Stewart’s & Lloyds 1stXV welcomed local rivals Rushden to occupation road on Friday the 13th in what would be a fantastic victory for the home side.
The early exchanges suggested, as always, a tight match between the two clubs. With S&L striking first after a scrum their own 10 meter line, Louis Trimble sent Dylan Bale through a hole in the defence. Bale returned the favour sending Trimble darting through the remaining defenders to open the scoring with his 11th try of the season. Jay Manson missing the conversion. 5-0.
With the ground still being damp, mistakes we’re bound to happen and they did with knock ons a plenty from both sides. Eventually an infringement at the break down gave Rushden an easy shot at goal, which they took leaving the score 5-3. The score remained the same until the break.
Off the restart, S&L immediately applied the pressure, forcing a mistake from Rushden. With a scrum in a good field position Devon Rilley made a half break, pulling in a number of Rushden defenders. Jay Manson spotted space behind the line and with a perfectly executed grubber saw Harry Campbell collect the kick to dive over in the corner to extend his teams lead. Manson pulling the conversion once more. 10-3.
Rushden kicked off only to find themselves back in their own 22 after another trademark Jay Manson boot down the field. A brilliant kick chase led by Connor Fleming saw rushden give away a penalty in front the post. Unfortunately Manson missed the chance, which resulted in a rushden scrum. S&L drove the bigger rushden pack back towards their own goal line, eventually allowing Connor Fleming to steal the ball from the grip of the rushden number 8 and scoring the 3rd try of the game. Devon Rilley adding the extras to bring the score to 17-3.
Now the mission was simple, get the bonus point try. Kyran Bartlett found himself on the wrong side of the referee after handbags with the visiting number 7 and found himself having a ten minute breather in the sin bin.
S&L remained on the front foot and with just 5 minutes to go had a scrum deep inside rushdens 22. The pack overwhelmed the opponents again and number 8 Tansley Naylor picked and crashed over for the all important bonus point try. Riley missing the extras.
The game finished 22-3 and it was another hard fought local derby with the black wave coming out on top to continue the unbeaten start to the season.
The 1stxv are away to Luton this weekend were look to keep the momentum up and come back with another 5 points.
