Bourne prove point against Wellingborough O.G.

Bourne started the New Year with a bang when they faced league challengers Wellingborough Old Grammarians. Having underperformed in the away leg Bourne were keen to make amends and fielded a strong side.

WOGs came out of the blocks first and the opening minutes saw the home side under huge pressure. Missed tackles allowed the visitors opportunity to move forward and a string of phases eventually led to a penalty - with this converted Bourne found themselves behind right from the start.

Bourne considered the slim lead a let-off and from the restart started to build their own pressure. With the wind behind them the hosts positioned themselves in their opponent's half and enjoyed some decent possession. Solid defence from WOGs and a number of mistakes with the ball in hand held Bourne back and a number of scoring opportunities seemed to be going begging until player-coach Dave Maudsley floated a sublime pass over the heads of the WOGs backline into the path of the oncoming wing Josh Lynch who ran in untroubled for the first score of the day. With the normally reliable Sam Evison unable to convert from the touchline the score remained 5 - 3.

From the restart Bourne quickly found themselves in a good position and with their defence rectified they kept WOGs pinned in their own half. Some particularly good defence from the centre pairing of Sam Harby and JD Charlton led to a fumble by WOGs and Harby was the first to react kicking the ball towards the tryline before beating his opposite man to touch down and extend the lead. With Evison converting Bourne seemed to be growing into the game.

The Bourne pack have been getting better and better as the season has progressed and whilst they did enough to win their own line out and occasionally disrupt their opponents' ball it was scrumtime where they utterly dominated and this proved a useful platform for the backs. A short while later it was the backs once again taking the glory as Maudsley once again found Lynch after a well-executed back move - with plenty still to do though Lynch made light work of beating four men to cross once again. With a difficult wind blowing Evison failed to add the extras and Bourne turned round at half-time 17 - 3 up.

Although conditions had taken a turn for the worse Bourne were seemingly in control at the start of the second half and started where they had left off with WOGs pinned to their own line. A lot of good work was undone though when hooker Harry Thornburn let his discipline slip as he needlessly put in a late tackle on the WOG flyhalf. Thornburn received a yellow card and WOGs relieved the pressure clearing the resulting penalty into the Bourne half.

Bourne were soon back where they wanted to be and with second row Andrew Brown covering at hooker and centre Harby once again covering the second row the forwards dominated scrums and breakdowns, so much so that under the pressure WOGs gave away a string of penalties and eventually lost one of their own to the sin-bin. Sensing an opportunity skipper Tom Dixon continued to call scrum at each penalty awarded and the Bourne pack received their reward with a push-over try from five metres out, although it was stolen at the line by scrumhalf Evison who's name ended up on the scoresheet. Having an off day with the boot though Evison failed to convert.

Evison made amends a short while later with a penalty to keep the scoreboard ticking over and with tewnty minutes to go Bourne were 25 - 3 up and clearly looking to rack up the points.

The next try for the home side was a solid team effort involving almost the entire team. Having recycled numerous phases and dragged their opposition from one side to the other the ball was shipped once more to the far side of the pitch where veteran second row Antony Cooke fed winger JJ Roberts with one man to beat. Roberts was unable to beat his man though and looked as though the Bourne move had come to an end until Cooke appeared outside Roberts having had the foresight to loop once he'd given the pass - he crossed in the corner for arguably the try of the day.

At 30 - 3 Bourne were cruising until they found themselves on the wrong side of the referee and the final fifteen minutes proved difficult as time and time again they gave away penalties in key areas of the pitch. Bourne seemed genuinely confused by the sudden barrage of penalties but the WOGs side were energised by this and started to build some real momentum. The WOGs flyhalf seemed to have squandered an opportuity when in open play he kicked with a clear overlap but luck went against Bourne when the ball was gathered by the WOGs winger who appeared to have initially been in front and he went onto score.

With ten minutes left and the the rub of the green seemingly being destined to be with the visitors for the remainder of the game there was concern amongst the Bourne side that they could be in trouble. And WOGs certainly seemed to feel they might clutch a miracle win as they came straight back at their hosts from the restart. It wasn't to be though as Bourne showed they also had the measure of their opponents in defence as well. Solid tackling around the breakdown and some heroic last ditch tackling repeatedly sent the WOG attackers back and although they came back harder each time Bourne were happy to match their physicality and clearly weren't willing to concede another try.

Maudsley was in high spirits after the game, "that's a fantastic result for the lads! We felt we let ourselves down at their place and wanted to prove a point. Although Wellingborough are a good side and put in a solid performance today we felt we had a stronger side out than last time and were confident we wouldn't make the same mistakes. We know we have guys that can score tries but that last ten minutes means more to me than anything - the determination to make so many hits and keep their lads out was incredible!"

Dixon playing at number eight and flanker Sion Williams were nominated joint Man of the Match by the WOG side. Dixon said "It was another good performance from the lads. We had a strong side available and everybody put in a shift today - as well as having so many good players in the starting line-up it's great that we can make use of good players off the bench." Williams added, "the lads are really enjoying their rugby at the moment. There's a great feeling amongst the side and training and socialising together is helping build team-spirit which we're taking into games. No games are easy but when you're up against it and you look round and see your mates you find the extra energy that sometimes lifts your game."

Asked about the possibility of promotion Maudsley said: "there's a long way to go yet and plenty of rugby to be played. Personally I have mixed feelings about it but there's a lot of talented young lads in the side who deserve the chance if it's there. We'll only ever take one game at a time though so our next job is Aylestone away. If we continue playing well and winning then I guess promotion might become more of a reality and if it did it would of course be a big thing for the Club and everyone involved in it."

Bourne: Appleby, H Thornburn, Greenwood, Brown, Cooke, Smith, Williams, Dixon, Evison, Maudsley, Lagdon, Harby, Charlton, Lynch, Berry, C Wheeler, J Wheeler, S Thornburn, M Holden, Roberts