Rugby

Biggleswade were the dominant force all afternoon camping in the opposition half for long periods at a time.

The forwards were immense giving the Casuals a torrid experience that they did not often suffer according to their seasoned watcher.

Once again Biggleswade was forced to restructure their team especially in the forwards where both locks were unavailable.

Former wing turned flanker Gareth Rutt moved into the second row to partner Arran Pickering. The number four came up with the quote of the day to sum up Biggy’s performance. “We joined up all the dots to make a fine picture!”

The Biggleswade pack shunted Casuals back in the scrums and in driving mauls. From lineouts the tactic worked well on two occasions with Coach Shane Manning getting one touchdown and skipper James Caulfield the other.

These came after a super first try which really got the small crowd buzzing. It started some way out with full-back Shane Austin turning up the gas with a strong run down the right wing. From the breakdown the ball was spun to the left with flanker Ian Robinson on the end of the scoring pass.

Luke Haverly replaced Zak Pates at scrum half who was on the bench as a utility replacement. Wade Allen, ex-Bedford Swifts after his first game on the wing last week filled in at fly-half.

In the centre was the hard hitting Horgan-Hall combination who rattled many an opposition player with some powerful tackling. Tristan Adams the usual exponent of the big hit was kicking his heels on the touchline waiting for his chance to contribute to the team effort.

Leading 17-3 at half time but now with the slight assistance of the wind at their backs, the second half was more of the same. The visitors rarely threatened the Biggy line and scored just one try to add to their solitary first half penalty. It came as Biggleswade failed to see the looming danger quickly enough as an attack a long wide out turned into a threat on their line. By then it was too late to prevent the try but keep the scorer as far wide of the posts as possible.

Biggleswade scored two tries of their own. The first came from a brilliant piece of individual play. New boy Sean Hopper starting his first game at number eight after making a brief debut last week pounced on a doped ball from the visitors. He hacked the ball on twice and as it sat up he scooped up the ball and crashed over the line unopposed.

The second came as Biggleswade were in another strong attacking position. As the coaching team were shouting to spin it to the wide open spaces on the right the ball went left. Scrum-half Luke Haverly saw a gap up the blindside. The ball was quickly moved to winger George Tiley who scooted over the line for the touchdown. Luke added the conversion which was his third successful kick of the afternoon.

Next Saturday it is a cup week so Biggleswade is without a game. The Development XV match has been postponed so the circus heads off to Hitchin for a Third XV fixture.

The following week the 1st XV travels to Northamptonshire again to play Men’s’ Own who play outside Northampton near Ashton. They are one place below Biggleswade in the league table with three wins. The following week there is a home tie against St Ives to round off the first half of the season.