Boro lose against league leaders

Week 12 and Boro welcomed Syston to the Lane

This week saw Boro entertain league leaders Syston at Cut Throat Lane, Boro were looking to back up last week's win over Market Rasen. Another week and another raft of changes to the team, in the front Ben Morton-Bright returned, the second row saw a new partnership with Alex Booth starting alongside Brendan Leslie who was starting in the 1s for the first time. The back row only saw one change with Joe Staden starting, the half back combination was completely different with Connor Riley returning at scrum half and Pete Vickers returning at fly half. A last minute change in the back saw Charlie Frankham start at inside centre with Andy Seaton moving to the wing and Tyler Chant starting at 15. There were also a couple of changes on the bench with Jon Cartwright making a return and Luke Smith moving to the bench through injury!

1st Half
Boro started off the game well with the forwards carrying the ball hard into the opposition. A move on the blindside nearly saw Boro score an early try. Eventually the pressure told as Boro were awarded a penalty shot at goal after some good pressure, this was put between the uprights by Pete Vickers to give the Boro the lead (Boro 3v0 Syst). Boro kept the good work going with some good ball retention but the Syston defence was proving to be a stubborn obstacle to overcome.

A break away from Syston saw the Boro defence scramble back and it took a tackle by Tyler Chant and a turnover from Charlie Frankham to thwart the score. Boro were soon back on the attack with the backs making some yards outwide, however, it was Syston who took the lead, a couple of penalties saw Syston come within yards of the line, and they took full advantage to drive over for the score (Boro 3v5 Syst). Syston were now in the ascendency and another break from them saw Connor Riley make a try saving tackle, still the Syston attack came and it took some strong defensive work from Matt Ellson and Charlie Frankham to stop the score. However, this was only temporary as Syston did eventually score a try to extend their lead (Boro 3v12 Syston).

HT Score
Wellingborough 3 v 12 Syston

2nd Half
Boro conceded a couple of early penalties but soon started to get some good possession of the ball but strong defence from Syston was stopping Boro from gaining any ground on the scoreboard. Soon it was Syston's turn to attack and this time a couple of penalties saw Syston awarded with lineout within striking distance, some strong defence from Boro saw the try prevented but at a cost with Chris Shipman heading to the bin for 10mins. Boro held out after another Syston attack but eventually the pressure told and Syston extended their lead (Boro 3v19 Syst).

Not long after Chris Shipman returned to the field Boro started to punch holes in the Syston defence, this eventually led to a Syston player being sent to the sin bin, Boro were now pushing the ball left and right which nearly saw the ball intercepted. Alex Booth was now getting his hands on the ball more and was starting to commit two to three players to bring him down but Boro were unable to take advantage. With the play now end to end it was taking some strong scramble from both teams to stop any tries from being scored. However, in the closing moments of the game Syston managed to score their fourth try through a well worked maul (Boro 3v26 Syst).

FT Score
Wellingborough 3 v 26 Syston

Before the game you did worry for Boro looking at each teams respective positions but I felt the team acquitted themselves well, the opening 20 minutes saw Boro play some of their best rugby in recent weeks. Boro now go into an important period in the next two weeks with two winnable away games.