Kettering at home

Hinckley V Kettering 23rd Sept 2018

After a few days of rain the pitch was looking good, and the Hinckley Boys came out, all awake and ready to play. Having not played Kettering for a number of years, there was no telling how good they were or how they played, but looking at them they were out to win. Hinckley took the first kick off and the game started hard with Hinckley taking the ball to Kettering and putting them under pressure, it was a strong start and the attacking game looked good, but they were held off by some even better defence, from which Kettering got the ball and were lucky enough to make their attack count and kicked the conversion. The end of the first third saw Hinckley 0- Kettering 7.

The second third saw Hinckley come out fighting with some good ball handling skills down the line for Walton to put the first scores on the board, no conversion. The restart was excellent with some great support play by Kew, Wilson, back to Kew to Plowman only to be stopped by a hard tackle by kettering. The play continued in Hinckley’s favour for a little bit long before a big team shove over the corner saw another team try for Hinckley (sorry missed who it was) no conversion. The restart saw Hinckley again take advantage, with some good ball handling, team work and strong attacking movements, Kennerson caught some space and did some hard running with the support of Handford, who was again stopped by an excellent tackle by Kettering. Hinckley still had control of the ball that saw Walton run hard and straight, with an off load to Kennerson, who finished it off with a try, which he went on to convert. Kettering were not impressed and came back fighting to score a try and then proceeded to convert it. Second third ended Hinckley 17-Kettering 14

In the final third there was some excellent hard attacking and even harder defensive work by both side, Hinckley just taking the edge with their attacking moves, we saw Healy take the ball over the Line only to be held up by kettering. Martson, Kindly changed his shirt and played for Kettering, however their player soon recovered and he returned to the Hinckley team. The next try was scored by Hanford under the posts, which Walton converted. Healy this time took the ball for a nice run down the field, over the try line but managed to knock it on as he placed it down, Hinckley didn’t let this dampen their spirits, they picked them selves up and with some excellent team work and ball skills down the line, Morgan made some ground and passed to Handford, then to Mitchell, with a final little switch move Handford was on the outside of Mitchell to receive the ball and score the final try of the game with Walton converting it, final score Hinckley 31 - Kettering 14.

Squad; Baron, Bosworth, Carey, Cooling, Connelly, Craddock, Goode, Gordon, Handford, Healy, Jesson, Kennerson, Kew, Marston, McGregory, Mitchell, Morgan, Pither, Plowman, Schoonen, Thomas, Walton, Wassell, Wilson,