Biggleswade RUFC

Biggleswade Men’s 1sts 69 - 3 South Leicester Men’s 1sts

Biggleswade Men’s 1sts became league champions for the first time in 10 years with an emphatic home victory over South Leicester on Saturday. 

The 69-3 win saw them win the Midlands 4 East (South) of Midlands League with two games still to play - and the chance to complete their first unbeaten season in the club’s history.

The previous fixture had ended in a Biggy walkover as Leicester could not field a team. This time they meant business though as they committed early to not only bringing a team but also a coach load of supporters to celebrate their last game of the 2021/2022 season.

Biggy's determination to seal promotion in style was obvious from the start, as they ran the ball hard and passed into space, attacking on one side then pinging the ball to the other for Jake Devereux to dive over for the first try.

Some handling errors allowed Leicester to make ground and use their strong pack to put the home team under pressure, but Biggy held strong and used their blitz defence to push the visitors back.

The second try followed classy handling skills from several Biggy players again stretching the Leicester defence, before a perfectly weighted and timed pass from Luke Dillinger put Tom Richardson over the 

With confidence sky-high, Biggy ran the ball from everywhere, including their own 5 metre line. Backs and forwards demonstrated slick passing with some of the strongest plays of the season, and Dillinger got a try of his own.

South Leicester forced some errors to get close to their opposition's try line, but Biggy yet again ran the ball from deep to set up Richard Sinclair just right of the posts, allowing Kieran Brasier to convert.

The next try came from Dom Nott crashing over after catch-and-drive line-out ball.

Leicester came back fighting and slotted over a penalty from in front of the Biggy posts - a reward for their determination

The final try of the half came from Ollie Vagg, who sliced his way through the defence, running 50 metres to score with 3 defenders hanging off him. Half time score 36-3.

The second half continued in the same vein. Leicester attacked Biggy only to lose out to turnover. The visitors defended well, and held Biggy out until a fumbled pass was picked up by Luke Gadsby to score.

Richardson collected his second after another wave of Biggy attack eventually overwhelmed Leicester’s defence.

Sam Watson then went on to score three tries in a row in 20 minutes - his first hat-trick for the club.

As the finishers came on to rest tired legs, the return of Graham Williams and captain Gavin Taylor after injury for the last few minutes was a welcome sight for supporters.