Broadstreet 20 (Try: Nightingale. Pens: Brown 5.) 

Kettering 44 (Tries: Percival 2, Baird, Bartley, Freeman 2, Davis. Cons: Whales 3. Pen: Whales.) 

Kettering kept up the pressure for the runners up spot in Midlands 1 with this victory at Broadstreet, who themselves now look doomed to relegation, but the side may rue some of the missed opportunities for try scoring as a place in the league play offs may well come down to points difference at the end of the campaign.

James Gemmell was missing from the squad that travelled to Broadstreet’s marvellous facilities due to a family bereavement and The ‘Blues’ were then forced into a last minute change to their line up as Martin Cheetham injured his back during the pre match warm up. Craig Andrews was quickly called over from the third team game for his league debut and he took Phil York’s place on the bench with York taking Cheetham's place in the starting front row. This last minute hitch though didn’t effect Kettering’s game as they scored straight from their own kick off, the kick being chased and tapped back by wing Gareth Bartley, the ball was quickly released to the backs who attacked to the right, this attack was stopped but the ball was recycled and moved left, again the Broadstreet defence held so the ball was again moved to the right and this time a hole appeared for Paul Baird to race through for his eighteenth league try of the season.

Broadstreet though were not phased by this flying start by their visitors and proceeded to level up the scores with a try of their own after 5 minutes, Damien Whales then restored Kettering’s lead with a penalty but two penalties from the home side put them into the lead as Kettering fell foul of the referees interpretation of some of the laws of the game!

Kettering were looking to run the ball at all times from anywhere on the field and although this was leading to some unforced errors in the handling, much to the coaches anguish it was also leading to lots of try scoring opportunities. Full advantage of this was taken first by Paul Percival and then by Gareth Bartley as Kettering exploited the Broadstreet defence at every opportunity to go into the lead, but again penalties were conceded to allow the home side two more successful shots at goal, but right on half time hooker Chris Davis found himself in the backs and he made no mistake when given the ball 15 metres out.

Another penalty at the start of the second gave Broadstreet their final score before Kettering finally took over the game as their forwards started to dominate and the backs looking dangerous every time they had the ball. Chris Davis scored his second try, converted by Damien Whales, then the forwards pushed the home sides pack back over their line for skipper Steve Freeman to claim the try, again Whales converted and the same combination finished the scoring after some breathtaking handling that even had the Broadstreet players applauding.

So its three league games left, but before they entertain Walsall the East Midlands Cup is back in town next Saturday as the Blues entertain either Old Scouts or Ampthill in the semi final. These two sides play Tuesday night at Scouts to see who Kettering will play next week.

Bromsgrove 28 (Tries: Churchill, Clarke 2, Copson. Cons: Birch 4) 

Dunstablians 12 (Tries: .Bradshaw, Butler. Con: Loxton.) 

Bromsgrove produced an exceptional performance at Finstall Park on Saturday. They dominated promotion contenders Dunstablians from the start and produced several magnificent tries that left the visitors exasperated and without repost.

Both sides were determined to play attacking rugby and to his credit the referee allowed the game to flow. Bromsgrove fielded a strong side with fly half Birch back and Ian Young in at second row. Town spent much of the first ten minutes camped in Dunstablians half but struggled to break through due to the intense visitor’s defence. Eventually Town opted to kick a penalty that was missed. Dunstablians cleared the ball deep into Bromsgrove’s half. Bromsgrove then countered through Birch who passed to Ben Eason, received the ball back on the loop and then threw a miss pass to James Lloyd Jones. The full back then went round Dunstablians winger and passed to Stockholm on the wing. Approaching the visitor’s 22 yard line Nick Copson then passed to Ben Eason whose charge to the line was thwarted a yard short however he managed to pop the ball out and second row Tom Churchill was on hand to pick the ball off his shoe laces and go over to score a simply wonderful try. Birch converted to take the score to 7-0.

Bromsgrove then followed this up with another quick try when winger Trigg caught the ball, checked and then handed off his opposite number. He then charged down the wing and managed to flip the ball towards skipper Dave Clarke. Dave struggled to control the ball but eventually did so and went over to score in the corner. Birch slotted a difficult conversion. 14 – 0.

