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Boston Rugby Club

Reports round-up

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

March 25 round-up

Boston 1st XV 18, Worksop 1st XV 12

Boston Rugby Club first XV eventually secured victory from a tough, tight and tensely contested encounter to maintain their promotion push, against a typically spirited Worksop team. In recent times Worksop have been Boston’s bogey team. And Saturday’s performance again displayed all the hallmarks of the Vivaldi-sponsored Boston side getting into a winning position only to throw it away. This time, however — despite another Jekyll and Hyde display — They came through.

With six regular first team players unavailable coach Mick Lyon had to ring the changes. Full-back Ste Bourne captained the side and welcomed Tom Kemp back at scrum half. In the pack Dan Allen and Nigel Lane returned at number eight and second row respectively.

With the advantage of a strong wind in the first half, Boston knew they would have to accumulate sufficient points to defend against in the second period. In a dream start, the home side opened the scoring after two minutes. A misdirected cross field kick out of defence by Worksop landed invitingly into winger Paul Jarvis’ hands, who with aplomb outpaced his opposite number and full-back to score in the corner and move Boston into a 5-0 lead.

Frustratingly for the home crowd, despite having considerable possession, the home side failed to convert a number of penalty opportunities and indeed started to concede penalties for infringements in the loose. Midway in the half Boston registered their second try. From a lineout 5m out, a well-rehearsed move, saw back row Lee Van Haren in a front peel off. And with no opposition present he scored in the corner to extend Boston’s lead to 10-0 at half-time.

For long periods in the second half Boston remained pinned in their own half and defensively on the back foot.

The forwards, in particular, had to put in a considerable amount of tackling around the fringes as the heavier Worksop pack increased pressure on the blues defence. Not surprisingly, Worksop scored to reduce the arrears to 10-5. And, with an increasing penalty account against the home side and 20 minutes remaining, the omens did not look good. From nowhere Boston suddenly sparked back into life and for the first time started to run at the opposition and with good support play make considerable yardage.

In a rare foray into the Worksop half, Boston launched a driving maul 5m out. The resulting ruck ball was fed back to fly-half Darryn Barratt who jinked and stepped inside the defence to score via an outstretched arm. While moving Boston 15-5 ahead, celebrations were shortlived as Worksop scored a deserved converted try — the result of poor defensive home tackling, to reduce the difference to just three points (15-12) with 10 minutes to play.

A well-taken penalty by Barratt, then edged Boston into a six-point lead, and with that advantage came a degree of comfort. Overall, though, Boston managed to hang on and secure the win and the league points. On Saturday April 1 Boston entertain Barton, in the semi-final of the Lincolnshire Cup, kick-off 3pm.

Boston 1st XV: I Sampson, R Collins, R Lancaster, N Lane, F Cannon, l Van Haren, S Loveley, D Allen, T Kemp, D Barratt, P Jarvis, P Stubley ,S Cooke, A Hart, S Bourne. Replacements: A Buckberry.

Three counties finals day

Sunday April 2 sees the Boston club hosting the Notts/Lincs and Derby finals. There is a full day’s play, with kick-off times and teams playing as follows: 11.30am, Worksop v Nottinghamians; noon, Skegness v Tupton; 1.30pm, Lincoln v Glossop/Paviors; 3.30pm, Scunthorpe v Derby. The latter two matches will be played on Boston’s main pitch at the Princess Royal Sports Arena while the earlier kick-offs will take place on Boston’s old club house pitches.

Boston 2nd XV 0 Scunthorpe 4th XV 7

In an entertaining and enjoyable fixture, the veteran Scunthorpe fourths clinched a narrow win over a rejuvenated Boston second team. The home side produced a good overall performance, much to the delight of team manager Norman Walsh and skipper Dave Scott. This Saturday the seconds look to the pool to secure a fixture.

March 18 round-up

Barton 5, Boston 2nd XV 14

Tries from Adie Hart and Wayne Barnett ensured a fine win for Boston on the banks of the Humber. Both teams included players who normally feature on the first team sheet, and with strong packs who effectively cancelled each other out, it was the backs that produced the win for Boston. Barton drew first blood when after a messy line-out the ball crossed the try line and the visitors were first to get hands on it. The conversion was missed.

After half an hour Boston went ahead. Paul Jarvis charged off on a jinking run and off-loaded to Barnett who went in under the posts and then converted his own try. The second half was a bruising affair and Boston exerted pressure through good kicking with the wind at their backs. Boston scored again when Jarvis jacked to the 22 where Paddy Custer collected before finding Hart who put the game beyond Barton with a fine try. Barnett again converted.

