St Neots in the end powered their way to a victory over Bourne but the visitors started off in promising enough form. Early pressure from Bourne forcing the home side into some poor handling and forced turnovers from some good forward play had them pinned in their own 22 for the first 15 mins.
The difference from last week was after periods of pressure, Bourne scored but this week it was not to be. Each visit to the opposition 22 resulted in handling errors or turnovers.
The deadlock was broken against the run of play on 16 mins. Bourne were in a promising position, managing to recycle the ball a number of times on the St Neots 22. With the wind behind Tom Dixon kicked cross field but winger Matt Rossi lost his footing and slipped. The closest St Neots player smartly collected the ball and ran the full length of the pitch for a Try
This gave St Neots the boost they needed and instantly started to play running rugby with Bourne having to use all their energy reserves to keep St Neots at bay.
St Neots now had the upper hand and broke through the Bourne defence again but James Keywood made another superb try saving tackle. With Bourne still trying to play Rugby they got back into the St Neots 22 only for the ball to be smartly passed down the line and the final pass to Rossi was high and wide which he had no chance of gathering. The result was St Neots smartly collected the ball and passed the ball quickly wide and again to the right winger ran in another try.
Bourne continued to work hard but they were playing a team who put out a settled side each week so had become accustomed with each other’s play and there higher levels of fitness were starting to show.
Bourne turned around for the second half 24-0 down. From the kickoff it was evident St Neots wanted to add to the first half tally and were soon piling pressure on the Bourne defense which couldn’t hold back the St Neots forwards. With Superior fitness St Neots looked strong and full of running.
With St Neots now fully in control Bourne continued to try and hold them up, but with fresh legs via their subs bench they soon started to find gaps and managed to run in further tries. Bourne had only travelled with 2 subs so this was not an option that was available to them so fatigue was beginning to set in with tackles being missed and St Neots running at Bourne at every opportunity.
The Bourne side continued to work hard and still gave the opposition something to think with some big hits from Tom Dixon Jack Berry and Harry Thornburn. Giving up was not on the agenda.
Bourne’s commitment to the cause continued, with no greater example of this than Neil Oglesbee who had left the field (he was clearly in trouble) with a strained buttock muscle. However after some intensive treatment from “Magic hands “Claire Castle he managed to return again to the fray.
Into the last 10 minutes Bourne continued to press for a consolation try. From a Bourne restart Jack Berry caught the ball cleanly and ran straight into the opposition 22 avoiding a couple of St Neots tacklers. Drew Castle smartly passed the ball out from the ensuing ruck to Dan Bonham who made good yards and again the ball was recycled and passed along the line only for the final pass to Matt Rossi not go to hand.
The loss to St Neots clearly showed that St Neots have a fully committed, group of players who train and have the continuity in player availability. Well played St Neots.
Tom Dixon was awarded the Man of the match for his determination, commitment to the cause and work rate. An excellent performance in very difficult circumstances.

Man Of the Match: Tom Dixon

Coach Quote : The players that turned up played for 80 minutes and were committed to the cause. However we need other players to show the same commitment as a group and they must come to training to make progress.

Famous Quote : "It’s not where you start its where you finish ."