St Neots 38-13 Bedford Queens

After a successful bonus point win last week, the Saints were looking forward to a home game and the prospect of another 5 points in the league. The starting lineup looked fairly familiar. The coaches' message was more of the same.

Queens began by putting the home side under pressure. They carried well in the forwards and looked to expose the wider space. St Neots absorbed the pressure well and after a mistake in the lineout were able to finally secure sustained possession. With this, the Saints went through the motions, moving the ball with pace and disjointing the Queen's defence. A hard line through the middle from Ross Hubbard popping to fellow forward Chris Routley brought St Neots right up to the line. One final pop of the ball to fullback James Larman opened the Saints' account for the day.

Queens were keen to make up for the mistakes and were quickly back in the St Neots half. Saints were positive in defence but overeager to get back on the ball. They lost their discipline and after a few penalties, Queen's got close enough to pick and go over the line for a try of their own.

St Neots and Queens continued the closely fought battle in the centre of the park. However, a quick thinking Jack Webb slipped through a gap left at the breakdown and advanced up the pitch, followed by Rory Dingemans who tried a chip to make up the last few meters of the pitch. Queens recovered the ball and conceded a goal line drop out, allowing the home side to drive forward again. A big carry from Captain Aiden Jordan drew them back to the try line. The ball was lost and the cycle repeated itself with St Neots coming close on several occasions. Big yards gained in the carry from new winger Josh Hudson-Lett and Matthew Peppler-Jones out wide forced the Queen's defence into a scramble and the reliable hands of Callum Austen drew his opposite man. He gave the ball to Larman, who turned on the pace for his second.

From the kick off, Saints were back into the swing of things. Lewis Medlow made a break out wide and collided with a Queens winger. Handling errors led to a scrum and Queens were able to get in range for a kick at goal. They opted for posts after a penalty in hopes to close the gap in a very tight first half. Queens took the lead with another kick just before the half.

In the second half, the Saints heads were held high. With scores close, they could see their game plan would work and they were keen to have more attacking opportunities. On their first real opportunity, big carries from forwards allowed Larman to find himself in familiar territory, scoring his hat-trick.

Austen made good yards from the kick off and things were going well. After a territorial kick, Queens found themselves in the centre of the pitch. A lapse of judgement from flanker Lewis Medlow left the Saints a man down for 10 minutes. The boys in blue were relentless in defence. It was a wall of blue which Queen's found difficult to break. Penalties allowed Queen's to attempt a catch and drive for the line. Just as it looked a certain try, prop Kieran Arber dove to the ground and held up the ball short of the line. A scrum for Bedford put St Neots in a tricky position and the Queen's winger flew threw the line. However, pressure on him as he attempted to place the ball down resulted in a knock on and the try Queens were desperate for went awry.

St Neots were now back to a full 15 and ready to attack again. Pressure in the wide channel forced a knock on and Jordan charged up the line, drawing in 2 players and popping the ball to Dingemans with an open run ahead. He took the ball 60m untouched and passed to Larman for what can only be described as a greedy 4th.

After a bit of back and forth between the two sides, Queen's gave a penalty away in the centre of the field and so they formed a line of defense across the width of the pitch. They did, however, neglect putting anyone in behind. This was spotted by Hubbard and, with little convincing, Dingemans was off. Chipping the defence, catching the bounce and cruising in under the posts. Saints were now in full flow and the Queen's heads were dropping. They looked to put one final nail in the coffin and simple hands allowed Aedan Pearsall to get a well deserved try on his wing.

The game finished 38 - 13 and sent St Neots shooting up the table.