Crucial time ahead

The month ahead will be crucial for Boston Rugby Club’s first XV as they bid to gain successive promotions.

With three Notts, Lincs Derby and North Leicestershire League games remaining the race looks like it will go down to the wire as currently only two points separate Castle Donnington in second and the Vivaldi-sponsored Boston side in third place.

Boston, who were without a match on Saturday, need to ensure they win their remaining matches during the weeks ahead against Worksop and Keyworth (home) and Nottingham Casuals (away). At the same time the Boardsiders will have to rely on Castle Donington losing at least one game out of their final three fixtures that will bring Boston level on points.

However Boston have a superior points difference, if it ends up all square. Castle Donington’s run-in features games against Nottingham Casuals and Dronfield at home and a trip to Keyworth. The first of the matches against Worksop is on Saturday when Boston will be looking to gain revenge for their first outing of the season, where they lost 23-16.

On a bright autumn day , few spectators will forget how Boston conspired to turn victory into defeat. Matches against Worksop over the last two seasons have traditionally been close affairs, and the home side will be highly motivated to put in a far better performance in front of their home crowd, kick-off 2.30 pm.

Junior section

Meanwhile last weekend, Boston under-16s enjoyed a 12-0 win over their Market Deeping counterparts. This game was a much-anticipated rematch and started similar to the previous game at Deeping with neither side giving anything away. Despite pressure from both sides, the scoreboard remained blank. Eventually a break by the Boston backs saw the ball moved out to the wing. Strong running by Garth Cross took the ball into the Market Deeping 22. With good awareness, Garth Cross gave a pass inside to Max to produce the first try and give Boston a 5-0 lead.

Deeping immediately came back at Boston but were unable to register any points due to Boston’s strong defence.

The second half started in much the same fashion as the first. Deeping attacked Boston and put the home side under sustained pressure, often getting to within metres of the Boston line only for Boston to resolutely defend and clear their lines. In the last minutes of the game Deeping nearly scored only to see the ball booted up the field. This which was collected by Garth Cross who then went on to take it over the line to score his second try of the match, which was converted by Paul to make the game Boston 12 Market Deeping 0. Boston’s man of the match was Adam Ellwood.

The next games for Boston are on tour against Harlow and Cheshunt.

March 11 round-up

Boston 1st XV 29, Anstey 1st XV 0

Boston continued their bid for promotion with a hard earned victory over Leicester-area side Anstey.

There was double joy for the Boardsiders as current second placed team Castle Donington lost against Worksop to reduce gap between themselves and Boston in third spot and keep the Notts, Lincs, Derby and North Leicester League title race wide open.

With Anstey arriving late, the delayed kick-off seemed to affect the home side more than the visitors and Boston struggled in the opening exchanges to exert any control. Eventually after 10 minutes, centre Ryan Krause broke the deadlock. Partner Simon Cooke made the intial break ably supported by back row Ste Loveley who eventually off loaded the ball to Ryan Krause who dummied his way over from inside the 22m zone. The conversion by Rhys Gosling took the home side into a 7-0 lead.

Boston, sponsored by Vivaldi, soon added a further score when a double charge down by Lee Van Haren and Darryn Barratt saw the ball land safely in Lee’s eager hands to allow him the luxury of a stroll over the line and under the posts. Rhys Goslings conversion put Boston comfortably 14 points ahead. With Boston now playing most of the rugby in Anstey’s half, it was not long before winger Andy Hart registered a try before half-time. Excellent handling by the backs and a “shoe lace” pick-up by centre Ryan Krause led to a scoring pass to winger Andy Hart, to take Boston in at half-time 19-0 lead.

During the interval, coach Mick Lyon was keen to see Boston reduce the amount of penalties and produce quicker ball to run at Anstey. Playing against the strong wind in the second half, surprising both sides stuggled with the conditions. In a scrappy second period Boston managed to score two further tries. First, winger Paul Jarvis outpaced his opposite number to score in the corner and keep his impressive strike rate going. Then the final score was recorded by back row Ste Lovely, who rounded off an impressive game, by scoring from a textbook front peel from a line-out, proving unstoppable from five metres out.

This week Boston look to the pool to secure a fixture in advance of their next home game at home against Worksop in the league.

Boston 1st XV: A Buckberry, R Collins, I Sampson, F Cannon, K Williams, S Loveley, L Van Haren, K Doig, D Barratt, R Gosling, A Hart, S Cooke, R Krause, P Jarvis, S Bourne. Replacements: R Lancaster, P Stubley.