Stung into action Dunstablians mounted a concerted and sustained attack first down Bromsgrove’s left flank and then fed quick ball right where eventually the overlap had been created. Full back James Lloyd Jones showed Dunstable’s winger the outside however he had too much pace for Bromsgrove’s full back and Dunstable pegged the score back to 14 -5 with an unconverted try. Bromsgrove responded with an excellent spell on the visitor’s tryline. Dunstable conceded numerous penalties and were lucky that Bromsgrove missed when they eventually opted for the kick.

The second half started with Bromsgrove pressuring the kick off. Dunstable attempted to run out of their half from a maul midfield. Bromsgrove hooker Richard Arnold was alert to the intercept and took the ball with 25 yards to go for a try. Stopped just short of the line Arnold fed to Nick Copson who scored. Birch converted. 21 -5. The next 10 minutes were all Bromsgrove.

Town then put the game virtually out of reach when they scored another wonderful try. Birch started the move from deep in Bromsgrove’s half when he dummied and stepped outside his opposite number. He fed to Trigg whose strong running took Town into Dunstable’s half. Quick rucked ball was then spread right and passed through many pairs of hands until eventually Dave Clarke was again on hand to score. Birch converted. 28 – 5.

Dunstablians then pressured Bromsgrove for the remainder of the match. They managed one try and it required stout defence to prevent further scores however this Bromsgrove did and a Finstall faithful were delighted with the end result of 28 -12.

Derby 22 (Tries: Fearn, Lund. Pens: Glover 4.) 

Mansfield 13 (Try: Buck. Con: Rutter. Pens: Rutter 2.) 

Courtesy Richard Bambra (Derby). Derby UKD knew that this was a must win game if they were to have any chance of avoiding relegation.  John Lund and John Turner both made their first starts for the side. 

Derby UKD kicked off and could not have wished for a better start.  Two minutes into the game the forwards stole the ball from Mansfield and Rod Muir made a break.  He sent the ball down the line and winger John Lund sped away.  He was caught just short of the line, but passed inside to Dave Fearn who crashed over.

The clock showed ten minutes, when Derby UKD scored again.  There seemed to be no danger, when John Lund received the ball, 22 metres from the Mansfield try line.  The winger, however, had different ideas and showed impressive pace to touch down in the corner. Derby UKD continued to press forward, but were rocked when Alan Royer received a yellow card after 16 minutes. Despite this Dan Glover increased Derby UKD’s lead with a penalty after 19 minutes.

Rutter missed with a drop goal attempt for Mansfield, on one of their rare incursions into the Derby UKD half. Just before half time, Pike evened up the yellow card count and Dan Glover slotted the penalty to make the half time score 16 – 0 to Derby UKD.

Derby UKD seemed to be in complete control, the game was there for the taking.  Mansfield, however, had other ideas and produced a much better showing in the second half.

Rutter missed another chance after 22 minutes, after John Turner had become the second Derby UKD player to be sent to the sin bin. Mansfield then had a clear overlap, but cut inside, losing the chance.

Dan Glover missed with a penalty attempt, but the resulting drop out didn’t cross the 22 metre line. Mansfield were penalised at the resulting scrum and this time Dan Glover made no mistake, to take the score to 19 – 6 with 14 minutes left.

Mansfield ensured a nervous end to the game for Derby UKD, when scrum half, Buck scored a try under the posts.  Rutter converted to leave a six point margin and four minutes to go.

The final kick of the game saw Dan Glover kick a penalty to make the score 22 – 13 to Derby UKD.

A vital win, which should have been more convincing after the start against a team with one league win all season.

Leicester Lions 13 (Tries: John, Usoalii. Pen: Cassell.) 

Whitchurch 21 (Tries: Brookshaw, Leonard, Charnley. Cons: Canney 3.) 

Leicester Lions lost their unbeaten run again relegation threatened Whitchurch.

The Lions got the perfect start when left wing Stephen John went in for a 1^st minute try and a 5-0 lead.

