Kesteven 36 - Mellish 8
Kesteven were smarting after their trip to Melbourne last week and took the field determined to get back to winning ways. They mae several changes in the backs with Lidstone, Turner, Cooper and Dingley coming in, while Brown and Brister came into the back row.
Kesteven came out of the blocks with a bang and soon had Mellish defending. Sometimes they were over eager and gave away penalties allowing the visitors to relieve the pressure. It didn't take them long to get on the score sheet with the first try. Harland made a diaganol break, drawing defenders before sending a neatly timed pass to Cooper who ran in. The conversin failed. This spurred Mellish who took advantage of some indiscipline in the home ranks and created space for their winger to go in at the corner for the equalisisng try.
Kesteven continued to play the game at pace and with nice variety. The mid firled of Harland Turner and Cooper was working well and it was Turner who added the 2nd try. Brister took a quick tap penalty and a neat deft flip pass to Turner saw the centre burst through under the posts for a try which he converted.
It was all Kesteven now and further breaks by Lidstone at full back had the crowd on their feet, One move nearly set Turner free but he was tackled just short. The xcore was only delayed as Turner again broke through. This time he had support from Cooper who raced in for the try. Turner converted and added a penalty before a brief rally by Mellish saw them convert a penalty on the stroke of half time to make the score 22 - 8 to the homeside.
Kesteven faced the wind in the second half but it did not faze hem at all. They were able to keep Mellish penned in their own half for most of the time. Miles Midgely and Etherington replaced Brister, Brown and Odams The visitors did try to play themselves out of trouble but too often their handling let them down. One such dropped pass was pounced on by Cooper who kicked through and won the race for the touchdown. to earn K's their first bonus point of the season Turner converted. Melish indiscipline led to a penalty at the restart and Turner pnished them with a kick to the corner. This kept the pressure on and Turner completed teh scoring a few minutes later when he collected a pass outside the 22 and sped through without anyone getting near enough to make the tackel. His conversion brought his tally 21 out of the 36 to 8 win.
This was a fine recovery from Kesteven after the disappointment of the first week. As always the foundation was set by a dominant pack. The front row of Odams Hayward and Bennett was solid while Brister ensured a good supply of line out ball. Woolerton and Brown were tireless in the loose play with Woolerton's tackling again creating havoc.
In the backs Justin Dingley took to the role of scrum half well and served Harland with good ball whcih gave the flyhalf time to vary his game inteligently. He made breaks, put in some telling kicks and kept his centres supplied with good ball. The centres Cooper and Turner responded with 5 tries between them while behind Lidstone sparkled at full back and the Jordan brothers worked tirelessly. Clarke as always led by example while young Cowley's impact grew as the game progressed.
Team was F Lidstone; R Jordan, R Cooper, D Turner and P Jordan; M Harland and J Dingley; S Odams, D Hayward, P Bennett, N Clarke, J Cowley, A Brown, T Woolerton, D Brister Reps P Etherington, R Midgely, T Miles