Boston 2nd XV 77, Anstey 2nd XV 0

With Anstey travelling with only nine players, Boston loaned the visitors players and reduced the game to a 13-a-side encounter. In an open and flowing game, the home side were too powerful for the Leicester-based side and ran out easy victors.

Junior section

The junior section at Boston Rugby Club was busy at the weekend. The under-10s were in action at Skegness, and the under-14s and under-16s were competing in the Boston 10-a-side competition. The under-10s lost their match against Skegness by six tries to four.

The “10s” competition attracted teams from Newark, Stamford, West Norfolk, Skegness at u14s level and Glossop, Grimsby, Skegness, Sleaford and Boston at u16s.

The weather was cold but it stayed dry. Due to some late withdrawals, all the u16s teams played each other. This meant that more quality rugby was on display, culminating in the plate final being played by Boston and Sleaford.

This was a great game with both teams putting in lots of effort. At half-time it was 5-5. Then Sleaford went into the lead. But Boston did not give up to level the scores again. And in a great final flourish, Boston applied pressure to gain the final points of the game to win 15-10 — a great team effort well led by Matt Sharman.

The u16s and u14s finals followed with Glossop demonstrating they are a class act winning the u16s final 21-7 against a good Grimsby team (last year’s winners). Stamford beat Newark in the u14 final by a margin of 20-0.

Next major date for the junior section at Boston Rugby Club in the Boardsides organisation’s mini-festival to be held on April 9.

March 4 round-up

Castle Donington 15, Boston 1^st XV 21

The promotion race is wide open again after battling Boston left the Notts, Lincs Derby and North Leicester League leaders’ unbeaten record in tatters. The final outcome looked unlikely when the visitors went behind inside the first minute when Castle Donington went over in the corner from their first attack and converted with style.

But the new-look Boston side featuring young players and others promoted from the Second team rose to the challenge and produced a battling performance in what turned out to be a bruising encounter. Castle Donington’s play was one-dimensional as their forwards tried to power their way to the line and as their attacks were repelled Boston's confidence steadily grew.

Penalties were exchanged with the Boston score coming from the boot of Rhys Gosling before teenager Paul Jarvis produced the champagne moment of the game. He received the ball wide on the right wing and with his electric pace left two defenders in his wake before scoring in the corner.

Jarvis was clearly worrying the visitors and when Rhys Gosling kicked into space the full-back knew the winger was bearing down on him and fumbled. Jarvis kicked on and dived on the ball to score. Gosling converted. Castle Donington got back into the game with another try, and for long periods had territorial advantage. But Boston were in no mood to concede points and tackled superbly to keep the home side at bay.

Gosling’s trusty right boot gave Boston a slender advantage until the dying minutes when the referee finally tired of the home side's tactic of not releasing. From the resultant penalty Gosling kicked another score and Boston were in the comfort zone at last.

This was a battling performance and the players who stepped up have left coach Mick Lyon with a real selection problem as established players become available again. Four league games remain and Boston must win them all and hope for a slip up from Castle Donington or Ashby that will let them in.

JUNIORS SECTION

Boston Rugby Club’s juniors thanked their backers in style at the weekend.

Only one team suffered defeat as five different age groups did battle against teams from Skegness and Market Rasen on what was designated “Sponsors’ Sunday.”

The under-7s won both their games with Adam Johnson scoring six tries.

The u8s team also won both their games. The u9s team really played well with six tries against Skegness, The u11s were the only team to lose with Market Rasen putting three tries past them.

The final game of the day — for the under-15s — was an eagerly awaited rematch against their Skegness counterparts. And Boston gained a 12-7 victory. Like the earlier match at Skegness, very little was given in the first half with the visitors going into the lead with a good try following sustained pressure. This was converted to put Skegness into the lead by seven points. Boston responded with pressure of their own and scrum half Joseph Horniblow scored with Jack Ridge converting. Boston went ahead after an excellent move between Billy Wilson, Ross Hewitt and Adam Craft who took the ball over the line to take Boston’s score to 12 points. Neither team gave up and continued to look for more points. But no more scores were forthcoming. Thanks went to sponsors the Mill Inn, Hadwick Builders, Cammacks furniture store, Lynx Engineering and Deptford Marketing.

Boston Rugby Club looks forward to a big day this Sunday when hosting 14 teams from Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire who are coming to play in the “Boston 10s” competition, kick-off 10.30am.