Loss To Sileby Not The End Of The World

Preparation was poor the morning of the game with the untimely withdrawl of Danny Gill due to illness and a late departure from Bourne for the team minibus.

There was no time for a warm-up but this initially didn’t seem to phase Bourne who applied pressure from the start. On a tiny pitch it was evident that penalties anywhere would be costly and after some decent rucking by the Bourne forwards Jack Berry, back at fullback, quickly added two penalties in quick succession.

It was Berry again who proved decisive in Bourne’s next scoring opportunity when finding himself at first receiver shortly after a Bourne lineout on the halfway line he glided between two Sileby forwards; meeting the cover defense he then provided a well-timed pass to Sam Thornburn who crossed in the corner. Berry also added the conversion.

For the second week in a row Thornburn then withdrew with an injury that may prove to be far too lengthy for Bourne’s liking. However, 13 – 0 up and with SamvThornburn replaced by the very able Josh Lynch Bourne seemed to be comfortably the better side.

Unfortunately for the visitors though Silbey came to life and the home pack started to enjoy some possession and some ‘go forward’. Dominating most of the scrums, winning their own lineouts and harassing Bourne scrumhalf Harry Thornburn every time Bourne took possession at a lineout starved the Bourne backline of any ball. The pressure eventually told when in a short period of time towards the end of the first half Sileby first crossed with a driving maul and then scored a second in the corner after the Bourne defense got drawn into defending another maul heading for the posts only to find the ball shipped wide.

With one of the Silbey trys being converted and an early penalty to include Bourne reached half-time 19 – 15 up. Having effectively used the first half as their warm-up Bourne now looked short of a second wind, contrary to Sileby who had found some real momentum. An array of decisions then went against Bourne and eventually Jack Berry found himself yellow carded after a team warning from the ref. With a man missing and what appeared to be a lack of consistency in the ref’s decision making the visiting side were clearly unsure how to approach the game and general play became very scrappy.

Sileby’s forward dominance continued and a push-over try form a scrum on the Bourne 5m line took Silbey to 20 – 19 and they shortly added another penalty taking them to 23 – 19. With very little ball and a degree of desperation Bourne, through player-coach Dave Maudsley and captain Tom Dixon then started to spark some sort of revival. After Maudsley chipped the Sileby backline in his own 22 Josh Lynch gathered the ball and made good ground reaching the halfway line but couldn’t quite provide a good enough pass to the supporting Maudsley who appeared to have a clear run to the line. Maudsley then made a break himself before putting through a kick for winger Jack Lagdon to gather but the ball rolled unkindly allowing the Sileby defense time to cover. From the resulting series of rucks a number of the Bourne lads attempted to pick-and-go but each fell short of the tryline. There were then a string of penalties against the home side but Bourne could not convert the pressure and eventually coughed up possession.

Chris Wheeler put in his best performance of the season with a solid effort at the scrum and lineout, along with some strong work in open play, and with Tom Dixon and Adam Binns on the flanks Bourne were unlucky not to turn over a number of rucks, instead falling foul of the referee and giving away a string of penalties. Frustration crept in with a number of the players voicing their dismay at such inconsistency which only resulted in the Bourne defense being marched back a further 10m.

Sileby eventually made their way back down towards the Bourne end of the pitch and with time running away Bourne came to the realization that a losing bonus point might be all they’d take away from the game. However, even that was snatched away from them when the Silbey pack, worthy of a final try, drove over from a scrum once again taking them to 28 – 19.

In contrast to the jubilant celebrations of Silbey who had moved to top of the league with the win Bourne were disappointed by both the result and their performance. Coach Maudsley however was in reflective mood – “that was a reality check for us “ he said after the game, “we did really well last week but came here without even time to warm-up – that isn’t something a side can do if they want a realistic chance of competing in a game, particularly away to first or second in the league”. He went on to say “we were disappointed by how poor we were in the second half but credit where credit’s due, Silbey had outplayed us by the end of the game”.

Having now played most of the top teams away captain Tom Dixon is confident Bourne can continue to build on their success this season, “we recognise we’re developing and it says something that we were disappointed today; previously we might have thought that was a good result, but we know Silbey were there to be beaten and ultimately we didn’t perform. We’ve had four tough away games, winning one and losing each of the other three by less than ten points – we’re really looking forward to these sides coming to us in the future”.

Man Of the Match Jack Berry - Season MVP Candidate