The Northampton Old Scouts as a club certainly rose to the occasion on Saturday in the Papa Johns Community Cup at Twickenham.

3 full coaches gratefully supplied by Country Lion followed the players bus to take on Southend RFC.
Players and coaches were confident and at a very warm Twickenham stadium, the game kicked off for what turned out to be a cracking game.

Southend scored within 4 minutes from a lineout but Scouts shook themselves down and went straight back to score themselves through second row Jack Evans. But, it felt like both teams had not quite mastered the surroundings, because Scouts uncharacteristically let another score in fairly quickly and then so did Southend. The second try from Scouts was another solid build from the forwards with Bobby Bland this time going over.
With just 16 minutes gone it was 14-12 to the Scouts and both sides looked like they had played 60 minutes. It was very high tempo.

Thankfully, the game became tighter as both sides settled in to their patterns and the spectators got a glimpse of each teams strengths. You could also see how the teams were very alike. Unfortunately for Scouts the period before half time was all Southend and they managed to build a score up to 22-14 at half time.
After a much needed break, they then scored again very quickly and the task of turning around 13 points not 8 was going to be a tall order. One incident could have been a game deciding turning point. Fullback Tom Holliday was tipped tackled and the Southend player was yellow carded. Whilst the Southend player was quick with remorse, it should have been a red card. You hear a lot about 'letter of the law' in rugby these days and that tip tackle could not have been spelt any more precisely.
With the man advantage Scouts capitalised with a wonderful half pitch try by centre George Barrett. It looked like the game was turning for the Scouts and with 20 minutes to go, it should have been. However, disaster struck and Southend scored 5 minutes later. It was such a pivotal score because whilst still under the yellow card time, Scouts scored a great team try. Dean Lake whipping a ball over his head to keep the rugby going and Matt Meek diving in the corner. That could have been 26-27 rather than 26-32.

15 minutes to go and only 6 points.

With the cup possibly in sight, both teams emptied the bench and chased the final period of the game. This time, Southend showed why they haven't lost all season and much to the endeavours of the Scouts, they shut the game down and scored another 3. The game finished 35-26.

It was a sad end to a magnificent day. The players should be very proud to get there, let alone come so close to victory and all the traveling support was an outstanding effort by the club. The players wanted to thank them all here.

There is still one more chance of a trophy. This Wednesday Scouts play Olney at Franklins Gardens in the Alliance Cup Final. Come and support the team.

Man of the Match = Brett Daynes.