Biggleswade RUFC

Kempston 16 - 20 Biggleswade 1st XV

Biggy 1st XV travelled away to play local rivals Kempston in the Midlands 4 East South on Saturday (Dec 7).

The Biggleswade boys turned up with a point to prove as a number of ex-Biggy players now run out for Kempston on a weekly basis.

Kempston kicked off to start the game but the Biggleswade forwards soon pinned the Kempston team down in their own half with some strong rucking and kept possession for a number of phases. The pressure was rewarded after a strong break from Jack Diemer as he broke away from a ruck and stormed towards the Kempston try line. A strong tackle was needed to bring Jack to the ground but not before he off-loaded the ball to waiting winger Jakub Grabowski, who scored the first try of the the afternoon.

This early try seemed to wake the Kempston team up and they started to use the strength of their centre partnership to drive over the game line.  A couple of missed tackles from Biggy allowed the home side to score almost under the posts. The conversion was added , making the score to 7 -5 to Kempston.

Gavin Taylor made good use of the boot to keep the home side deep in their own half with some great kicks over the the top of their defence. The tactic paid off when the Kempston winger was caught with the ball just 5 metres out from his try line and bundled into touch for a Biggy line-out.  A cheeky pre-planned move saw Biggy use the front jumper to break away round the front of the line-out, with Diemer charging over to put his team back in the lead.

Biggy managed to absorb wave after wave of attack from the Kempston back line but eventually a penalty was awarded to the home team which was kicked from distance.

The dominance of the Biggleswade forwards was seen as they drove the home team back deep into their own half with a series of attacks. The effort was soon rewarded by a close-range try scored by Ed West diving over the line.

As the game approached the half way mark, the Kempston number 10 was able to punish Biggleswade with another penalty kick bring the half time score to 13-15.

The second half saw Biggleswade defend well while Kempston threw everything they had at the visitors. Tom Seabrook saved the day with some some immense tackles keeping the Kempston attack out.

Kempston had to try something new and started kicking over the Biggy defence. They scored from another penalty to take the lead before Biggy started to find their stride again. Some good decision making from Arran Pickering saw him attack the space on the blind side, stride towards the try line, then pass to the waiting Diemer only for the referee to bring it back for a forward pass. 

Kempston kicked to make ground but this was run back into the their half by Will Burman. The Biggleswade forwards proved to be too much for the defence as it was one too many infringements for the referee and he sent a Kempston player for a 10 minute rest on the sideline.

Biggleswade kicked for the corner from the penalty giving them the line-out 10 metres out. A clean catch and drive by the Biggy forwards set the base for a simple pop pass to the charging Diemer to crash over the line for the final try of the game, making the final score 16-20.