Bourne Rugby Club are beaten by Daventry

Bourne came away on the wrong side of a tight fixture away at Daventry on Saturday as they went down to a 15-3 defeat in the Counties 1 Midlands East (South) clash.

Daventry had started the season strongly, winning both their opening matches including a win over last year's runners up, Vipers.

Bourne had a shakier start to their season by losing at home to Spalding, but then fired back with a win against Bugbrooke last week and traveled to Daventry high in confidence.

In the first half, the sides matched each other shot for shot, with both defences holding firm and preventing their opposition from gaining any momentum in attack.

Daventry opened the scoring through a penalty to give them a 3-0 lead.

Bourne made numerous entries into Daventry’s 22 in the first half but had their efforts thwarted, either by stubborn defence or by their own errors.

The away side were defending ferociously when Daventry made progress towards their line and held out before winning a penalty of their own in kickable range, which captain Sam Evison converted to take the teams into half-time with the score tied up at 3-3.

The second half picked up where the first had left off with both sides unable to penetrate the defences.

Eventually, Daventry took advantage of a rare hole in the Bourne line and were able to score the first try of the day, which was converted to give the home side a seven-point cushion.

Bourne responded well and put the Daventry defence under immense pressure but, on the day, they were their own worst enemy as unforced errors turned the ball over.

Daventry scored their second try soon after, however, it was tainted with controversy. Both line judges ruled it as 'no-try', however, the referee still awarded the score.

This took the game away from Bourne who, despite showing glimpses of their fluent best, were unable to get on the scoreboard again.

The game finished 15-3 which was not a disastrous result against arguably the strongest side in the league, however, Bourne will rue handling mistakes and unforced errors.

Captain Evison said: "We let ourselves down at times by not looking after the ball, especially in areas of the pitch we would normally expect to take points from.

"Credit to Daventry, they defended well and took the sting out of our attack, which is something we will look to improve upon in the week.

"We are still moving in the right direction as a squad and we will work hard to get back on track this weekend."

Bourne's next league match is at home to Long Buckby on Saturday. All support is welcome and the England match against Chile will be shown in the clubhouse afterwards.