Sleaford 1XV 7 - 57 Rasen 1XV

Match report - Geoff Barnard
Photos - Jon Staves

Midlands 2 East (North) results and table

Market Rasen and Louth 1st XV travelled to play county rivals Sleaford at Ruskington Road on Saturday looking to improve their points difference and to maintain top position in the league by virtue of having played one more fixture than title contenders Coalville during the recent inclement spell.

Rasen had the perfect start when, following an excellent downfield kick from full-back Matt Neesham, the ball was recycled to Paul Cooke who opened the scoring in the first 2 minutes with a characteristic incisive break and a turn of pace which enabled him to touch down wide of the uprights. Cooke failed on this first attempt to add the extra's from his own conversion attempt.

Sleaford handled this early set-back well and fought back with resolve launching a sustained attack in the visitors half. With less than 10 minutes played they failed to convert an opportunity to reduce this deficit when a penalty was awarded in their favour for a Rasen infringement at the breakdown, something which unfortunately proved to be a frequent event throughout the match.

Having not conceded at this early stage the red and greens began to regain some structure to their game plan and used Cooke's boot to good effect in order to make ground and put themselves into a threatening position. From a line-out deep in the Sleaford half Rasen used quick ball to release their backs at full throttle and managed to create space for flying winger Nick Harvey to round the opposition and score the first of his two tries converted by Cooke.

Half-way through the first forty Cooke added to his tally when good work from the pack and a powerful charge from skipper Dean Hutchinson drew in the Sleaford defence and created a gap for the centre to further expose the frailties of the home defence. Cooke converted his own score resulting in a 19-0 lead.

To their credit Sleaford fought back and came close to scoring when pressure from the red and black pack resulted in a charged down kick within 5 meters of the Rasen try line. Sleaford maintained the attack and were awarded another penalty from which they opted for the scrum. This proved a flawed decision as hooker Ian Matts took one against the head and Cooke was able to clear from defence with a sizeable boot upfield.

With the territorial advantage now in Rasen's favour a powerful run from Ben Chamberlin resulted in a scrum on the home sides 22m line. From the set-piece a well worked move found outside-centre James Bemrose in space and able to outpace the opposition with a straight run to the try line. Cooke converted.

Rasen's superiority now began to show as they maintained a spell of fluent attacks with forwards and backs combining well until an injury caused a halt in proceedings(Prop Charlie Wright sprinted onto the pitch with the water bucket but by the time he reached the player the water had sadly evaporated!). Sleaford battled to hold out for the remainder of the first half but a well placed kick from Matt Neesham enabled the backs to retrieve the ball and from the turnover open-side Dave Starling made and unstoppable surge for the try line which Cooke duly converted.

With a 33-0 scoreline at the break the visitors started where they had left off in the first half and an early charge for the line by Nick Harvey was only halted following a blatant trip by a Sleaford player. The penalty was awarded and the Rasen pack powered forward through prop Danny Wootton. Justice of a kind was then seen to be done as the ball was fed to Harvey who crossed the whitewash to score his second converted try. Sleaford however refused to rollover and only excellent handling and quick thinking from fly-half Nick Johns prevented a certain score for the Ruskington Road side. Rasen again repelled the onslaught and after a powerful run by Dave Starling a scrum was awarded to the visitors deep within their opponents half. On this occasion it was the turn of winger Peter Everton to utilize his pace to score an unconverted try near the touchline following another well worked training ground move.

At around the 55 minute mark Sleaford finally recorded their only points of the afternoon with a converted try after turnover ball in the ruck resulted in a lapse in the normally watertight red and green defence, which for once saw a number of missed tackles preventing a clean sheet.

Angered by this error the Willingham Road men again fought to gain the upper-hand and from a line-out Cooke again increased his points tally with an exceptional 50 meter run leaving a flailing defence in his wake. The score went unconverted.

In the final period of the match the league leaders were guilty of losing their way. They did however finish on a high when scrum-half Andy Neesham broke from a Rasen scrum before offloading to flanker Ben Chamberlin to score a converted and well deserved try under the posts. The final score off 57 - 7 in favour of the visiting side was a fair reflection of the match but Rasen could possibly have been a little more clinical had the penalty count against them been reduced. That said Paul Cooke's hat-trick and overall points tally of 27 reflected a solid overall performance in which the back-lines superiority proved telling. Next week Rasen face a tough home fixture against Spalding, the only league team to beat the red and greens this season, so the side will need to be at their best as they look to continue their successful run.

Team: Nicholls, Matts, Wootton, Mitchell, McCardie, Starling, Chamberlin, Hutchinson, Neesham A., Johns, Everton P., Cooke, Bemrose, Harvey, Neesham M. Subs (all used): Wright, Green C., Thorns