Houghton Boars took on Washington on Saturday 16/09/19, the warm up was energetic and focused which helped the quick start they made with Carl Harvey scoring a well worked try in the corner within the first few minutes, Dan Turnbull was unfortunate with his conversion attempt. Keegan Burnside then scored between the sticks on 11 minutes, Gary Spoors converted. A minute later a well worked set piece of the back of a scrum saw Carl Harvey break the line and off load to Lee Bainbridge who’s excellent line and strong running but him in for his first try of the afternoon, Gary Spoors missed the conversion. On 24 minutes Dan Turnbull playing out of position for the second time in two weeks (last week at Hooker, today at Centre) ran in between the posts after some good hands in the backs and converted his own try. About 28 minutes into the half Gary Shepherd scored after he charged a kick attempt inside Washington’s 22, tackled the full back and turned the ball over to drop over the line between the posts , Gary Spoors converted. The next try came from some excellent hands in the backs, Paul Ridley to Lee Bainbridge to David Cummings to Dan Turnbull who still had a lot to do with half a pitch to sprint, well jog, well by the end fall over the line in the corner for his second of the afternoon on 30 minutes, he missed the conversion. On 35 minutes Lee Bainbridge scored his second try of the afternoon due to his strong running and excellent line he also ran half a pitch to score, Dan Turnbull missed the conversion. Houghton saved the best try for the end of the half with some good build up phases which allowed space for Gary Shepherd to break the line, off load to Lee Bainbridge who then off loaded to Carl Harvey who in moment of shear brilliance (luck) managed to get off a Sonny Bill Williams pass to the on rushing David Cummings to score, Gary Spoors missed the conversion.

HT 46-0

Houghton switched off with the game seemingly in the bag for the first 10 minutes of the second half giving away silly penalties with high tackles and not rolling away in the tackle, however they defended well with Richard Lydiatt and Keegan Burnside hitting everything back that came our way, however after constant pressure to Houghton’s try line Washington were able to pick and drive from the base of a ruck several times which saw them cross the line for a try, the conversion was missed. That seemed to give Washington a boost and Houghton took another 10 minutes to break through again, on 60 minutes Gary Shepherd broke the line and off loaded to Keegan Burnside who ran some 30 yards and could/should have scored himself however he unselfishly offloaded John Forrester who after 3 yards fell over the line (he will tell this story for years to come and the distance will get larger but trust me when I say 3 yards is probably pushing the truth!!). Washington clearly angered by John Forrester scoring spent the next 10 minutes putting the ball up their jumper and making hard yards, again the Houghton pack led by Richard Lydiatt stayed strong and defended very well around the breakdown, The young Keegan Burnside making some brilliant tackles, eventually when the ball went to the Washington backs they couldn’t make any headroom against a well organised Boars backline. The last try of the game was a very special one for anyone who plays the sport, not because it was a sensational try but because a father and son scored in the same game!! Young Open Side Flanker Ethan Forrester who had been terrorising the Washington Fly Half since half time managed to wriggle through the 10 channel and run half a pitch (slightly longer than his dad John for his try) to score the last try of the game under the posts for Dan Turnbull to convert.

FT 59-5

Boars Man of the Match went to Keegan Burnside

Washington arrived with the bare 15 and had some injuries during the game, thanks must go to Gavin Clarke, Chris Parks, John Forrester and Rob Middlemas for helping them out during the course of the afternoon – Rob Middlemas arguably should have had their man of the match for his second half performance which was exceptional.