Casuals arrived at Wellingborough anticipating a tough match in windy conditions, and they were not proved wrong!

Following the kick off Casuals gave away a couple of early penalties giving Wellingborough early dominance in the game and although Casuals defence was tight a try was conceded in the corner giving Wellingborough an early lead. With the conversion missed the score remained at 5 – 0 to Wellingborough.

Casuals then stepped up a gear using the players on each wing well to gain yards earning a penalty. The decision was taken to go for the posts, but unfortunately the kick was missed. Casuals momentum continued and after Wellingborough cleared their lines giving Casuals control at the lineout a clean throw and gather by Casuals saw the ball passed to Dave Emery, who kicked over the Wellingborough defence and gathered his own kick to run over the line for Casuals first score of the afternoon. 5 – 5

With the wind playing havoc with the ball in flight, the conversion was missed.

With half time approaching both sides put in some strong tackles in defence with Casuals Max Johnstone and Adam Nightingale both putting in some hard work in defence. Hayden Coates, making a long awaited return to competitive rugby, was a thorn in Wellingborough’s side with his strong runs which gained Casuals valuable yards on the pitch and when in defence making some big hits.

Casuals won a scrum 10m from Wellingborough’s try line, which after being reset several times Casuals got the upper hand to push Wellingborough backwards, this allowed Alex Dimmock, Co-Captain, to pick up from the base of the scrum and run over the line to score Casuals 2nd try of the match. 10 – 5. Once again the conversion was missed.

Wellingborough came back at Casuals very strongly and were camped in Casuals 22 for a sustained period, with Casuals conceding 5 penalties in a row. However, Casuals defence held strong and managed to turn the ball over. Unfortunately, from a penalty kick the referee blew his whistle as Casuals had strayed off-side and Casuals started to defend again. Wellingborough kept their heads finally getting the reward of a try. 10 – 10.

With the scores level at half time the referee informed Co-Captain, Sam Franklin, that due to persistent penalties being given away Dave Emery was being issued with a yellow card.

Casuals started the second half with 14 men and an early accidental collision involving Hayden Coates saw him unable to continue in the match, despite the hard work of the team Casuals were unable to keep Wellingborough contained who during the period of the yellow card managed to get over the Casuals try line twice. Casuals then made some changes with Mike Colclough and Simon Coles joining the field, while Josh Dove moved to number 10, Sam Franklin moved to 12 and Daniel Falkenthal-Smith went to number 6.

Casuals battled through the rest of the match but Wellingborough had now got the upper hand and took the score to 29 – 10 which was the final result.

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