Biggy kick their points too late in the campaign

It was mainly thanks to the boot of scrum-half Luke Haverley that Biggleswade scored so many points. He had a 100% record on the afternoon which included four successful penalties and two conversions.

The other points came from tries by Michael Hall and Stuart Phipps.

Biggleswade fielded a very similar side to the one that they put out two weeks ago against Oadby-Wyggestonians. This was with the notable exception of Michael Haddow now off on his world tour. Stuart Phipps moved to fly-half with Will Simkins and Michael Kendall starting in the centre and Taig Norman freed from tractor driving duties on the wing.

Biggleswade started strongly and took the attack deep into the visitor’s half but went pointless. Instead it was Oakham that took the lead on a rare sortie into Biggleswade’s 22 scoring in the corner. But the boot of Haverley cut the deficit with first one penalty and then another. It was so good to have a reliable kicker in the side which made the opposition pay for their mistakes under pressure from Biggleswade.

Oakham had some powerful runners who were good at eluding anything but a solid tackle from the Biggy defence. They stretched their lead with a couple of unconverted tries but Biggleswade hit back before the break.

A period of pressure from Biggleswade, who worked hard at retaining the ball in the breakdown, led to a try under the posts from fly-half Stuart Phipps. The conversion left Biggleswade just four points down at the break.

They took off Sasha Heath and Janes Ramsey which reduced Biggy’s pack weight advantage. Soon after the second period started Oakham stretched the lead with a converted try. Luke Haverley cut the deficit with a couple of penalties before Oakham stretched their lead again and secured a bonus point with two more tries.

But Biggleswade did not crumble. Finally their efforts were rewarded when number eight Michael Hall who has made so many storming runs this year crossed the line. The conversion over Biggleswade trailed by just eight points so another score would earn a bonus point if nothing else.

In the end though it was Oakham who secured all the spoils with another late score to extinguish Biggleswade’s hopes. Easter Saturday is a blank week so Biggleswade finish this season’s campaign with an away trip to Olney, a home tie with Peterborough and then a possibly crucial last game against near rivals Rushden & Higham.

Biggy: D Nott, S Heath T Scheibner, J Caulfield, S Bukowski, K Loan, M Hall, L Dunne, J Ramsey L Haverley, S Phipps, G Rutt, W Simkins, M Kendall, T Norman, a Borg, E Tunstall, J Woodfield.