Horncastle 19 - 25 Gainsborough
Gainsborough Rugby Club gave another great performance last weekend and took home all the points in a game of more twists and tales than a Quentin Tarantino movie. Gainsborough arrived at Horncastle on Saturday afternoon with both teams locked in mid table on equal points and both teams looking to progress in the league. The encounter started with Gainsborough playing into a strong wind in the first half which made it difficult to make an impact and get into the game when the elements are against you, but they did. After exchanging possession and territory in the first 15 mins Gainsborough finally had the courage to brave the wind and play out wide which resulted in Mark Waterland side stepping his opposite number on the half way line and ran it in for his first try for the club. Gainsborough now felt more confident that they had the ability to take the home form on the road and a win was possible at this difficult venue although their was still more rugby to be played. Feeling confident and contempt, Gainsborough let their guard drop for a moment just before the break which resulted in Horncastle having an easy try under the posts which they converted giving them the lead at half time 7-5.
The second half started just as the first had finished with Gainsborough looking sluggish and being penalised for silly mistakes giving Horncastle the breaks they needed to grow confident them selves which they did resulting in another try extending their lead to 7 points. After this wake-up the visitors started to play as a team again and made use of a fresh back-row driving the ball forward from the scrum and breaking the gain line on every drive. With Horncastle now playing on the back foot a charged down kick saw two Gainsborough players attacking the full-back with Mark Thomas stripping the ball and touching down under the posts giving him double figures for the season. The score now at 12 - 10 and 30 mins remaining gave both sides all to play for in this tense game. Horncastle came out of the blocks firing on the re-start using their young players to good advantage and left Gainsborough chasing a fast set of backs around the pitch for 10 mins leaving them tired and another 9 points down again after working hard to still be in the game. The experience of Rob Morley then stepped up and gave Gainsborough the talking to they needed and immediately saw them re-take control of the game and play at the pace that the All Blacks are familiar with. The next 15 mins saw sharp inter-play between backs and forwards work the ball up the field and drive to the try line resulting in Vernon Goude spinning of the back of the maul and scoring a well deserved 5 point try for the team. Now only one score down and still tine to win the All Blacks felt the Adrenalin pump around their body and worked the ball up the field with every ounce on energy focused on the job at hand and finally they were rewarded with a kickable penalty to take the lead. Wayne Sandal slotted over the kick to give Gainsborough a 20-19 lead with only a few minutes to go. After this hard fought contest was nearing its end Gainsborough’s hard play had now took its toll on Horncastle and the forwards went over the line again to leave the home team needing a converted try to win the game. With one minute left to play Horncastle gave everything they had but came up short thanks to some crunching tackles and some solid rucking.
A fine attribute to a winning team is to finish strong, which is exactly what happened on Saturday and is what’s happening to Gainsborough’s season. With only two league games left for the season and a presidents game on the 29th April, Gainsborough look like growing stronger by reputation on and off the field further improving the basis of a growing Rugby Club.
