www.bostonbuzz.co.uk

The prime platform for Boston and District sports news

Spotlight on the Boston rugby scene

Boston Rugby Club

Reports round-up

February 2006 match action details Club’s own website: www.bostonrugbyclub.co.uk

February 25 round-up

Boston 2nd XV 0, Westwood Lions 12

ON a blustery Saturday afternoon Westwood Lions travelled up to the Boardsides from Peterborough to play Boston’s second team. From the start, the wind was always going to play an important part of the game. So Westwood elected to play with the elements in their favour in the first half.

The game driven by the forwards was going Westwood’s way and 20 minutes in, the visitors — from a driving maul — popped the ball off to their number seven who, at pace, broke through the Boston line to score. The try was unconverted and Westwood led 5-0 at the interval.

The second half continued to be a forwards-dominated encounter but better position was gained for Boston though the boot of Chris Aitken. Unfortunately Boston were unable to get the ball over the try line. Then, on the break, Westwood managed to score under the posts — a score that was converted.

Boston thus found themselves 12-0 adrift. And despite sticking manfully to their task, the seconds were unable to alter the scoreline before the final whistle. Boston stuck manfully to captain Dave Scott stressed, after the game, the importance of seeing more players at training sessions to enable various moves and technical skills to be honed in readiness for matchdays.

A total of 19 Boston under-13s players made the trip to Derby and acquitted themselves well with a 24-15 victory over their city rivals. On the under-16s front, Boston played their counterparts from Peterborough and in a tight encounter, the scoreline ended up 5-5.

On March 4, Boston Rugby Club officials are organising a sponsors day with the entire mini and junior teams playing in front of their respective backers.

February 18 round-up

Boston 22, East Leake 6

Boston first XV consolidated third place in the Notts, Lincs, Derby and North Leicester League with a comfortable home success over an East Leake side still toiling in the lower reaches of the table.

Teenager Paul Jarvis crowned a glittering first team debut with a try which made sure Boston continued their promotion push. Starting for the first time since he became eligible to play senior rugby following his 17th birthday only two weeks ago, Jarvis showed pace and invention which always troubled the visitors.

And after 55 minutes, Jarvis, a product of the Boston junior section, latched on to a crossfield kick from Rhys Gosling, caught it on the full, and dived over in the corner to put his team firmly in control of the game. The comfort the scoreline gave was a far cry from the early stages of the match when a game East Leake outfit posed Boston, sponsored by Vivaldi, more than a few problems.

The home side showed a number of changes as coach Mick Lyon displayed his frustration with a succession of indifferent performances. Slowly the new formation began to settle down and after good forward pressure, hooker Richie Collins picked up and drove at the heart of the Leake defence before off-loading for Taff Lane to cross the line. Rhys Gosling converted to make the score 7-0.

The Boston forwards continued to dominate, and it came as no surprise when Wayne Sutcliffe scored after a driving maul. Gosling again converted. The home side then took their foot off the gas and the visitors deservedly got back into the game with a drop goal that made the half-time score 14-3.

Boston coach Lyon injected new energy into the side at the interval with the introduction of Simon Cook for veteran Johnny Firth and Darren Barratt switched to scrum half. The move paid off and the Boston pressure told when Jarvis

scored the try which effectively sealed the points.

East Leake reduced the arrears through another penalty but Boston responded almost immediately with another Gosling penalty that also saw the East Leake player sin-binned for not releasing. With the scoreline now at 22-6, Boston kept up the pressure with the introduction of Steve Loveley and Adie Hart. Vivaldi thought they had increased their lead in the dying minutes with another drive by Sutcliffe, but the referee decided he had been held up inches short.

West Norfolk 5 Boston 2nd XV 12

This was always a close game and Boston’s chances were not helped by having to make changes to their pack due to injuries. West Norfolk put the visiting scrum under pressure, but good running and driving meant the visitors were always in the game and only frustrated by West Norfolk’s good defensive tackling.

It was Norfolk who opened the scoring with a good rolling maul followed by some fine running which resulted in the first try. Boston failed to reduce the arrears when Chris Aitken missed a penalty that meant Norfolk went into half time 5-0 ahead.

Boston were doing all the right things but failing to finish until Craig Dowse burst down the blind side to score from 22 metres out following a ruck. The game continued to be dominated by the forwards and could have gone either way.

But with 10minutes left Boston put Norfolk under some pressure and the ball was put through hands out to Peter Stubley who worked with Max Slater on the wing to run in a try under the posts that was converted by Chris Aitken. Captain Dave Scott said this was a good evenly matched game that Boston needed to win and a good all round team effort had produced the result.

February 11 round-up

Long Eaton 0, Boston 1st XV 19

The Jekyll and Hyde qualities of Boston rugby came to the fore in a scrappy encounter at Long Eaton. The visitors were totally dominant in the scrum, average in the lineout and poor in the loose. For much of the first half Boston had to defend and what possession they did have was kicked away. Thus the forwards found it difficult to establish a pattern of play.

As the match wore on it looked as if it was not going to be Boston day when Rhys Gosling failed to convert two kickable penalties. However, on the stroke of half-time from what was possibly the only passage of play that the Vivaldi-sponsored Boston team recycled the ball, centre Chris Atkin bulldozed through the Long Eaton defence to score under the posts for a 7-0 interval lead.

The second half started better with Kenny Doig coming off the bench to replace the injured Lee Van Haren. The visitors then started putting together more phases of rugby and spent more of the time in Long Eaton’s half. Rhys Gosling missed a drop goal attempt in front of the posts but the Boardsiders were compensated by a try from a No 8 pic-up from a 5m scrum. Rhys converted Bens try to stretch the score to 14-0. Firth was then replaced by Jarvis and immediately added an extra dimension to Bostons attacking options.

