MEN'S RUGBY: Towcestrians secure success against Shelford

In front of a big crowd, Tows produced a terrific performance to take the points and move off the bottom of the London & SE Premier table and up two places to 12th.

After Callum Threlfall was yellow carded, Shelford crossed wide out through full-back Toby Cracknell, who also slotted the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

Tows looked the better side with ball in hand and some great work by centre Dave Williams committed the defence before he then smartly offloaded in the tackle to Pepe Nanci, who scored.

James Falvey converted to ensure the scores were level at the break.

The second half was an arm wrestle and Shelford had their No.8 sin-binned.

Tows gained territory and Jamie Warr went over for a try, with Falvey again adding the extras as his side secured the win.

Elsewhere, Towcestrians IIs closed the gap on the league leaders with another victory, this time beating Syston, while Tows Colts beat Buckingham.

Leighton Buzzard 20 Scouts 18

Scouts came away from this Midlands 1 (East) encounter feeling rather aggrieved by a couple of decisions that did not go in their favour.

Early on, Scouts full-back Sam Ewbank touched down out of sight of the referee so no try was awarded.

The home side’s forwards started to make a few trundles into Scouts’ 22 and eventually drove over for a seven-pointer.

This was soon followed by two Adam Frost penalties, sandwiching a Buzzard penalty to make the score 10-7 before a second try for the hosts, when Scouts had a clearance attempt charged down.

Scouts were not getting the rub of the green and, almost on half-time, a ball squirted out of their scrum at an awkward angle and the Buzzard flanker pounced first.

The visitors had it all to do in the second half and started to eat away at the deficit.

A brilliant attacking move saw replacement winger Conor Jeffcoate race in for a score.

Scouts continued to threaten and when a penalty was awarded, scrum-half James Au had the presence of mind to quickly take a tap and go over for his first league try. Tom Holliday added the two points.

As the light was fading, Scouts made one final effort but as they were driving for the line and their backs began to join in, they were harshly adjudged to have entered the maul incorrectly.

Old Scouts Vs 74 Heathens 0

HEATHENS shipped 12 tries as they endured a difficult day at the office.

Old Scouts showed promise early on and they opened the scoring with a converted try after just two minutes.

By half-time, they had racked up six tries, leading 36-0, and they continued to cruise to victory after the break.

The Romany-based Heathens did play with determination and battled on to the bitter end, with Mark Allison and Viorel Marin displaying the best of their side’s spirit.

Heathens’ man of the match was Aidan Sales, who was outstanding, tackling persistently and repeatedly bringing down men twice his size.

Kettering 48 Old Northamptonians 7

OLD NORTHAMPTONIANS suffered their sixth defeat in seven games as they were beaten by Kettering in Midlands 1 (East).

An improved performance after the break saw the ONs create but fail to take chances and a further 15 points took Kettering to an emphatic victory.

Kettering took an early lead when Harry Owens intercepted and ran in unopposed from 40 metres.

Paul Sumner then extended the advantage with a try

before Dan Martin doubled up to help bag Kettering the bonus point.

The ONs at last got on the scoreboard when Fernely Simmonds broke through and the ball eventually found Ben Hammersley, who was unstoppable from 15 metres. Billy North converted.

But that was as good as it got for the ONs as Alex Bayley and Damian Conyard rounded off the scoring for Kettering.