Rugby
Boers, balloons and baths BY JEREMY BESWICK
O
akham started the month with a narrow defeat at home to Ashbourne 20-25 but followed up with two wins as they continued their slow but inexorable climb towards the top of the table. Second spot, meaning a play-off for promotion, doesn’t look beyond them. Coach Tom Armstrong was disappointed not to beat Aylestone St James by a wider margin than 18-6: “We had played once in five weeks and I think that showed”, he said. Tries from James Beanland and Adam Stimson contributed. The next home match posed more of a challenge, Oaks having lost away to Leicester Forest earlier in the season. A lively first half saw number 7 Carel Fourie at his ‘combative’ best, seemingly re-enacting his own version of the Boer War. Certainly no Valentine’s Cards will be forthcoming from the opposing side and a penalty, a try from a rolling maul and the conversion saw Oaks 10-0 up at half time. Doubtless it was cold hands in the freezing conditions that caused both sides to spill the ball so often in the second half; play was at times reminiscent of a dog chasing a balloon, but Oaks eventually ground out a pleasing 13-0 win, the Leicester backs failing to carve out any clear
scoring opportunities. However, the highlight of the day was your author winning £72 in the club raffle. The surprise that Stamford Town had in store for us this month was not three wins, but a defeat in the last match before their cup semi-final against Stourbridge. Unbeaten going into the fixture at Rushden and Higham, they led 11-3 at the break but allowed The Den to make good use of the slope and dominate the second half, finally losing 11-31 and suffering the indignity of a bonus point to the opposition. Captain Matt Albinson had warned of complacency earlier in the month and time will tell if this was a glitch ahead of their glamour tie or something more troubling. Previously, it had been service as usual with victories away to Daventry (15-8) home to Stockwood Park (48-7) and at Northampton Casuals (43-0, Matt Jane and Mark Taylor both with two tries). Stamford College Old Boys opened with a creditable 5-5 draw away to Corby, which was nearly even better. “We dominated the second half and were inches away from a winning try” said skipper Carl Walker. This was a welcome relief from what all acknowledge to be a tough season – later they lost 0-66 to St Ives,
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0-52 to Bedford Swifts and had to concede the match with St Neots. What is impressive about College is their never-saydie attitude, still competing and scrapping when 40 points down. Walker points out they’re still a young side, especially in the back division and singled out Haydn Johns and Adam Chapman as two for the future. Deepings opened with a 25-20 home victory against Northampton Casuals followed by a very creditable 15-21 win in the swimming baths that was Queens’ back-up pitch. Chris Sorlie and Ross McLean were among the try scorers. Captain Dan Ainsworth was disappointed that a last minute Queens try cost them a bonus point, but was more positive about the loss to in-form Rugby St Andrews that followed, “taking plenty of positives” from a match that he reckoned could have gone either way, as they lost 12-22. Fewer consolations could be taken from the 50-0 thrashing at Stewarts and Lloyds, although the side was weakened by injuries. Ainsworth points out that their next three games are against teams with a similar points tally. “If we win all three we’ll climb the table” he says. Still some way to go to match the table-topping ladies team then.
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