Although Long Eaton kept playing they were no match for the solid Boston defence and it was only a matter of time before they conceded another try. This time play started from a lineout on half way which was overthrown and caught by Doig who sprinted up the pitch and offloaded to Steve Loveley who drove over their 22. The ball was recycled quickly and taken up to the try line by Simon Cook before being spun out to full-back Steve Bourne to score in the corner. The last 10 minutes of play saw a battling home team try to secure a score but Boston’s solid defence held firm under enormous pressure to keep a clean sheet.

Second XV: Once again the seconds had to resort to a pool game when their opposition Long Eaton cried off their fixture. Not surprisingly when the first team arrived in Nottingham their hosts from the same club had still managed to turn out for a home fixture. In a mis-match game against Spalding Vets the second team lost heavily.

Deepings u16s 17, Boston u16s 7

The under-16s did Boston proud on Sunday with a good performance that was denied by two-break away tries. With everyone playing as a team the forwards had a great game, putting into action what they had learned in training this week. The game remained 0-0 until a breakaway try by Deeping in the last minutes of the first half putting them seven points clear. For much of this half Boston put together a lot of good phases of play. The second half started in similar vein with neither side giving much away. Then after pressure by Boston on Deepings’ 5m line, a knock down from a home clearance saw the ball fed to Scott Williams who scored a great try between the posts. Sam Deptford added the conversion. The pressure was relentless with both sides giving little until Deepings obtained a penalty kick that was converted for them to go into the lead. Following injury, changes were enforced which affected the forward play. Deepings went into the lead with little time left, making the score 17-7. Boston, though, did not give up and in the dying moments of the game, came close to scoring a second try. Man of the match was Billy Wilson who played well throughout.

Boston u13s 29, Market Deeping u13s 12

The Lynx Engineering-sponsored team are on a roll, confidence running high after two victories in a row. Deeping opened the scoring with two tires, one of which was converted. With the half coming to an end, Boston caught their rivals napping and G Wood went over for a try. Three subs and positional changes saw a different team in the second half. The opposition wondered what hit them. With some great play by the forwards and backs, some quality tries were scored by T Cross, J Fosberry, J Ridge (2) plus two conversions helped to seal a fine victory.

Squad: S Grundy, J Williams, T Roberts, T Cross, A Rose, G Wood, L Smith, J Ridge, J Fosberry, L Firth, C Doig, J Powell, H Smith, H Gray, M Elston, L Hampson, C Riley, S Wood.

February 1 (midweek) round-up

Boston 1st XV 35, Skegness 1st XV 10

The Lincolnshire Cup first round tie, played on Wednesday night under floodlights, Boston produced a Jekyll and Hyde performance. But they eventually ran out comfortable winners, securing their passage to the second round. Matches against Skegness are always ones where traditionally the seasiders raise their game and for some unexplained reason Boston lower their performance levels.

True to form, history repeated itself. The vivaldi-sponsored Boston side made the perfect start by scoring within the first two minutes when Adrian Hart went over in the corner after a flowing back move. The score was perhaps too good to be true.

For, as the first half progressed Boston’s overall performance went from bad to worse. In a scrappy half where their contol was poor and loose, the only bright spot was a converted penalty by Rhys Gosling, to extend the home lead to 8-0. For coach Mick Lyon, half-time could not come soon enough to enable him to gather the squad and re focus their efforts with a few well chosen words.

Clearly galvanised by their lecture, Boston started the second half with a different attitude and desire to raise their performance levels.

After 15 minutes Boston produced a flowing move which swept the length of the pitch and they scored a second try. From deep within their own 22m zone, number eight Wayne Sutcliffe carried the ball forward. Ably assisted by the rest of the pack, he was able to quickly switch possession to the backs for centre Darryn Barratt score in the corner and take the lead to 13-3.

Having realised that they could produce controlled phases of rugby, Boston quickly added a third try. From a well executed line out, hooker Ritchie Collins drove into the Skegness defence. The quickly re-cycled ball presented centre Ryan Krause an opportunity to side-step and accelerate his way through the Skegness defence to score a fine solo try under the posts. The conversion by Rhys Gosling took Boston into a 20-3 lead.

At this stage Mick Lyon made a number of subsitutions. Anthony Buckberry came off at prop, and a reshuffle in the pack saw Dan Allen come on at number eight. In the backs, Barratt was replaced by Jarvis, making his first team debut. Soon after this, scrum half John Firth came off and Matt Keightley entered the fray.

By now the blue and whites were in the acendancy and scored a further penalty and two tries (one converted).

A quickly taken tap penalty in the Skegness 22m area by Gosling saw him put centre Ryan Karause into space for the latter to score his second try.

Shortly afterwards, number eight Dan Allen added a fifth score from a pick up and drive from the base of the scrum five metres out to take Boston Vivaldi into a winning lead of 35-10. With five first team players unavailable for this game, it was an opportune moment for Mick Lyon to assess the depth of his squad and for certain players to stake a regular first team place.

This Saturday Boston return to league action when travelling to play at Long Eaton, kick-off 2.30pm. The seconds play host to Long Eaton.

Boston 1st XV: I Sampson, R Collins, A Buckberry, F Cannon, N Lane, W Sutcliffe, S Loveley, S Cooke, J Firth, R Gosling, D Barratt, A Hart, R Krause, P Stubley, S Bourne. Replacements: C Dowse , M Keightley, D Allen.