Bourne travelled with a small squad of 18, due to unavailability’s and injuries, inclusive of 3 colts players. Despite the small squad spirits were high after some team bonding enroute with ‘all aboard the fun bus ‘.

Bourne kicked off and showed they were up for a match by chasing down the ball, Lindley and Appleby being first there to slow things down and with the aid of the rest of the pack earning themselves a scrum. Although under pressure Wood & Sleight held the scrum steady for Appleby to hook ,Thornburn dragged the ball from the scrum and fed Berry who made an delicate cross field kick to Binns, who jumped and gathered just inside the 22, Bentley was there to support , but Old Newts managed to hold the ball up and cause the turnover, and cleared their line.

The Bourne lineout was not functioning as well as usual and Old Newts turned one over on halfway, their forwards secured the ball and their backs created space to score under the posts , although a last minute tap tackle from Harby almost denied them. Berry tried a sneaky reverse kick from the restart which again paid dividends with Jordan-Boddey put good pressure on the defensive line , taking Bourne back into the Old Newts 22. Old Newts were kicking ahead a lot testing young fullback Lagdon, but he was up to the task in hand and fielded their kicks well, running out of trouble with good support from his wings Bentley and Jordan-Boddey on more than one occasion.

Pressure told though and eventually Bourne succumbed to another try under the posts which was converted, 14-0.
Thomas was replaced after a busy opening spell by colt Dylan Jones at flanker, he made an immediate impact showing his older team mates how to tackle , when stopping the Old Newts try machine No.8. Although 14-0 down Bourne were playing as a team , the scrum was holding its own which in turn gave better ball to the backs. At a scrum on the Bourne 22 centre Harby took the ball and showed his strength taking the team 40m up field , good support from forwards Bonham and Appleby secured the ball and kept the move alive , only to be stopped 10m out by foul play leading to a penalty. Bourne kicked to the corner and Sleight threw a pin point accurate pass tp Appleby at the back of the line, quick off the top ball to Thornburn gave the backs a chance and Binns took a crash ball but was held up just short., the resulting scrum was won by Old Newts and they finally cleared their lines with a kick.

For the remainder of the half Bourne were in the game and for once it was the opposition that were getting niggled with the referee clearly on the side of Bourne who held their tongues and got on with the game. Unfortunately they were unable to score making the half time score 14-0.

Bourne made a further change at half time with Patrick Danielweski coming on at flanker , the kick from the restart however went to the other flanker Jones who caught and secured the ball well, Thornburn chose to kick and Cooke junior and Appleby along with both wings chased and managed to keep possession of the ball, Wood and Bonham both had charges with the ball and then Berry created space for Harby and Binns , again the move was stopped illegally by Old Newts and with the chance in line with the posts Bourne took the 3 points. 14-3.

Injuries were beginning to tell on Bourne with Sleight and Thornburn unable to continue , Bonham moved to prop and Binns to scrum half, Berry could barely run at fly half but struggled on and Jones moved from flanker to centre. Despite a battling performance the trys began to leak in as the defence got tired with a further 6 tries being scored in the second half.

Bourne never gave up and often made plays into the Old Newts half but then being caught on the counter by a full contingent of fresh legs from the substitutes bench, unfortunately Bourne just had too many injuries and some may need some time on the physio’s table. Old Newts certainly knew they had been in a game and it was a good grounding for the challenge of top of the league St Neots next week. Thanks goes to Glynn Jones who drove the minibus for the team, ran touch and even put his kit on as front row replacement.

Coaches Quote : Injuries and the small travelling squad took their toll in the 2nd half

Man of the match : Dylan Jones