Kestevn 1st XV vs Amber Valley 1st XV

Kesteven 112 Amber Valley 7

Late injuries forced Kesteven into a couple of changes. Phil Jordan made a welcome return on the wing in place of Taylor, Jepson came back in place of Ede and Will Pert returned to the pack after a four week layoff. Amber Valley kicked off but Kesteven were soon on the attack. Turner led the way in the early onslaught. His strong straight running caused the Amber Valley defence problems. He opened the scoring himself with a try at the posts after 3 minutes, then from the restart he set off on another powerful run and put Jepson clear for a try before he added his own second try straight after when Will Cann and he supported a strong break by Goodrich. The fourth and bonus point try was scored by Whittaker who used his pace to beat the defence out on the left. Cann converted three of these tries to take the score to 26 – o after only 14 minutes. It was clear that Amber Valle had little to offer in defence and the scores kept coming. Phil Jordan was next on the score board when he picked a pass from Cann off his toes to sprint in before Webster finished off a strong run from Odams to go over. The Amber Valley pack had one weapon at their disposal and managed to slow the ball down and contain the Kesteven side however the home side did break out just before half time. Wood made ground to half way and put in a great cross kick for Cann to chase. The centre hacked on and ran on to score. Then from the restart Kesteven won the ball and ran left where Jordan was able to put Whittaker away for his second try. This took the half time score to 41 – 0.

At the break Rupert Jordan replaced brother Phil. Right from the kick off Kenny Lines chased and won the restart kick. He was taken out in the air and the Amber Valley flanker was sent to the sin bin. In the next ten minutes Kesteven scored five tries first from Webster after a drive from a line out, then Turner from a scrum pick up 30 metres out, Wood taking a pass from Turner then Whittaker on a long run from deep in his own half and a straight run from Goodrich. Cann converted all 5. The procession continued with Wood following up a kick ahead by Rupert Jordan. Webster left the field with an arm injury, being replaced by Sayle. Goodrich added another try and Whittaker brought the 100 up with another trademark try when he collected the ball from Dingley 30 metres from his own line and outpaced the defence to score. Comment from the Amber Valley defence was “He has a touch of Jason Robinson about him”.
Amber Valley to their credit never gave up despite the score and were determined to restore some pride. On the few occasions their pack were able to keep the ball they were able to make progress and were justly rewarded with a try with 10 minutes left. This was sealed with a fine conversion. Kesteven had the last word however as Goodrich and Cann added 2 more trues before the end to bring the final score to 112 to 7. It was an emphatic win and Scott Odams was rightly awarded Man of the match for an outstanding powerful display. Next week Kesteven travel to Leicestershire to take on Aylestone St James.

Team was A Whittaker; B Jepson. W Cann, J Goodrich, P Jordan; O Wood, J Dingley; S Odams, R Sheardown, G Purvis, J Cowley, W Pert, T Webster, K Lines, D Turner Reps – A Osborne, M Sayle, R Jordan