Sat 31 Jan 2026
Peterborough RUFC made the short trip to Kettering RUFC this past Saturday and came away with a well-deserved 28-7 win. The side had a number of forced changes with several regular players on the sideline with injuries. Stu Day returned to the side for his first game since September, Rob Jacobs returned from injury and Tom Downer, Dan Foreman and James Prewer came into the side after some impressive games in the 2nd team.
Borough was on attack from the first whistle and were camped in the home sides 22 for the majority of the first half apart from the odd breakout by Kettering. Borough's first try of the day came after they overturned Kettering's put in at a 5-metre scrum. Prop Chris Sykes managed to hook the ball against the head, quick reacting number 8 Will Bell broke from the scrum and was stopped just short of the tryline but managed to off load to hard running Rob Jacobs who forced his way over to score. Stand in kicker Harry Anderson converted to give Borough a well deserved lead,7-0. The rest of the half saw Borough dominate possession and territory but due to some poor decision making couldn't add any more points. At half time the visiting side were very frustrated but were encouraged by Head Coach Sam Crooks to have patience and be a bit more clinical.
From the start of the second half Borough picked up where they left off in the first and from their first real attack Jacobs ran through 3 home defenders to score his second try,converted by Anderson. Then from the kick off scrumhalf Tom Kemp kicked over the defence for winger Tom Downer to regather and outpace the defence to score, again converted by Anderson. With Borough in complete control, it was just a matter of time before they scored again and it was that man Jacobs again who broke the Kettering defensive live and went through to score his 3rd try of the day, Anderson converted again to end the day with 4 out 4 conversions. Borough had a commanding lead now at 28-0. The rest of the game became a stop start affair with several injury stoppages for the home side. With time up Kettering managed a consolation try. Borough will be happy with the win especially as away victories can be hard to come by and especially at Kettering.
Director of Rugby Shane Manning's comments " really pleased with the win, we don't win a lot at Kettering so that's a really good result. Our scrum functioned well and we dominated possession and territory. Tom Downer was our Man of the Match, it was his first 1s game this season and he didn't look at of place. The lads have another week off before we host league leaders Market Harborough. It doesn't get any tougher than that. They are the best team in the league and are where we want to be so the lads get to match themselves up against some top players . We have nothing to lose so we need to go out and have a go at them."
