Biggleswade U16 22 – 12 NOSRFC U16

Sadly the game was also marred by a poor referees performance, where 3 yellow cards and a red card were issued, however Scouts performance was so under par that the blame lays with themselves and not the man in the middle!

From the kick off Scouts played their best rugby for the first 3 minutes, where they ran everything, in phases and wave after wave of attack saw them just 10 meters from the hosts line, albeit for a handling error allowed the Biggleswade centre to scoop up the dropped ball and run the length of the pitch. With the extras added Scouts were 7 points to nil down even though they had played all the rugby.
Disappointingly, that was as exciting as it got for Scouts, with poor passing, missed tackles and running across the field seemed to be the format for the remaining 67 minutes!

Twenty minutes into the half, the hosts picked up their second converted try following good hands down their back line with their outside centre breaking through down the left.

Following this score Scouts introduced Callum Inwood and Dan Nunley to hopefully ignite some spark into the team and thankfully this paid off, with Inwood instantly turning over a ruck, allowing the ball to get wide to Kurtis Dorks who ran in from distance, with the extras added by Christian Barry. Soon after, Inwood broke through the midfield and charged in from 20 yards out and with no extras Scouts suddenly found themselves just 2 points adrift, 14-12.

As the half entered its final 10 minutes Tom Holliday picked up a yellow card for dissent towards the official, which was shortly followed with a red card to the Biggleswade left winger for a high tackle on Barry. Whilst it was high, it wasn’t dangerous and a stern talking to with a yellow would have sufficed.

The interval team talk was for the first time in a few seasons ‘full of colourful words’ and with a change around in the back line, Scouts hoped that they could put the first 35 minutes behind them and focus on the challenge ahead, however this all fell on deaf ears and the second half mirrored the quality of the first, with poor decision making, passing as a last resort and generally no pattern or shape in their game, both in defence or attack.

Midway through the second period Inwood and a Biggleswade forward were shown yellow for an off the ball incident, which the ref did not even see, so this bemused everyone watching as to how can 2 cards be issued and in fact the incident was that minor they didn’t even warrant a talking to!

Scouts went further behind to an unconverted try and as the game entered into the final 10 minutes, a completely wrong decision went against Inwood who ripped the ball from the scrum half, only to be judged that the ball wasn’t out … again bemused spectators and players asked how could that be when the ball was under the scrumhalf's armpit as he ran from the base of the scrum! Inwood would have undoubtedly ran the try in, however the hosts chose to kick for goal and subsequently pushed the game out of sight of Scouts.

The game fizzled out and the 14-man Biggleswade side were deserved winners.

Credit to Callum Inwood, Dan Nunley and Dan Staples who all fought hard and put in creditable performances, however it was by far a very poor display from Scouts, one which needs to be forgotten as quickly as possible.

Score 22-12 to Biggleswade

Tries – Dorks, Inwood
Cons – Barry (1)