Green Machine take derby honours in the rain

But Green Machine coach Tim Edwards and his Bourne counterpart Nigel Lindley both agreed the rematch at Milking Nook Drove on February 20 will be a far better affair after torrential rain turned the Midlands Four East (South) derby into a lottery.

Adam Binns kicked an early penalty for Bourne before Deepings’ forwards took a stranglehold on the game with tries from Jack Rogers and skipper Guy Cunningham.

Edwards said: “It was a close game but not the most thrilling because the weather ruined both teams’ attempts to play a more open game of rugby. “We put some good phases together with a very young team whose average age is 22 or 23 and four key players unavailable.
“It was so wet, but our pack started to take control, scrummaged brilliantly and drove back the Bourne pack.”

Deepings came into the match reeling from a 84-12 hiding at second-placed Birstall, a game that Edwards admitted was where “everything Birstall tried worked”. Edwards added: “We made six changes from the Birstall game which really helped us in the win against Bourne because we were far more focused on our preparation for the game on Saturday.

“We’ve used 40 first team players so far thia season and we’ve struggled a lot for consistency as the team can vary due to whether our students can come back and play.

“But the attitude of the squad is fantastic and after the game, the club was bouncing with people having a bit of a laugh.”

Meanwhile, Lindley bemoaned the absence of five front row players and added: “The weather was absolutely shocking and I think it spoiled what could have been a reasonable game of rugby.

“It’s very disappointing to have had two sides that wanted to play rugby, only to find themselves battling against the elements, as well as each other.

“I hope the weather will be better when we meet again in February.”

Lindley and fellow coach John Forbes had every reason to be optimistic after a 21-0 shutout of lowly Brackley the previous week. But the absence of five key front row players blunted the visitors’ capacity to score points.

“We scored a penalty when the sides were finding each other and we made considerably more breaks than Deepings did,” Lindley said. (?)

“I also felt our backs were considerably stronger than Deepings, (?) but we weren’t able to get the ball forward and make the final breakthroughs at the critical time.

“It was disappointing to concede two tries and that’s something we’ll have to look at when we go back into train this week.

“But it would have been a considerably more even contest if we had our five front row players available.”

Read more: http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/sport/