Loughborough, who were relegated from the league above last season, have had a mixed season so far but Kesteven were expecting a tough encounter on the hallowed turf of Woodnook. The match official for the day was Mr Brian Ingles.

Kesteven had a strong feel of determination about them and from their kick off, the visiting Loughborough side fumbled receiving the ball and Kesteven were awarded a penalty that Matt Harland swung just wide of the posts. K’s were awarded another penalty a few minutes later and Matt Harland nailed this one to put the home side in front.

Loughborough were forced to settle fairly quickly and mounted their first attack. Kesteven managed to keep them out for quite some time with Tony Woolerton preventing Borough from grounding the ball when they did manage to get over the Kesteven line.

Loughborough regained possession in their own half and Adam Draper was able to gather their line clearing kick but the Loughborough defence came up extremely quickly. It wasn’t long before the visitors had regained possession and touched down for their first try of the match with the conversion falling short. Kesteven mounted their counter attack with Martin Carew making a strong run from the back of a scrum. Loughborough were penalised for entering the resulting ruck from the side and Matt Harland secured the 3 points to edge Ks back in front at 6-5.

For the next 10 minutes, Kesteven fiercely defended their half with several bone-crunching tackles from the likes of Rob Sheardown and Doug Hayward resonating across the field - keeping the Loughborough side out of the points. On the 28 minute mark, Loughborough found themselves with an overlap and secured their 2nd try of the match with the conversion once again falling short. Kesteven replied immediately with a strong assault into Loughborough’s half of the pitch. Kesteven scrum half Adam Draper found a gap from the back of a scrum and was able to scramble through for K’s 2nd try which Matt Harland successfully converted putting the Black Army back in front 13 points to 10.

From the restart, Kesteven were able to secure possession once again with Dan Turner using a hole in the Loughborough defence to release Will Bradley into space. Will pressed forward before passing to Aaron Whitaker, who covered the remaining 50m for K’s 3rd try, chased all the way by Loughborough’s scrum half. The conversion was again slotted by Matt Harland taking the score to 20-10 giving Kesteven a bit of breathing space with a 10 point lead.

Borough’s decisive counter strike saw them press Kesteven back in their own half once again. Kesteven defended their lines extremely well but right on the brink of half time, the visitors found quite a few of the Kesteven defence still returning to their feet from several phases of play and were able to sneak one last converted try in before the break to keep the scores close at 20-17.

Kesteven were able to extend the lead 1 minute into the second half when Dan Turner noticed that the oppositions Full Back wasn’t at home and kicked the ball deep into the Loughborough half. Aaron Whitaker chased and was on hand to skilfully gather the bouncing ball and fall over the line for the unconverted try.

Loughborough found themselves a man down from the 57th minute after a sin-binning and Kesteven were able to capitalise on this when Dan Turner was able to break the visitors line from Adam Draper’s pass from a ruck and touch down under the sticks securing the 4th try and all important bonus point. Matt Harland easily secured the conversion to once again reopen the point gap to 32-17.

With the visitors back to a full 15 men and a point deficit to make up, Loughborough threw everything at K’s but found the Kesteven defence like a brick wall on this occasion. The gate was closed on the outside and prop James Cowley was able to chase down the Loughborough wing and prevent him using an overlap. The K’s back line seemed impenetrable and Borough resorted to route one rugby through the forwards, camping out in the Kesteven 5m area. Borough must have crashed best part of 10 balls up from ruck after ruck with the Kesteven forwards doing a sterling effort to keep them from crossing the line. Even when Loughborough managed to get across the line, Kesteven prevented them from grounding the ball. Eventually it was a missed tackle in the middle of the field that allowed Loughborough to secure their bonus point winning 4th converted try and to close the score line to 32-22.

Kesteven made only one change during the game with Will Cann coming on for Matt Harland on the 69th minute. With just 5 minutes to go, it was Kesteven’s turn to add to their points tally when Martin Carew lured the Loughborough defence and made the offload to Alex Ingram. The young home-grown winger’s dazzling 50m run saw him untouched to the last metre where he was able to record Kesteven’s 5th try (unconverted) of the match and a 13 point cushion.

One of the most notable differences between Kesteven’s new league and last years is that opposition heads do not go down easily. Although the score line was 37-24 to Kesteven, the home side needed to keep their foot firmly on the gas for the last 5 minutes. The ping-pong like scoring of the match continued with Loughborough stretching the tired Kesteven defence and finding themselves with a 5 man overlap to easily touch down under the posts for their 5th try of the match making the score 37-31 with 4 minutes to go.

Within seconds of the restart, centre James Goodrich received a yellow card taking the homeside to 14 men for the last few minutes of the game and it was clear that Loughborough were going to go right down to the wire in this match.

A fumbled Kesteven pass saw the ball roll lose in the middle of the field. Adam Draper, barely in reach of the grounded ball, managed to get a toe to kick it towards the touch line but unfortunately the Loughborough wing was able to gather the ball just before the touchline. The winger made good ground before eventually being hauled down by Draper. Kesteven almost regained possession from a ruck in their own 22 but the ball was deemed to have been knocked on.

With the scrum forming, last play was called. It took 2 Kesteven back rows to stop the Borough 8 in his tracks but the resulting overlap that Loughborough created allowed them to steal a final try and to within 1 point of Kesteven’s eroded lead (37-36). The whole match now rested on a difficult conversion from the far side of the field. Every player, coach and supporter from Kesteven must have been willing that ball not to pass between the posts and life went into slow motion for that final minute. The kick sailed through to give a final score of 37-38 to Loughborough. Man of the match was awarded to Tony Woolerton.

Although the bitter disappointment was very evident throughout the Black Army, Kesteven can proudly hold their heads up high having given arguably their best performance of the season. The consolation 3 league points increases the cushion from the relegation zone but also keeps Kesteven in the mix of the mid table.

Next week, K’s travel to last season’s fellow promotes, Melbourne RFC, for round 11 and the halfway point of the league.

Team: Sott Odams, Doug Hayward, James Cowley, Rob Sheardown, Daniel Turner, Andrew Peabody, Tony Woolerton (c), Martin Carew, Adam Draper, Matt Harland (Will Cann 69), Alex Ingram, James Goodrich, Will Bradley, Kieran Taylor, Aaron Whitaker. Replacements (unused): Gavin Purvis, Phil Jordan.

Coaches: Mark Sayle & Mally Turner
Statistician: Nicola Turner
Photography: Louise Clark