The lead though lasted just seven minute before second row Denis Leonard touched down for Whitchurch and they went ahead with John Canney adding the conversion.

The Lions regained the lead on 19 minutes with a penalty goal from Lee Cassell but is was short lived with the visitors scoring a second try three minutes later. It came from centre Rob Brookshaw and Canney again converted for 14-8. On the half hour mark Whitchurch got try number three with flanker Tim Charnley touching down and again Canney converted for a 21-8 half time lead.

In the second half the only score came late on with the home side scoring a 74^th minute try but it was not enough and Whitchurch picked up two very valuable points in their battle to overhaul Derby in the league table.   

Scunthorpe 19 (Try: Coult. Con: Robinson. Pens: Robinson 4.) 

Longton 60 (Tries: Rawlings 2, R Wheat 2, Lochee Bayne, T Wheat, Price, Cave, Kelly, Woods. Cons: Chalmers 5.) 

Longton moved into third place in the league with a demolishing of Scunthorpe who had only lost twice at home prior to this game in the last 2 years. Despite previous jibes over Longton's muddy pitch suiting their game, Longton cut loose on the flat wide surface at Scunthorpe to score 10 tries, 8 of them from the backs.

Playing against the leagues highest points scorer, Tim Robinson, Longton were wary of their own discipline but did not heed to their own warnings and after five minutes were down by two penalties. Within ten minutes though Longton registered their first score when Scott Rawlings chased on to a kick and rounded two defenders to score. With the conversion missed Longton still trialed but then went ahead when Ed Lochee-Bayne raced onto a Tony Wheat chip before speeding away for a score under the post. Two further penalties by Robinson pined Longton back before a superb break by Simon Price who found Tony Wheat in support to go over for another score. With Matt Chalmers landing one conversion Longton led 17-12 as the half closed in. After a period of pressure, Scunthorpe's fly half darted in for a score by the posts and with the conversion over Scunthorpe led at the half 17-19.

The first half showed glimpses of what Longton could do and in the second half when Longton cut out the penalties they cut loose with 43 unanswered points. With the pack providing the base the backs began to make the most of Scunthorpe’s wide pitch and good work by James Gabriel freed Rob Wheat to score. Scott Rawlings cut through off a training ground move to score an excellently executed try and the hands were really flowing now. With about 12 minutes left the score was only 34-19 and the game was almost turned when Scunthorpe intercepted a pass and looked if they were going to go the length of the field but for a great try saving tackle from Simon Price. Price then got the score his overall play deserved when he cut through several would be tacklers to score under the posts.

The score could have been even more when Gabriel intercepted a pass himself in Longton's 22 and raced away, after the ball went through several pairs of hands, Paul Sheldon was unlucky when he dropped the ball over the line. The next try was not long in coming though as another sweeping move was held up short only for Matt Chalmers to free Rob Wheat to crash over from close range for his second try.

Substitute Owen Caves then got a debut try, the Keele Uni. student breaking tackles to score under the posts. With Scunthorpe’s heads down now Longton put them to the sword and the forwards got into the action, quick hands and good support play saw Richard Kelly race in from 20 yards for his first senior try and cap a great performance from him in the line out.

At 53-19 Longton sniffed the mighty score of 60 and soon reached it with the last play of the game. After Lochee-Bayne almost snatched his second in the corner, a quick penalty saw captain Tim Wood get in on the act going over near to the posts.

Tony Wheat's first conversion, after Chalmers landed four, saw Longton hit 60 points with the last action of the game.

Scunthorpe will be upset at their tackling and second half performance but for Longton, who have threatened to break loose in the backs for a while, will be excited to be moving next year to a pitch even bigger and better than that at Scunthorpe.

Next up for Longton is the local derby against Walsall next Saturday, with four league games to go Longton need to keep the pressure on second placed side Kettering for the playoff spot.

Walsall 10 (Try: Weston. Con: Archer. Pen: Archer.) 

Luctonians 20 (Tries: Garrod, Heather, Looms. Con: James. Pen: James.)