Reality check for Bourne in second pre-season friendly

After opening their 2018/19 season with a good win over Kesteven, Bourne's second pre-season friendly was something of a reality check.

The newly promoted Midlands 3 South-East side were on the road to Sleaford who, like Kesteven, are established in Midlands 3 North-East. Bourne travelled with a few key players missing but were looking forward to the game confident that the club has genuine strength-in-depth including a number of players relatively fresh from their win the week before.

The visitors started well and from the kick-off enjoyed the lion's share of possession and territory. Whilst both teams looked to find their rhythm it was Bourne who made the early inroads. Disrupting any ball Sleaford could get their hands on, the Bourne forwards seemed to produce a solid platform for their backs but with a new line-up progress was limited by a number of passing errors. Despite these, Bourne held onto the ball and slowly built their phases and continued to move forward. Enjoying a rare opportunity in the backrow Andrew Brown was the most effective of the forwards and continually put them on the front-foot. Brown was well supported by his skipper Tom Dixon and hooker Harry Thornburn

Despite Bourne's efforts, the opening twenty minutes were scoreless and it was in fact the home side that took the lead. With the ball in possession Sleaford looked to push Bourne back towards their own line and kicked to the corner; the Sleaford wing chased hard but with fullback John Burgin and wing Josh Lynch covering it seemed Bourne had the matter in hand. A sublime piece of footballing skill saw the Sleaford right-wing dribble the ball off the touchline and back infield before stepping inside himself to gather and cross the line. Finishing in the corner Sleaford were unable to add the extras. Whilst very much against the grain, and perhaps a touch fortunate, there was no arguing that Sleaford, in contrast to their guests, were capable of executing their chances.

But it was Bourne who next created some luck and made the most of the opportunity that followed. Spotting space out wide flyhalf Jack Lagdon, making his second consecutive start, put a speculative kick across the field which was gathered against the odds by Lynch who then beat the remaining defenders to cross and tie the scoreline. With the reliable boot of Sam Evison missing, kicking duties fell to Tom Dixon who fell just short with his effort.

The final minutes of the first half were played in similar fashion with both sides a match for each other. And the opening minutes of the second half indicated the game would continue to be closely fought as Bourne repelled Sleaford's first significant attack and won themselves a penalty. Bourne skipper Dixon was first to react and took a quick penalty before galloping thirty yards through the unwitting defense before throwing an ill-timed pass which the Sleaford right-wing pounced on. Cruising with ease to Bourne's unprotected tryline the winger took his personal tally to ten points and with the extras in front of goal his team were now a full seven points ahead.

Whilst Dixon's error wasn't the turning point in the game it coincided with a number of injuries within the Bourne side and there was a clear shift in momentum. Sleaford looked to be getting better towards the final quarter whereas Bourne were now trying to plug gaps in various positions. Lacking structure they also began to lack discipline and a string of penalties cemented Sleaford's position as the dominant side. A couple of missed tackles allowed the hosts to extend their lead and the game was all but over when the referee, amongst some confusion, then awarded a penalty-try. 2nd XV hooker Ben Haigh, covering on the wing, appeared to legitimately tap-tackle his opposite man but was adjudged to have tripped him.

With just a few minutes to go Sleaford ran some decent team phases, the pressure of which led to their final try of the night when their backline finished a good run of play against an almost non-existent defense.

At 35 - 5 the game was done but Bourne refused to give up and with their hands on the ball they tried desperately to create something from their own half. But once again the whistle went agaisnt them and they had relinquished the ball back to Sleaford courtesy of another penalty. Sensing enough was enough Sleaford chose to kick for touch bringing the game to an end.

There were some decent performances within the Bourne side, regular replacement JD Charlton picked up the Man of the Match award after an hour covering at scrumhalf; young flyhalf Lagdon grew into the game and played a big part in Bourne's only try and, before picking up injuries, Thornburn, last week's Man of the Match George Lindley and backrow Dan Smith, were all performing well.

Bourne coach Dave Maudsley was in mixed spirits after the final whistle, "There's no arguing we loast to a better side on the night but I don't believe the scoreline does us justice. It's something of a reality check for us and as always we'll take away plenty to work on, but for a number of reasons there are actually quite a lot of positives and it's important we don't lose sight of that"

Regular backrower Adam Binns, sidelined through injury, assisted with the coaching on the night and appeared happy that moving forward his team-mates didn't need to worry too much, "We weren't great but there were number of guys out there who weren't involved last week and with new faces and guys in new positions, structure is hard to find. We were level for almost fifty minutes, made a mistake and then suffered one or two injuries; most sides would fall behind after that!"

Maudsley echoed Binns' sentiments, "Last year we learnt to cope and we need to remember how. Just like last year we'll make mistakes, we'll lose players, we'll disagree with decisions but just like last year we'll have to put such moments behind us and crack on."