Bakewell Mannerians 1XV 3 - 36 Rasen 1XV

Midlands 2 East (North) results and table

Whilst the other "red and greens" (aka Lincoln) were getting a 99 - 0 pasting at the hands of league leaders Coalville, Sleaford were going down all guns misfiring against Nottingham Moderns and Grimsby had left the fireworks out in the rain again so went off like a damp squib against West Bridford (who still prop up the bottom of the table!), Rasen's finest travelled to Derbyshire for a respectable win against mid-table Bakewell Mannerians.

After getting the season back on track last week against a poor West Bridgford side, Rasen faced a tough away fixture in deepest Derbyshire. After running out comfortable winners in the home encounter Rasen expected a Bakewell backlash when it came to this return fixture. However the Lincolnshire side approached the game in the best possible manner, arriving early and not allowing the limitations of the facilities to detract from their mindset, as a focused and determined Rasen set about their Saturday afternoon business.

The game started well for the red and greens following early Bakewell pressure as the visitors confronted their opponents at every opportunity especially through the superiority of the Rasen pack. When Bakewell did manage to gain possession they were met with some ferocious tackling in midfield, notably from Dave Starling who, playing in the unaccustomed roll of inside centre, produced some immense spine shattering hits. From this great defence Rasen drew first blood when Bakewell knocked on in midfield the ever present Paul Cook hacked the ball half the length of the field to score, a try he then converted to take a 7-0 lead.

Bakewell then hit back after 15 minutes scoring 3 points when a penalty was awarded in front of the posts following a handling infringement in the ruck. Soon afterwards a further opportunity to reduce the deficit arose when continued ill discipline by the red and greens again gave the home side another kick at goal. This was uncharacteristically missed by the Bakewell outside half and Rasen were lucky to escape without conceding additional points as a result of their persistent misdemeanours in the ruck situation.

The rest of the half seemed to be dominated by the referee as some poor handling and basic errors, combined with several ill tempered exchanges, led to a very unstructured half. In the dying minutes of the first forty the visitors scored a fantastic team try that included no less than 8 phases of play with Starling finishing off the move as he grounded the ball for a magnificent unconverted try in the far righthand corner of the pitch.

With a 12-3 lead at the break the second half proved to be mostly about the Willingham Road men as they dominated possession and territory. As in the first half Rasen again scored after the first quarter when fullback Matt Neesham entered the line and picked up a loose pass off his boot end skillfully managing to cling on to the ball before scoring an unconverted but disputed try.

Ten minutes later Danny Wootton added to the tally when a typical bludgeoning run by the prop saw him batter his way over the line to score just wide of the uprights resulting in an easy conversion for Cook. It took only five more minutes before the scoreline incremented when Ben Chamberlain showed great support work as he rolled off pace-setting prop Ollie Cole to score a further Cook converted try. The final score of the match resulted from a period of concerted forward and back pressure which resulted in fullback Matt Neesham feeding winger Adam Dearden who finished the move superbly crossing in the corner and ending the fixture 36-3 in Rasens favour.

Had it not been for some elementary handling errors and an unacceptably high penalty count the final scoreline differencial may have been far greater, however overall the team displayed some impressive periods of play with a solid forward performance and some well worked moves between the greatly changed backline which capped a pleasing afternoons work at a difficult venue to travel too and achieve a result. Special mention must go to the three substitutes Greetham, Dale and Inman who travelled the long distance to play just 10 minutes of rugby to the appreciation of both coaches and other squad members.

Team: Wooton, Oliver, Cole, Thornes, Mitchell, Dearden. L, Chamberlain, Hutchinson, Neesham. A, Bemrose, Green, Starling, Cook, Dearden. A. Nessham. M. Subs Used: Inman, Dale. J, Greetham

Next week Rasen face another tough home league fixture against Belgrave 2.15 k.o.