Sleaford vs. Kesteven (29/09/2018)

Kesteven made the short trip to nearest neighbours on a glorious autumn day. Kesteven made a number of changes with Ben Betts starting at hooker and Leo Vincent appearing on the wing. Warden, Parker and Peabody were on the bench.

Sleaford kicked off and Kesteven reacted well by taking play up into the Sleaford 22. The Kesteven pack were dominating the set piece and came close to forcing their way over the line.

It was Sleaford who opened the scoring after 15 minutes. A breakthrough in midfield beat the first tackle and opened up the Kesteven defence for their wing to finish the move with a try in the corner. The conversion failed. The home side followed up with a second try when they ran back a loose kick and again made good use of space to create a second try at the posts. The conversion was successful to open up a 12 point lead.

Kesteven upped their game and continued to play fluent rugby with backs and forwards combining well. They were rewarded at the end of the half. They won good ball in the Sleaford 22 and spun it out to the right. Purvis straightened the line and threw a great pass out to Cameron Goodrich who got over for the try. The conversion failed but K’s were not done. They again won possession near the Sleaford line and Addlesee found Webster running clear to score in the left corner. The conversion was missed but it allowed Kesteven to narrow the gap to 12 – 10 at the break.

In the second half Kesteven again looked to take the game to Sleaford but mistakes crept in and they home side capitalised with a try and a penalty to take a 22 – 10 lead with 20 minutes left. Kesteven needed something special to change the game and it came when Tom Price shot off his line to intercept a Sleaford pass to run clear from 80 metres to score. Cann added the goal points and the Sleaford lead was cut to 5.

Life got difficult for K’s when Ben Addlesee was shown a yellow card 12 minutes from time as the number of penalties against them tried the referee’s patience. Kesteven did not let this affect them and continued to press. Their adventurous play was rewarded when Tom Price broke down the wing and found Dan Halliday on his inside. The centre used his strength to finish the move and score the try to level the scores with a minute left. Sleaford restarted but were unable to make the ball safe.

Kesteven retained the ball and were able to work their way into the Sleaford 22. They were awarded a scrum and Ben Addlesee had just completed his 10 minutes n the sin bin. He came back on to complete a fairytale finish by breaking round the blind side to finish with a fine try to win the match. It was a fine reward for a very hardworking performance.

Sam Stedman was nominated as Man of the Match but he was well supported by Tom Webster and Gavin Purvis. Ben Betts made some telling breaks and Charlie Pirie was influential.

In the backs Price took his chance very well and his pass to Halliday was a special moment.

Team was: A Draper, L Vincent, W Cann, D Halliday, H Cox, T Price, B Addlesee, S Stedman, B Betts, G Purvis, C Goodrich, W Pert, T Webster, R Armstrong, C Pirie
Replacements: C Warden, M Parker, A Peabody