Slow start to year as Bosworth lose away

THIS first game into the second half of the season had lots of promise with several players returning to the team who had been missing during December.

May be too much Christmas pudding and New Years Eve excesses were taking their toll as Market Bosworth were no match for an Oakham side they had convincingly beaten earlier in the season at Cadeby Lane.

The Bosworth side is relatively small in stature compared with the opposition they have met in recent weeks and that is also beginning to be the deciding factor in match results.

Bosworth started well with some great moves getting them close to the Oakham line only for possession to be lost and play moving into the Bosworth half where a couple of penalties were quickly conceded, the last of which resulted in a yellow card for what the referee judged to be a tip tackle. The kick at goal was successful to start the score board moving for the home side.

Down to fourteen men Bosworth found it difficult to defend against the heavier runners and quickly let Oakham run in a try under the posts with an easy conversion.

Having managed to get to within five metres of the Oakham line the ball was lost and cleared with several kicks ahead until the Bosworth full back fumbled the ball in his twenty two giving Oakham the chance of an easy kick for three points.

However, with Bosworth off guard they chose to take a quick short penalty and went over for the five points instead. Back to full strength Bosworth were able to mount an attack which initially got them to within ten metres of the line enabling Sam Balance to run through for Bosworth’s first try of the game which was converted by Rich Harris. From the restart one of the Oakham wingers was able to run right through the off guard Bosworth team to score in the corner which was too far out for the conversion to be successful. The half time score was Oakham 20 and Bosworth 7 which remained so for most of the second half with the game flowing to both ends of the pitch with neither side able to secure any further advantage until an easy penalty in front of the Bosworth posts gave Oakham three more points to add to their score. With six minutes left on the clock Oakham piled on the pressure and went over for their bonus point try.

Bosworth kept their heads up and in the last minute of the game secured a small consolation when Joe Randon ran in a well worked try but the hurried kick went wide. Final score Oakham 28 Market Bosworth 12.

This week Bosworth are at home to League leaders Olney and are hoping to pull off an upset as happened last week when, third from the bottom Vipers, beat third from the top Market Harborough. Anything can happen in this league.