipped the ball forward, the wicked bounce collected by Tom Brown whose swift hands to Steve Hehir enough space to out sprint the home defence and score under the posts. Breed converted.
There then followed a lapse of first up defence allowing Kettering forwards to gain momentum. Progress was made down the left flank and finally the kettering forwards broke through to score a converted try.
St Ives fought back into the game, but resolute Kettering defence kept them at bay. Tiring towards the end of the half, Kettering once again found St Ives first up defence weak and several line breaks ended with the ball spun wide for a score in the corner. Half time 12-7 to the home side.
The second half saw a huge effort from St Ives, but it proved to be in vain. Early in the half, Kettering forwards, with the hooker prominent in the loose, drove forward and scored an unconverted try. At this point, St Ives flanker Simon Dunn left the field with a broken hand, which led to severe disruption to the shape of St Ives game. However, man-of-the-match Matt Nice stepped up to flanker and after strong work by the pack was strong enough to shake off the Kettering defence to score in the corner.
There then followed a passage of play when St Ives forwards won sufficient possession for a series of attacks, with David Baker nicking ball at the front of the line. Sadly, the final pass was missing on many occasions, so St Ives failed to profit.
Again, as legs became weary, Kettering put an unexpected gloss on their score with a converted try late in the game.
There was just time for one thunderous tackle by James Wood on the opposition stand-off, but it was a case of what might have been, as St Ives was left to rue the inability to finish off opposition under pressure. Final score 24-12.