Kesteven vs. Rolls Royce (16/12/2017)

Kesteven had Rolls Royce as visitors for the final league match of the year looking to get back to winning ways. The match was preceded by a delightful match between the Under 13 Girls from Kesteven and Mansfield. The girls then welcomed the senior teams onto the field as Guard of Honour.

Rolls Royce kicked off and Will Pert collected the ball and set off upfield with some determination. This started a pattern with the Kesteven pack moving forward and Rolls Royce defending strongly.
Kesteven opened the scoring with a penalty by Dan Halliday after 10 minutes. A second attempt 5 minutes later rebounded off the post but Kesteven stayed camped in the visitor's half. The first try arrived after 20 minutes when Halliday threw a long pass out to Purves who gathered the ball and fed Palin on the wing for the youngster to run in. Halliday converted to open up a 10 point lead. They added a second try almost immediately.Pert caught the restart and knocked a couple of Rolls Royce players backwards before a ruck was set on the 22. Halliday broke on the blind side and Danny Turner plucked the ball out of the air and found Will Cann up in support on the inside to go over for the try. Thee conversion failed.

Rolls Royce came more into the game as the half wore on and they put pressure on the home defence. Strong tackling kept the visitors out right until deep into first half injury time. Their forwards eventually forced their way over for the try to make the half time score 15 - 5.

The second half saw Kesteven keeping possession well but struggling to find a way through. The pack with Purvis Webster and Turner prominent produced good ball for Halliday to put in some useful kicks. Kesteven played a patient game not panicking but it would take something special to break open the Rolls Royce defence. Dan Turner produced that magic with a neat chip ove the defence which he gathered himself to run clear to score. That gave the home team 20 minutes to secure the 4th try bonus. Sam Webster and Harvey Fuller came on to replace Hanson and Pert and Palin looked to have collected that when he chased a kick from Halliday but he was judged just off side. K's were not to be denied and in the last minute Turner won the ball out on the right and straightened his run and moved into top gear to race over for the final try. The result a very heartening 29 - 5 win.

This was a fitting way to end the year's league campaign.

Team was W Cann, B Betts, R Windsor, J Stokes, J Palin, D Halliday, R Cann, S Stedman, R Sheardown, G Purvis, O Hanson, W Pert, T Webster, R Armstrong, D Turner.

Kesteven bring down the curtain with a visit from Market Rasen on Sat 30th December in the Lincolnshire Cup. Kick off is at 2 00.