Bedford Athletic were beaten 28-7 at home by Oundle in a match against the favourites for the league title and a side who fielded six players with either Championship or National One experience
The home side never gave up but were overcome by the craft and experience of their opponents
the home side were scrambling in defence as they struggled to contain their opponents’ offloading game
They eventually pushed Oundle back outside their 22
Oundle rumbled a rolling maul 25 metres for a try to hooker Grant Snelling
Bedford Athletic worked their way back into the match
taking the game to their opponents with pace when possible and when Stephen Woodhead broke through he was stopped only by a last ditch tackle from full back Thomas Oliver
The home side kept the pressure on with a series of tap penalties and this led to Woodhead getting the try as he darted over from a ruck on the line
Leo Mortimer added the conversion to level the scores at the twenty minute mark
Penalties began to mount in Oundle’s favour and this allowed them to push the home side back until once again they were in range to send their driving maul over the line for a second try to Snelling
Bedford Athletic eventually lifted the siege with a fine 50:22 kick from Mortimer
but the lineout from that opportunity plus a further one from a penalty were both lost and the home side were unable to add to their score before the break
Oundle won a scrum penalty from the second half kick off
and when the ball was kicked to touch yet another driving maul appeared to be going over the line
scrum half James Fear dug the ball out of the maul to send the unmarked Logan Noble over on the wing for the third try which Young converted
Bedford Athletic responded with pressure on the home side’s line and were unlucky when Toby Hunt crashed over for a try only for the referee to stop play and award a penalty and yellow card to the visiting fly half Ben Young for a high tackle
and this time prop Harry Morley was sin binned
This briefly led to Oundle going down to 12 players and uncontested scrums with their replacement prop temporarily injured
the home side rather snatched at their opportunity
ignoring the space and then knocking on an offload that would have led to a try being scored
Further chances came and went for the home side during this period playing against 13 men
with a combination of a lack of composure and a tenacious visiting defence depriving Bedford Athletic of a further try
Oundle methodically worked their way back up field from a combination of astute tactical kicking and penalty concessions until they again arrived within striking distance of the Bedford Athletic line
they sent another driving maul over the line for hooker Snelling to complete his hat trick
Mortimer might have had more luck from an interception but he failed to win the chase for his kick ahead
and in response Oundle made ground with a booming 50:22 kick but then failed to capitalise on the possession within the home side’s 22 leaving the final score at 28-7
still in tenth in RFU Regional South East Division One
Shelford on Saturday for a bottom half of the table clash looking for their first away win of the season
Oundle continue unbeaten with six wins from six
but Letchworth sit above them with an extra bonus point
and they are both clear of Old Northamptonians in third
Bedford Athletic were thrashed 82-0 by league leaders Oundle
In a match that highlighted the gulf between the top and bottom sides in the league
there was no disguising the fact that Oundle – who scored 12 tries
converting 11 of them – were the vastly superior team
The Ath remain bottom of RFU Regional South East Division One and are now 11 points adrift and need a huge shift of fortune to avoid relegation while Oundle are coasting towards the league title with a 100% record
Bedford Athletic had the first attacks of the match but very little else
A couple of early penalties saw the side force a lineout on the home side’s 22 but that was overthrown and that was pretty much the end of the visitor’s scoring chances
Oundle scored regularly throughout the first 40 minutes with tries arriving in the 5th
15th and 20th minutes to see the bonus point claimed by the end of the first quarter
Two quick tries before half time together with five conversions out of six saw the half end with Oundle 40 points to the good
with outside centre Harry Winch scoring two tries
The third quarter saw three more converted tries added with lock
Matthew Waring adding his second in this period
all of which were successfully converted for a 61-0 lead
The visitors then staunched the scoring for a time until a flurry of three tries in the final five minutes saw the score advance to 82-0
Winch completed his hat trick and flanker Joe Bercis added a second
Ben Young kicked 11 out of 12 conversions to finish the match with 22 points
The only bright spot on the day for the visiting team was that all their relegation rivals finished the day with defeats and no bonus points so the position at the bottom of the table remains unchanged with seven matches left to play
This Saturday (25 January) they play their rearranged match away to Hertford with a 3pm kick off
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Two National Trust sites are closed due to windy weather
Belton Estate near Grantham and Lyveden near Oundle are both closed today (Wednesday
Both of the National Trust sites have been running Easter events
which are planned to resume tomorrow when the attractions reopen
the windy weather will continue throughout the day with gusts of up to 47mph