Preparation for their game against league leaders Bedford Queens was mixed – numbers at training had remained healthy but there were notable absentees from selection in Donald Sweeting and Jack Berry, wing and fullback respectively. The opposite was true of the forwards with the large number of players available meaning coach Maudsley was forced to leave people out, a mixed blessing according to the head coach.

If the size of the challenge ahead had somehow escaped the Bourne lads a good warm-up seemed to set them in the right frame of mind and the game started at a pace few at Milking Nook Drove had seen in recent years. Kicking possession to Queens from the off might have given the upper hand under normal circumstances but sharp work by the Bourne forwards led to the backs getting their hands on the ball early. Good running and slick handling from Maudsley and his three-quarters meant early yards were made and more endeavor from the forwards meant this was repeated at a frantic pace, something the Queens side couldn’t live with. Eventually the pressure told and Sam Thornburn was the beneficiary finishing the last of several phases with the conversion added by the returning Drew Alexander.

Securing good ball at the restart Adam Binns found himself at scrumhalf who fed Maudsley in his own half who placed a neat cross-field kick towards left winger Josh Lynch. The ball bounced nicely and after gathering it Lynch made good ground before a clever inside pass to the supporting Thornburn who crossed for his second in under ten minutes. Alexander once again added the two points.

Whilst the backs were taking the glory to some extent this very much reflected the effort of the forwards who were all over the park in both attack and defense. Eventually they got their reward when a number of phases recycling the ball was finished with a dart to the line by Andy Brown. Alexander missed the extras.

Thornburn was removed from the action at this point with what appeared to be shin-splints and this threatened to disrupt play, save for the utility Adam Binns who moved from openside to outside-centre. The fourth and ultimately final try came from player-coach Maudsley. After some clever decoy running by centres Sam Harby and Binns allowed Maudsley to shoot through a gap. Maudsley was heading for the corner but stepped inside to avoid the covering defense and appeared to be in for a superb solo try until he was caught with a high tackle just short of the posts. Clearly disappointed to have missed out Maudsley tapped the resulting penalty quickly and darted under the posts. Alexander once again made it the full seven. In under half an hour Bourne were twenty-six points ahead and looked to be cruising. Binns added a long range penalty to make it twenty-nine nil.

Queens who looked like a good side simply starved of any ball finally came into the game and they were the stronger side for the final ten minutes of the half. At a lineout in the Bourne twenty-two prop Jason Rushton was deemed to have pulled the Queens lineout jumper down unsafely and was sent to the sin-bin. This allowed Queens to build on their momentum and a short-while later they were given a scrum under the Bourne posts. Missing Rusthon the decision was made to move Brown from number eight to frontrow, a ploy which ultimately didn’t work. Having dominated the initial scrums the seven-man pack were easily pushed off the ball and the referee saw a number of reasons to award a penalty try. The half finished 29 – 7.

The second half was a stalemate – whilst Queens began to play more like a side worthy of topping the league Bourne were in no mood to give anything away. The opportunity for the backs to create as much as they had in the opening minutes weren’t as frequent, indeed Queens had their fair share of the ball at last. However, the work of the forwards in nullifying the big Queens pack and the general effort of the Bourne side in defending any Queens threats meant the visiting side never looked like scoring.

George Lindley disrupted a number of lineouts, Tom Douglas was a thorn in the side of the Queens side and skipper Tom Dixon put in a Man of the Match appearance. Brown was a welcome addition with a good performance in the backrow and Bourne undoubtedly benefitted from such a strong set of replacements.

Maudsley was delighted after the game, “the first thirty minutes was exactly what I’ve been looking for this season – the forwards gave us a fantastic platform and from there the backs unleashed the potential they have”. Maudsley was keen to heap praise on a number of people, “people will see the likes of Sam scoring so many tries and that’s fantastic, but guys like Sam are the first to point out he only crosses the line after hard work by so many others’. Continuing in the same vein he added, “we’re very much a squad and number of guys missed out on selection tody and they’re rightly disappointed – however, they’re as much a part of this win as anyone else and it’s only come about because all these guys are making training”.

Skipper Dixon whilst pleased with his own performance was also quick to pay credit to the team mentality – “we’re building something good here but it will only take off if everybody buys into it. So far numbers at training have been good, the attitude to everything we do has been excellent and we’re enjoying ourselves. We know we’ll have tough times to come but we’re growing to be a side who can cope with that and continue moving forward”.