It was always going to be a tough afternoon starting a man down and with no replacments for the 2nd xv trip to Rushden and Higham. Against a strong wind in the first half we started well, with the forwards winnig at the breakdown, but we just couldn't turn the pressure into points.
Rushden and higham were first to score with a penalty, quickly followed by a try, to go 8-0 up. But Mens own were competing well and making use of the strong ball carriers up front and were piling the pressure on. Rob Bloye came close to scoring along with Dan Heath and Karim Kanouni as we battled to brake the tryline but Rushden seamed to just keep us out.
They extended their lead with another try, before a good brake from Steve Marriot looked to change things. As he approached the last line of defence a loveley chip over the top was chased by Dan Golden to produce a great try for Own.
Unfortunatly Liam Kelly then got injured, but with no subs bravely battled on by moving out to the wing.
Rushden kept the score board ticking over in the second Half to extend their lead further but Own were still piling the Pressure on but just not coming away with the points to show it.
Matt Wilmot seemed to discover his kicking boots with some excellent restart drop kicks that could worry Matt Brace in the 1s!
But when Geraint Birch went down with what looked to be a bad collar bone injury , it just left us too short and the Ref agreed to blow up 5 minutes early, to get him off to get some treatment.
Final score was 34- 5, but considering the shortage of players it was a creditable performance by all.
The whole team can be proud, especially Dan Heath, Karim Kanouni, Matt Wilmot, Tom Wooton, Steve Marriot, Dan Golden, and Man of the Match Rob Bloye.