Nottingham Moderns Colts 26 Boston Colts 27

Nottingham Moderns Colts 26 Boston Colts 27

Depleted through unavailability and injury, a weakened Colts team travelled to Nottingham to play a strong Moderns team who sportingly leant Boston two players to even things up. Moderns started off at a furious pace, repeatedly recycling the ball to produce phase after phase. Only desperate Boston tackling prevented an early score but eventually the pressure told and Boston conceded two converted tries to go 14-0 down after 20 minutes. Boston started to gain confidence and possession and come back into the game eventually forcing a penalty which lead to a lineout 5 metres from the Moderns line. A planned line-out move lead to Sharp forcing his way over the line for Boston`s first try which Bray converted. More heavy tackling and sharp passing forced Moderns to defend deep in their own half and this pressure lead to Howlett going over for Boston`s second try to leave the halftime score at 14 -12.
Continuing where they left off forced Moderns to infringe in front of their own posts early in the second half and Bray stepped up to kick the penalty for Boston to take the lead in the game. From the restart Boston failed to gather the ball cleanly to allow Moderns to pile through. Fortunately they could not control the ball either and suddenly a couple of quick passes in the centre released winger Adenaike on a storming run from deep in the Boston 22.After eluding several tackles he was finally hauled down in front of the Modern`s posts but a slick offload in the contact found the supporting Balsom who sprinted over unopposed for a superb score which Bray converted. Moderns started to rediscover their rucking game and the match moved in their favour as they scored two tries in quick succession to retake the lead at 26-22. Boston refused to play the game deep in their own half and kept up the lively tempo and quick recycling. Opportunities to close out the game were created but wasted as the crucial pass was misplaced or dropped until Tom Andrews forced his way over in the corner for the decisive score. With still 10 minutes to play Moderns attempted to force their way down the pitch but stubborn defence blunted their progress to leave the final score at 27-26 in Boston`s favour.

MotM Ayo Adenaike

TEAM: Ayo Adenaike, James Andrews, Tom Andrews, Olli Balsom, Iain Borley, Matt Bray, Ben Clawson, Joe Green, Tom Howlett, John Lam, Callum Lawson, Connor Mawer, Joe Preston, Alex Roberts, George Sharp.

Match Report by Charles Roberts