Sat 28^th Oct 00

Ampthill Extras 65 – Northampton Old Scouts 4^th 0

 15      Andy Teague                              1   Brian Geary  

14      Kevin Smith *                             2   Brian Todd         

11      Aiden Harrington                         3   Mark McKinlay              

13   Ian Burgess                                  4   Gavin Griffith 

12   Richard Beasley                          5   Terry Norford

10   Johnston (Paddy) Bradley         6   Liam Duffin (c) 

9     Laurie Barlow                               7   Paul Farthing ‡

                                    8    Tom Gray

16   David Backhouse ‡ (half time)
17   Gary Bass  * (50 mins)     
18   Ian Browning       
19   Matt Taylor

 Tries:    Andy Teague (2), Kevin Smith (2), Aiden Harrington, Richard Beasley (2), Gavin Griffith,

             Mark McKinlay, Tom Gray (2)

Cons:    Andy Teague (5)

  Wiith many of the regular Extras attending the rugby league international at Twickenham it was the turn of no fewer than six recently retired first team players to step up for the Extras.

 Beasley, Teague, Paddy and Gray played their first games of the season in one of the strongest teams the Extras have fielded in a few seasons.

 Constant rain throughout the morning and during the game meant that conditions were extremely wet. Add to this a strong wind running the length of the pitch, there were remarkably few handling errors from the home side as they passed the ball around as if it were a dry sunny April afternoon.

  The first try came for the Extras after only a few minutes when Tom Gray seemed to canter through the Old Scouts defence. Soon followed tries for Kevin Smith & Richard Beasley. It was clear from then that Ampthill were in control of the game. Support play was superb, whenever an Ampthill player ran into trouble a quick pop of the ball was all it took to keep possession and clear the ball from the point of contact.

 As the points started mounting up for the Extras there were an increasing number of players with two tries each. Scoring two tries must have worn these players out as whenever they were caught in possession close to the line they started to tire and look around for a supporting player to off load the ball to.

 There was only one downside to the afternoon was when at the end of the first half, Paul ‘Penny’ Farthing injured his knee in a clash with Beasley’s head. Penny playing only his second game back from injury was playing extremely well causing the Old Scouts all sorts of problems with his support play.

 The referee blew the final whistle with at least ten minutes to play. The likes of Geary, Todd, Norford and Duffin would have been quite happy to play the full forty minutes and increase the winning margin as they have on many occasions travelled home from the Old Scouts having lost themselves by similar scores.

 The performance was very fitting for it was 25 years ago this week that the first ever Ampthill Extras side played under the captaincy of Roy Duffin.