Kesteven U14s have had a friendly rivalry with Sleaford since many of them were 7 years old. Matches have always been close and this NLD League one was no different.
Both teams kept each other at bay for the first 10 minutes until a neat Kesteven lineout threaded the ball rapidly through the backs to find No.14 Wray accelerating with blistering pace down the left wing to score under the posts. No.13 Hall secured the conversion.
Sleaford pushed K’s back into our 22, despite solid defence work by Captain Arkley at No.8 and Mulvaney at fullback, then breaking through to put their own ball under the posts for an easy conversion.
But K’s struck back with some clever defensive rucking by forwards Gench, Shelbourn, Bannister, Staples-Hawthorne, Skelton, Geraghty and Knight, securing a penalty in midfield. Wisely choosing to tap and go, Fly-half Austen passed to No.12 Ratcliffe to punch through the centre, offloading to Wray again to rocket down the left wing to try.
Into the second half, Sleaford scored first off a penalty 10m out. Props Swain and Pinckney, 2nd rows Daglish and Majewski came on to bring fresh impetus to scrum and ruck, and with a quick ball from Trundley, in his first game as scrumhalf, Hall won his own kick and chase race to the goal line to go ahead again.
But Sleaford found a rhythm in their phases and offloads, twice scoring late in the half. With a couple of minutes to go, K’s won another penalty which Ratcliffe punished with a driving run to score. Hall’s conversion to draw us even marked full time.
Mike Davis