5th
November 2005
Ampthill Extras 29 – Bedford Ath 3rd XV 7
Discarding last week’s performance as water under the bridge, the Extras had a comfortable win over the Ath to complete a series of wins over the local ‘big four’; Dunstable, Luton, Leighton and now the Ath have all suffered defeats at the hands of the Extras this season.
Things didn’t start so grand as after a series of penalties given away the Ath scored a try from a quick tap penalty a short distance from the Extras’ try line. Ampthill hit back immediately when prop Darren Oatley caught the ball in his own twenty two and ran eighty metres side stepping and dummying his way before he kicked an up and under, retrieved the ball and scored a try. Well that’s how Darren told it. Others saw the ball superbly retrieved from the kick off by flanker Richard Beasley to set up an attack that ended up with Oatley driving over the line with the support of his pack.
The next score came for the Extras when skipper Liam Duffin took a quick penalty to set up Chris Denton for a just wide of the posts. The Extras continued to enjoy much of the possession and territorial advantage. It wasn’t long before they got their third try of the half when John ‘Scouser’ Roberts made a dashing break up the middle of the pitch breaking through the Ath defence momentarily appearing to be some twenty years younger than his true age. As quickly as his energy was deserting him the Ath defence was catching him up. Fortunately support was there from Ian Browning who had the legs to finish the move off with a try and with it any hopes Ath may have had of going into the break with a score advantage.
The second half saw the Extras continue to dominate but didn’t quite have the sharp attacking edge they showed in the first half. There were two further tries for the Extras from the two of the forty something brigade. Leigh Clark scored a try from the back of a scrum beating the fly half and centre to score. Richard Beasley rounded off the try tally when he beat the Ath Defence to score a deserved try.
Along with many of the old regulars making their first run out of the season there was an impressive debut for centre Darren Jones.
Forwards: Adam Wilson, Gez Ingarfield, Darren Oatley, Justin Cobley, John Roberts, Liam Duffin, Richard Beasley, Chris Denton
Backs: Phil Stanton, Leigh Clark, Dave Tomkins, Darren Jones, Ian Browning, David Backhouse, Rob Hill
Subs: Michael Churchouse, Richard Mardle, Stuart Palmer, John Wilkinson, Neil Fordham, Raff Troiano, Gareth Williams
Cons: Leigh Clark (2)