The first Saturday in January saw the young Saints trying to shake off the Christmas hangovers and get back to playing their brand of rugby. Still missing some squad members due to injury and work saw them deputise a few U16s. An early meet allowed time to brush up on skills and patterns and preparation was good. Captain Pashley won the toss and elected to kick off. A less than enthusiastic kick chase allowed Peterborough to return the ball deep into Saints territory, a score from Peterborough soon folowed as they crashed over in the corner. This seemed to be a wake up call and Saints burst into life and some slick hands from the backs after hard yards from the forwards showed flashes of what they could do but handling errors stopped them finishing. Superb work fro Ed Parsons at the break down gave Saints a penalty inside the Borough half and quick thinking from James Neal put Calan Barclay under the post, 5-5. some great work at the restart from Arvind gave Saints good field position and slick hands from Cameron McCollin sent Zak Holmes into space who blistered away to score under the posts. Fatigue allowed Borough to close the gap before half time and the teams went in near on level. The second half continued as the first had begun with Borough playing through the forwards and Saints trying to play wide. Saints scored next with Tom Hopperton being put into space and out gassing everyone to touch down. Again though Saints allowed Borough to score and close the gap. Saints did score again through returning Ginger God Conovan who blasted his way over the line leaving a raft of Borough players in his wake. Saints looked comfortable and eased off letting Borough score 2 quick tries to take the game 22-25.
although a loss, the performance was good and in places outstanding, showing what they could do. bits to work on but the signs are there. Man of the Match performances from Ed and Arvind who both showed guile, skill and tenacity were the highlight of the day along with a great showing from the U16 players. well done lads we move onwards and upwards