Unfortunately maters were not helped as from the kick off, Jack Berry’s clearance kick was charged down and Swifts scored a converted try under the posts within the first minute. Heads did not drop though and from the restart the forwards chased the down ball resulting in a turnover, the back row of Faversham, Cooke Jnr and Hume were letting the opposition know they were there and winning some good ball for the backs. Tom Dixon at fly half was holding onto everything, passes above his head, at his feet and even an occasional one to hand which he was distributing to good effect.

The new centre combination of Bonham and Jones worked well in one move but unfortunately this came to an end when Ant Cooke knocked on. Fortunately for Bourne the front row of Wood, Wilcox and Powell were on form taking the scrum against the head enabling Thornburn to again feed Dixon who chose to kick ahead this time, the Swifts fullback was positioned well and ran the ball back at them, passed to his centre who ran through several tackles to score under the posts. 14- 0 after 20mins.

The heavy pitch was starting to tell when the kick off failed to reach 10m, however the scrum back resulted in another win against the head for the dominant Bourne pack, Thornburn took it on himself this time, and supported by drives from Douglas & Wood Bourne moved up field, the backs were released again with Bonham making good yardage and James Berry running a good angle to take Bourne to 5 out, where Swifts were penalised. Bourne decided to scrimmage, winning the ball but still unable to cross the line, another scrum saw Faversham pick up and go again being stopped just short and winning a penalty. Tom Dixon decided it was time to take the points and kicked over from under the posts, 3-14.

With this positive period of play Bourne had gained some confidence and from the kick ogg Tom Dixon gathered and put a massive 50m kick into touch on the Swifts 22. The lineout was won against the throw by Hume and the resulting ruck led to Swifts being penalised again. Although out wide Dixon decided to take the kick and slotted over from some 30m. 6-14. Bourne remained on top for the final 10 minutes of the half with Matt Ross coming close bundled into touch 5m out. Douglas took a knock to the head during this period being replaced by Rushton who deputised admirably. Half time score 6-14.

Changes were made just after half time with, Bower, Payne, Xipu and Brown coming on to replace tired legs. Play was confined to the centre of the field for the next 15 minutes with many scrums and not a lot of room to run the ball. The one time Bourne did move the ball wide Andy Dixon passed to Ant Cooke who found himself on the wing but he was unable to keep hold of the ball to knock on and yet another scrum! Swifts were beginning to get edgy and did finally break through with their forwards to score in the corner 6-19. This seemed to give them a new impetus and further pressure resulting in Jack Berry being Yellow carded for a deliberate knock on putting Bourne down to 14 men.

It was always going to be a struggle from here and Swifts ran in a couple more trys with the advantage of an extra man and it could have been more had the defence not been solid, Harry Bower made one excellent try saving tackle just short of the line and everyone battled hard but the score was now up to 6-33.
Bourne never gave up and played as a team , Ewan Jones had a good break and Andy Brown bulldozed his way up field on a couple of occasions, all that’s needed is for something to click in midfield and a couple of wins shouldn’t be too far away from happening.

Swifts did score again making the final score 6-40 , but heads should be held high for a more disciplined positive performance.
This was a credit to the work the coaches have put in during the past months, after the heavy defeat at the start of the season and also to Mark Thomas who deputised on the day.

Man of the Match Tom Dixon

Coaches Quote : I only asked for one thing today discipline and I got that, it was one of our best games against a top team.

Bedford Swifts Coach: I can’t believe you have not won more matches, that was a tough game for us

Famous Rugby Quote: Failure is the road to success