Oundle favourites to beat big rivals Borough again

Action from the last Oundle v Borough clash.

This will be only the fifth ever league fixture between the two sides and, perhaps for the first time, Oundle will be warm pre-match favourites.

They’ve been catching Borough up in recent years and when the two sides met towards the end of last season they dished out a 40-14 thrashing to the Borough boys - a first ever league win over their near-neighbours.

And, based on current form, the odds remain in Oundle’s favour.

They smashed Old Northamptonians 46-17 and West Bridgford 48-19 in their first two games and only just missed out 26-17 in a top-of-the-table clash away to Paviors in Nottingham last Saturday.

Borough started with a 30-5 win over Northampton Old Scouts but then lost to Oadby (22-19) and Old Northamptonians (12-5).

n Borough Ladies meanwhile have made a terrific start to their Women’s Midlands Division One season.

After clinching promotion from Division Two last term, the Borough girls have coped admirably at the new level.

They followed up their 45-5 win over Shelford on opening day with a 46-5 victory at Old Northamptonians on Sunday.

Coach Rich Parsons’ rucking drills paid dividends as Borough were able to secure plenty of quick clean ball.

They made good use of the slope in the first half, scoring at regular intervals.

Georgie Sheridan, Jess Wilson (2), Steph Warlow and Charlotte Fray all ran in first-half tries and in the second half Warlow added her second try of the match and Wilson completed her hat-trick.

Borough’s forward and back of the match were Laura Phillips and Warlow respectively.

n Stamford were much too strong for Bourne in the big local derby in Midlands Division Three East (South).

They won the match at Bourne 57-8.