Great team effort from All Blacks

On one of the hottest Saturdays of the year Gainsborough beat Market Rasen III 46-7 at the Queen Elizabeth sports ground in front of a good crowd of spectators.

Again the management tried to keep changes to a minimum but with some non-availability Michael Nichol made his first team debut at tight head prop.

Market Rasen are renowned for their forward battles and it was interesting to see then throw the kitchen sink at Gainsborough in the first 20 minutes but the home defence stood firm.

All the play was in the Gainsborough half and much of it in the All Blacks 22 metre zone but the home side’s defence was superb.

Rasen could not believe what happened to them when, continuing their all-out assault on the Gainsborough line, from nowhere Tom Parkinson launched himself through their line and intercepted a pass.

He ran the whole length of the pitch and touched down a fine individual try.

Completely against the run of play Gainsborough were in front by seven points.

The pattern of play for the first half really didn’t change but on two further occasions Gainsborough managed breakaway tries giving them a half-time lead.

The second half saw the home team grow in confidence and stature and another prop forward, Sam Bradford, was given a debut, and with 20 minutes remaining Bates made his home debut replacing captain Goude at scrum half.

The try-scoring roll of honour went mainly to the backs but Turner added two for the forwards, both well taken tries, the first one following superb support by James Taylor.

Sam Hurst also scored two tries, and he earned a Man of the Match performance for not only scoring the tries but also in tracking back to defend and making try saving tackles.

Chadwick also scored a try, just reward for a tremendous game as he was always a thorn in the Rasen side.

Dawson came on and scored and winger Tony Brown also went over – another player who received just reward for his hard work especially in attack.

It is good to see the support these players have for each other.

Rasen scored their consolation try with 25 minutes to go but it left them with little hope and the All Blacks kept them at bay, and with Tom Parkinson convertingd three of the tries the final score was 46–7.

There is no doubt this was a full team performance but special mention must go to Richard Tooke who worked tirelessly, and Daniel Dodsley who encouraged, motivated, won line out ball, and put in crucial tackles.

On Saturday Gainsborough travel to Stamford when they hope to have Eliot Humphrey back.

For more information find the club on Facebook or call secretary Tony Goude on 01724 763825.

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