Third straight win as Bourne beat leaders
BOURNE travelled to Lincoln on Saturday looking to pick up a third straight win, having beaten Lincoln's 4th string the previous weekend.
Lincoln's 3rd team sat top of the Merit League table having lost only one game from 13 - the home fixture against Bourne - and the game opened cagily.
In greasy conditions handling errors were made by both sides, disrupting the flow of the game and it was Lincoln who were first to take advantage and make the breakthrough. Careless defending from Bourne allowed the Lincoln centre through to score.
Skipper Hume urged Bourne to wake up, but worse was to come with the South Lincolnshire men being reduced to 14 through repeated indiscipline.
Yet this seemed to be the spur Bourne needed and for the next 10 minutes they camped in the Lincoln half.
Lincoln were penalised for straying offside and when the referee awarded a penalty, Bourne decided to use their pack to good effect by taking a scrum.
From the resulting breakdown the home side were again offside, this time on 5 metres, and with Bourne choosing to scrummage the forwards rumbled forward and Bills was able to level the scores, leaving it 5-5 at half time.
Invigorated by Hume's half time talk it was Bourne who created the first try-scoring opportunity of the second period, Whittock chasing a kick only to be denied by the bounce of the ball.
The rangey Sadler was not to make the same mistake moments later and he finished off a strong run with a try to give Bourne the lead.
Lincoln were reduced to 14 men following a high tackle, but Bourne could not stretch their advantage and a Lincoln tried to nullify Bourne's advantage they resorted to handling in the ruck. From the resulting penalty Whittock broke both sides' kicking duck for the day by slotting the ball between the posts.
Bourne knew they had the win in sight, but were pushed back to their own 5 metre line.
Bourne's tryline defence has been excellent though in recent weeks, and a determind effort saw them hold out to claim their third victory in a row. Skipper Hume praised his players for giving their all on a day where the forwards deserved great credit, leaving Bourne with a record of played 12, won 8 in the Merit League.
Bourne face North Hykeham 2nds away this coming weekend, kick off 2pm.
Bourne RUFC: Xanti Xipu; Sam Bailey, Mick Bennett, Tom Bishop, Adam Binns; Tom Dixon, Phil Whittock; Donk Hill, Simon Sleight, Simon Pick, Olly Sadler, Steve Hirschfeld, John Hume, John Adams, Mark Bills. Repl.: Neil Rogers, Jay Rock, Jason Mulhern, Tom Adams.
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Weather for Bourne
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -6 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: -4 C to -0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
