Kesteven ll 20 v 12 Bingham

Bingham travelled to Kesteven to face the league leaders who just needed to avoid defeat to claim the league title
It took 25 minutes before the deadlock was broken by Kesteven scoring after a lineout and retaining possession until they eventually had a man over 5 – 0

The game was tight in the first 25 mins with Bingham giving as good they got. Some good early turnovers and with Sean Richardson making only his 2nd start at hooker playing a blinder and even winning scrums against the head.

The 2nd try came close to half time from a 5 m scrum which Bingham had defended well but when the ball came loose, it favoured the home side as the defence was wrong footed and the Kesteven 8 was able to regather the ball and go over

HT 10 – 0

The 2nd half mirrored the 1st with each team cancelling each other out.

A few enforced changes meant key positions reshuffled and what appeared to be some miss communication in midfield turned a promising counter into lost ball and Kesteven got it wide to score 15 – 0.

A few penalties were then declined as Bingham chased the game to get a foothold in the game but were undone themselves after conceding a penalty and not reacting quickly enough to stop the Kesteven scrum half seizing an opportunity and gaining a bonus point try.

From what had been a tight game was then looking unfavourably at 20 – 0 but resilience and team spirit shone in the last 20 minutes gaining 2 tries, the first coming after Jack Barnard was held just short but Chris Bell in support was able to go over. Anthony Thomas added the conversion 20 – 7

Bingham kept the pressure on throughout the last 10 mins and were rewarded with a Jack Barnard try after the backs switched blind. Anthony Thomas just missed the conversion from the touchline and just missed on a losing bonus point.

A fair result with Kesteven winning a hard-fought game but not a lot in it. A few opportunities missed but the squad still buoyed despite the defeat for what has been a good season turning around a poor previous season and putting the fun back into local rugby.

2 games left, next week final league game home to Nottingham Corsairs ko 3 pm where we will be pushing for a win to keep an unbeaten home record intact and then a Junior cup final on 20 April at Lady Bay v Ollerton who are 2 leagues above us; ko 12:00