Second-half fight back not enough for Bosworth

Bosworth were expecting a lot from away trip

IT is not a long way to travel to Long Buckby but this week’s game for Market Bosworth was a long way off from last weeks’ winning performance.

The home side sitting in ninth position in the league seemed to be a walk over for Bosworth who were in third place and had been playing good exciting rugby in previous weeks but make a few forced changes to the team and everything changes.

On a very wet pitch, playing up hill into the wind and sun in the first half was a problem for Bosworth who were caught by the referee early on for not releasing the ball after a tackle in front of their own posts and so gifting the opening three points to the home side.

Ten minutes later the Long Buckby winger intercepted a short pass between Bosworth players and ran the length of the field only to be stopped in the corner by a tremendous tackle to prevent the try.

Unfortunately for Market Bosworth the ball was released to the Long Buckby threes who were close on their wingers heels and with clinical handling got their other winger over the line in the other corner making it too difficult to convert. It took about twenty five minutes of the game to elapse before Bosworth managed to get into the home sides half if only by ten metres and then only for a very short time because they quickly found themselves back defending their own line.

But with possession regained it looked promising for and a break out to work but it was all to no avail as this time it was the Long Buckby full back who intercepted another short pass and with a few strides touched down under the posts, making it easy for the conversion to succeed.

With a couple of minutes left in the half Bosworth did manage to get to within five metres of the goal line only for the Long Buckby defence to hold out to the half time whistle. The score at this point was Long Buckby 15 – Market Bosworth 0.

The second half started with more enthusiasm from the Bosworth players who managed to get well into the home sides half and upset them so much that the referee awarded a penalty and another ten metres for dissent giving Mitch Culpin an easy kick to put Bosworth’s first points on the board.

The game became very staggered due to lots of stoppages for injuries to players on both sides and with Bosworth having used all three substitutes needing to return an already substituted number eight Conor Steptoe back into the fray. Eventually, after winning several mauls across the Long Buckby goal line, Harry Milner received the ball and dived over under the posts for a well-deserved try, converted by Mitch Culpin.

Play remained in mid field for the rest of the game until a relieved Long Buckby kicked the ball well into touch at the final whistle. It had been a very scrappy game, possibly caused by the conditions, but with too many mistakes from the Bosworth players.

The final score Long Buckby 15 - Market Bosworth 10, giving the Bosworth side a losing bonus point but dropping them to fourth in the league.

There are now eight points separating the top four in the league with this loss making a lot of difference as the top three have now won eight games each and Market Bosworth just the seven.

This Saturday will be the last game in the first half of the season when Market Bosworth entertain Leicester side Vipers with a 2.15 kick off.