Sat 22^nd September 01

Northampton Casuals III 10 – Ampthill Extras 55 

 New face at number 10  

When the Extras found out that their pool game for this week was an away game to Northampton Casuals there were sighs of the prospect of playing in Northampton for the third consecutive Saturday.Terry Norford was talked out of retirement to complete the fifteen players required. It was with only fifteen players that the Extras travelled away with. 

On seeing the opposition’s pack and knowing they were without substitutes there was an air of concern as to how this match would pan out. The Casuals won the toss and elected to kick off. With the ball not going ten yards the Extras opted for the scrum on the half way line. The Ampthill were by no means stable. Possession was however soon to the Extras. Great pressure from a fired up Ampthill led to their first try after a pass from Ian ‘Vidukes’ Browning to Steve Marsden in a position to power his way over the line. 

 Vidukes, chosen at fly half after his performance the previous week against the Extras, made a cutting run through the Casual’s back for the next Ampthill try. With the Extras winning much of the possession from set pieces, the ball was quickly fed back to their backs. Too quick for the home team a flurry of tries came from the Extras with Vidukes scoring another three, a second from Steve Marsden. Sean Jones got on the score sheet with a great back up try. Rob Hill scored probably one of the best orchestrated tries of the afternoon. 

The little possession the Casuals had was squandered with kicks staright into the hands of Ampthill’s backs. 

Playing for much of the game with an injured leg, resulting from a little extra attention than required from the Casuals number eight, Sean Jones left the field injured with fifteen minutes left. The Casuals struck back with two tries. 

The Extras had the last say from a restart when Justin Cobley followed up to steal the ball from a wayward pass and dive over the line to take the Extras tally above fifty. 

 Tries:  Steve Marsden (2), Ian Browning (4), Sean Jones, Rob Hill, Justin Cobley.

Cons:  Steve Marsden (5)