The Tows made the long trip up the M1 to top of the table Sheffield, the steel city boasting a population of over 550,000 compared to Tows 15,000 and it seemed a mismatch on paper, however, Tows showed their own determination making for a very hard fought encounter, more than matching their hosts for the first 30 minutes but presented with very few clear cut scoring chances, it was the home side who kicked a penalty and broke the deadlock, strong defence from both sides nullifying any breakouts, the game being limited to a second penalty from the home side to end the half 6 - 0 ahead

Sheffield applied pressure from the start of the second half and eventually went over from close range after a driving maul, for the games only try, all of Tows efforts to get into the game were snuffed out by the home side and yellow cards didn't help the Tows cause, lack of numbers on the field led to Tows having to put in a massive defensive effort for large periods, a Gus Hopewell cover tackle saving a certain try, this was typical of the commitment shown and helped reduce the home side to just one more penalty, despite losing Kieran Frost permanently to a red card after testing the referee's patience, the home side running out deserved winners in an intense match.

Tows long injury list prevented the 2nd XV travelling away to Sheffield and with Northampton Old Scouts 2nd XV calling off against the 3rd's and the folding of Oundle's Colts, rugby was in short supply around the Tows this weekend, next week Towcestrians host Lichfield in a league encounter, 2:15pm Kick Off, preceded by the first Vice Presidents lunch of the season, tickets are still available.