The Blue and Whites are off the bottom

Boston Rugby Club pulled themselves off the bottom of the MIdlands 4 East (North) with their first win since September.
Tom Andrews.Tom Andrews.
Tom Andrews.

In a tense and hard-fought encounter between the two bottom-placed teams, a 15-10 success at home to Meden Vale was enough to see the Blue and Whites leapfrog their opponents.

The team welcomed James and Tom Andrews and Herbie Laidlaw back to the starting line-up, the latter two providing the crucial points.

With both teams fully aware of the importance of the game, the match would prove to be a contest that ebbed and flowed, testing the nerves of both sets of supporters.

Boston came out of blocks quickly and had several opportunities to score within the first five minutes as the Meden Vale defence stood firm and wrong options were taken.

After 15 minutes the deadlock was broken when, from a maul outside the 22, scrum half Laidlaw broke blind to feed fly half Tom Andrews.

He outpaced the defence to score, putting Boston 5-0 ahead.

A Tom Andrews penalty on 22 minutes, a result of the side’s pressure, moved the score to 8-0.

Meden Vale were gradually working their way back and on 30 minutes scored their first try following a powerful line out catch and drive to reduce the arrears to 8-5.

A Tom Andrews penalty hit the post five minutes later before Meden Vale scored their second try to enter half time 8-10 ahead.

The second half again saw the home side putting themselves into scoring positions but narrowly failing to cross the whitewash due to turnovers and a yellow card awarded to Meden Vale for an indiscretion in the loose five metres from their line.

On 55 minutes scrum half Laidlaw scored Boston’s second try from two metres out, stretching over the line to move the side 15–10 ahead after Tom Andrews’ conversion.

Despite the growing injury list, which resulted in all of Boston’s bench being brought into action, the side held on for the last 15 minutes to successfully close out the match and earn the vital points.

Boston do not have a fixture thios weekend but return to league action on March 4, travelling to play Mellish.

BOSTON: Lane, Phoenix, Deamer, Hardstaff, Colley, Hough, Cuthbertson, Eldin, McNulty, Laidlaw, T. Andrews, J. Andrews, Kippax, Cowern, Stanfield; Replacements: Beard, Fowler, Baldwin, Moody, Woods.

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