Lacklustre Lions still searching for their first win of the season
Peterborough, Oundle, Stamford, Spalding, Thorney and Deeping all opened their competitive seasons on a losing note while Peterborough Lions are still searching for a win in National League Division Three after two fixtures.
The Lions were hoping to bounce back from a heart-breaking 21-20 defeat at home to Derby in their opening game when they visited Lichfield.
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Hide AdIn both fixtures last season the Lions were handsome winners, but on Saturday they had to settle for a 13-13 draw.
“We’re not at the races yet,” said Lions chairman Andy Moore. “We just haven’t got going. We were lacklustre in a very mediocre game of rugby. It was like a mid-season game between two mid-table teams.
“But I’m convinced we’ll sort it soon - hopefully at home to Longton on Saturday.”
Longton are bottom of the table and Lions beat them 29-12 (home) and 42-12 (away) last season.
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Hide AdVernon Horne and Tom Lewis scored tries for the Lions at Lichfield while Jack Lewis was sin-binned for the second week running.
Borough fielded five debutants - three of them South Af ricans and one a Lithuanian Under 21 international - for their Midlands East Division Two (South) opener at home to Oadby and expectations were high.
But they lost 14-10, just managing to secure a losing bonus point with a try by Chris Sansby deep into injury time.
They also scored in the first minute through stand-in skipper Stuart Day but in between the two scores it was Oadby who dominated in most areas.
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Hide AdPick of the newcomers was the young Lithuanian Paulius Strigonas.
Borough are away next to Oakham, a side who twice beat them last season (35-27 at home and 22-0 away).
In the same division, there were also home defeats for Oundle and Stamford.
Newly-promoted Oundle were pipped 22-21 by Oakham after leading 21-10 with seven minutes to go and Stamford lost 22-5 at home to Luton.
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Hide AdEx-Lions players Jaco Steenberg, Marc Roussouw and Adam Peel made their Oundle debuts.
Spalding lost 20-6 at home to Coalville in Division Two (North) and Thorney suffered a shock 13-7 loss at home to Bourne in Division Four (South).
New-look Stamford College Old Boys, now coached by ex-Borough boy Sam Sargeant, could be the team to beat in Division Four. They smashed Brackley 30-3 with Haydn Johns scoring 20 points. Brackley won last year’s corresponding fixture 36-0.