Saints
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Sat 14 Sep 2019
Huntingdon
42
7
St Neots Rugby Club
Saints
St Neots Saints 1st XV vs Huntingdon Stags

St Neots Saints 1st XV vs Huntingdon Stags

Paul Warmington16 Sep 2019 - 16:03
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Saints Match Report

St Neots RUFC 1st XV - Saints Match Report – 14-09-19 – Huntingdon Stags vs Saints

Travelling to local rivals Huntingdon for the season opener was an occasion that had been talked about ever since Huntingdon were relegated at the end of last season. Expectations were high after an excellent pre-season, and a fit and firing team lined up in the bright sunshine.

The opening contests were ferocious. Neither side willing conceded yards in the collision area as thundering tackle was made after thundering tackle. Jordan Rook was destructive, and his aggressiveness pushed his team-mates to match him. Oli Frestle and Ross Hubbard never hid as the runners came down the channels. Huntingdon had the majority of possession throughout the first half, but the blue wall stood strong, causing several errors, preventing any real progress up the pitch. Huntingdon took first blood, after finally breaking through out wide. The remainder of the half was evenly matched, as St Neots began to build small chunks of momentum with half-breaks from Aiden Jordan and Matt Cartwright, letting the backline move through the gears when front-foot ball was available. As the first half began to end, Huntingdon struck with two well-taken tries after more determined defence from the fringe guards.

Playing up the hill, Saints started the second period brightly, as gaps slowly appeared in the midfield. James Murphy, at fly-half, started to get the forwards ticking over the gainline, which started to splinter a previously unbreachable defence. George Osbourne was clear, but green shirts swarmed shutting down options, and Ethan Griffiths had several opportunities to work space in the outside channels. Huntingdon began to take more control, using a driving maul base to score out wide again, but it was the work ethic and discipline of the defensive line that pushed the ball in the widest spaces, making every phase difficult work.

Saints heads never once went down, and they were never out of the contest, and this attitude bore fruit as Cody Hocker, on for his debut, burned his man on the outside, and sent Matt Cartwright away on the inside to score under the posts. Cartwright took a swiftly taken conversion, which soared through the uprights. Shortly after the whistle blew to end a match that bore so many positives from a performance aspect, if not from the score line.

Johnny Berwick senior men's coach said:

“The boys worked hard on Saturday afternoon and I can’t fault them for that, but there’s some more work to do. The scoreline didn’t reflect our efforts in the game so we’ll take plenty of positives away. Credit to stags, they’re looking sharp at this stage.”

Match details

Match date

Sat 14 Sep 2019

Kickoff

15:00
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Shirt Sponsor - Premier Plus Ltd
Shirt Sponsor - FINAIDS
U16 Team Sponsor - Bohemia
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Mens player sponsor - Anvyl Safety Floors Ltd
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Mens player sponsor - Bunkabin
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Mens player sponsor - Gransden Print Shop
Mens player sponsor - Etch-Tech Ltd