St Neots 17-51 Daventry

St Neots kicked off their season with a tough home fixture against Daventry this weekend and it proved to be a stern test for a new saints team yet to play a competitive match together. The game started with Daventry on the front foot putting on the pressure with some strong counter rucking, and eventually resulting in a penalty in front of the posts.

From the kick of Daventry pressed again and with some quick and decisive phase play scored a well worked try. St Neots where not to be down heartened though and fought back with some good phases of play and scored a well worked try from long range. Quick ball led to a nicely worked backs move to feed the speedy Bradley McKenna who cruised last his man to score. Rory Dingemans added the extra 2 points with a successful conversion.

Game on. Buoyed by their try, St Neots spent the rest of the half competing well against a strong and well organised Daventry team. The opposition gave no quarter however and only a momentary lapse led to another try despite the determined defence. St Neots continued to press with strong running from McKenna and Dingemans contributing to sustained pressure from a Saints team desperate to prove their worth. Unfortunately that motivation could not be channelled, leading to errors at key moments with the Daventry forwards able to counter ruck and steal turnovers at crucial moments. With the pressure came some fractious moments with both teams receiving yellow cards moments before half time. The first half ended 7-20 with tensions running high.

The second half started as the first had ended with an off the ball incident leading to a second yellow to Daventry. Down to 13 men Daventry where up against it. Good play from St Neots led to periods of sustained pressure but Daventry where defiant and positive in their attacking play leading to an early breakaway try being scored in the corner. Still with the numerical advantage St Neots continued to press and enjoyed good stints of possession but we able to turn it into points. Daventry where quick and decisive when given the opportunity to attack and scored 2 more unanswered tries.

With the score building against them it might have been tempting to reduce the effort and effectively concede the game as already won. But not this team. This St Neots squad has a heart about it that refuses to give up and despite facing a stronger and better team on the day where determined to give their all and put their bodies on the line for honour of the team, even if the victory was slipping away. So this valiant Saints team continued to fight and a loose kick from the Daventry 10 led to the commanding Ross Hubbard taking a charge, battering the Daventry winger and offloading beautifully to McKenna. His electric pace once again impressing to run in his second try of the game.

As the game wore on the constant defensive work began to take its toll on the St Neots team who began to fall off of tackles as fatigue set in and Daventry began to score at will. What had been a close game throughout in the contest was beginning to look more one sided on the scoreboard than it really was. With the game drawing to a close, St Neots gave it one last push and put together some positive phases of play. The ball went wide to McKenna who made golden yards before offloading to James Larman, who beat his defender and ran in a consolation try to finish the game.

All in all a frustrating game for the saints who had everything they needed to compete in this match and with a bit more cohesion would have done so. With a few more games under their belts playing together this team will be a force in this league and can not only survive but flourish.

Next up a massive derby game away to Huntingdon of Saturday 10th September. Travelling support will be most welcome!