VETERANS FINAL: Old Monks cane Kempston to win East Midlands Plate

Thorney Rugby Club picked up a trophy on Saturday (April 8) when their veterans side, the Old Monks, won the East Midlands Veterans Plate final.
The Thorney Old Monks side that won the East Midlands Veterans Plate final.The Thorney Old Monks side that won the East Midlands Veterans Plate final.
The Thorney Old Monks side that won the East Midlands Veterans Plate final.

They beat Kempston Veterans 33-8 at Stewart and Lloyds Rugby Club after a sparkling second-half showing.

Due to late withdrawals, Thorney had to reshuffle their line-up with back row pair Duncan Davies and Darren Frisby playing at 10 and 12 respectively. And it turned out to be a masterstroke of luck as the Kempston back-line tried to target the 10/12 channel but every time were knocked backwards by a brick-wall defensive set-up.

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Once the Monks got their hands on the ball playing up the hill they were able to show their superior handling ability with skipper Davies nipping in for the first try of the game after great handing by the silver fox Stuart Scott.

Davies duly converted his own try to make it 7-0.

Kempston came back hard at the Monks line and eventually broke through for a try in the corner after several penalties had been conceded.

For the rest of the first half the Monks struggled to string together much possession due to conceding needless penalties and they were lucky to go in at half-time just 8-7 down.

The second half saw the introduction of Andy McGeown and David Owen and the Monks upped their game and it wasn’t long before another try came through Luke Richardson converted again by Davies.

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McGeown then got himself on the scoresheet from a quickly taken tapped penalty, again converted by Davies.

The skipper then grabbed his second try after catching the Kempston defence napping at a penalty when they were expecting a kick to the corner. He was wide with the conversion.

McGeown also grabbed a second touchdown, bulldozing his way over after another great platform had been laid by the pack.

Davies put the final kick of the game over via the post and bar to make the final score 33-8 and the celebrations began.

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The man-of-the-match award went to Craig Jones for his great disruption of the Kempston lineout all afternoon but special mentions must go to skipper Davies playing out of position but getting a personal haul of 18 points and Frisby, who defended solidly all day.

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