Northampton Heathens vs Podington Rugby/Cricket Club

When Peterborough Lions 2nd XV where unable to raise a team for the scheduled Courage Best Merit Table fixture Heathens went into the fixture pool and arranged a friendly against Podington Cricket / Rugby Club.

Podington CC/RFC comprises cricketers and rugby players celebrating the end of the rugby season and looking forward to the forthcoming cricket season. As has become the norm these days Heathens again played ‘home away from home’ at Rushmere Road due to the ongoing problems at the Racecourse changing facilities.

The score line would suggest a dour encounter and for the majority of the game a rare nil-nil result looked to be on the cards. However indications did not reflect reality and a close run encounter took place with Heathens scrummage being countered by Podington’s line out and quicker backs who with improve handling could have swung the game in their favour having threatened Heathens try line on a number of occasions with a possible score in the first half being ruled out due to a forward pass.

The game was scoreless at half time and remained so until with 10 minutes remaining Heathens scrum half Gavin Cottrell crossed for the only score of the game to which he was unable to add the extras. Despite there being only a single score the match was entertaining for all and enjoyed by both teams. Cottrell’s score was the highlight of an overall man of the match performance for The Artizan based Heathens.

Next week Heathens have no fixture in their calendar and will again be looking to the pool for their Saturday enjoyment.