Tough day at the office for Bourne 2nds at Lincoln

From the onset we knew it was going to be a tough day at the office. The weather was grim with a cold wind and the ground was boggy. A day for up the jumper rugby.

In the opening minutes we let in a very soft try due to first up tackles being missed. That seemed to be an ongoing theme throughout the game. Jake Appleby, our team captain, rallied the troops keeping things positive, focusing on slowing things down to play our style of rugby as Lincoln liked to play at pace.

Some fresh faces to a mixed Bourne team; Darran Forbes starting his first 80 mins on the wing learnt very quickly how important it is to tackle low after being steamrollered, which led to a Lincoln break away try. Darran managed to correct his form and made some vital tackles that stopped players later in the game.

Charlie Short stepped up and put his body on the line when called to defend our try line, he also made some yards when carrying.

Stand up performances from all, including our stalwart kicker, Sam Evison, keeping us in the game.

Sam Harby made some line breaks and Lincoln supporters and coaches were more than complimentary about his performance.

Our resident leaping salmon George Lindley made lines and hits that were textbook. Always giving that extra something at line out time.

Dan Smith made some crunching tackles and made a huge clear out at the break down. He reflected on the day's performance by commenting: "It was a tough opposition but we made things hard for ourselves with individual errors. We did show good character to keep going and when we played our game, we had some good phases of play. Scrum time we dominated all game.”

Jason Goodyear performed well at loose head securing a push when needed, and the late appearance of Nogs' (Neil Oglesbee) strength only added to scrum time. Antony Hilliam-Cooke's presence was always felt around the park.

Team Manager John Hume dazzled players with his shiny new Casio watch, and shouted positive comments from the side lines. Later John stated: "It wasn’t our day, but we never gave up showing true grit and determination, something inbred in Bourne Rugby Club players.
Our scrums were dominant and we managed to steel their ball on several occasions."

The score didn’t reflect the feeling of all players leaving the field; a test of character and stamina for all that traveled to make the game possible.

Our team Man of the Match went to Matt Kidd who made a stunning run stepping 3-4 players and genuinely shone throughout the game.

Try scorers:
Tins aka Christopher Greenwood
Sam Thornburn
Matt Kidd
Bean aka Sam Harby x 2
Conversions: Sam Evison