Bourne Rugby Club are victorious against Oakham Rugby Club
Bourne Rugby Club recorded their biggest win of the Counties 1 Midlands East (South) season on Saturday.
They defeated Oakham 54-6 at Milking Nook Drove to end a run of back-to-back league losses and inflict the heaviest defeat of the campaign on their Rutland visitors.
Captain Sam Evison led by example with a 29-point personal spree as he scored two tries, added five conversions and kicked three penalties.
Joe Atkinson also crossed for two tries with Josh Lynch, Adam Binns and Jack Berry completing Bourne's haul.
Bourne went into the contest having yet been able to build on the successes of last season and are below where they would aspire to be in the league table.
Oakham have also experienced a mixed season, so both teams were looking to gain some momentum to take into the run-in to the New Year.
A miserable day at Milking Nook Drove set the scene for a scrappy encounter and the match started off as such with both teams struggling to string phases together.
Oakham capitalised on some ill-discipline from Bourne and were able to open the scoring with a penalty.
Bourne fired straight back though with winger Lynch brushing off tackles on his way to the line to score the first try of the day. Evison converted to give the home side a 7-3 lead.
Oakham added another penalty soon after before Evison kicked three of his own to give Bourne a 16-6 lead at half-time.
The second half began with Oakham receiving a yellow card and Bourne were eager to take advantage against their now 14-man visitors.
Oakham defended admirably despite being a man down, but relentless pressure meant gaps began to appear and flanker Binns forced his way through the defence to touch down under the posts. Evison added the extras.
Soon after, Bourne found themselves again in an attacking position with a scrum just five metres out from the line.
A dominant scrum set up clean ball for their backs to attack and a floated ball found its way to veteran full-back Berry who scored in the corner.
Bourne’s fourth try was scored by Evison, who was put through a gap by fly-half Liam Shields and dotted down.
Even with a full 15 now back on the field, Oakham struggled to contain Bourne who were by this point full of confidence and showing the attacking prowess that has been absent for the early part of the season.
Atkinson was the recipient of some slick handling and dived over in the corner for Bourne's fifth, before Evison stole the ball on the halfway line and ran in unopposed for their sixth.
The final try of the afternoon was an early contender for try of the season.
Shields, under immense pressure from the defence, fired a 20 yard out-the-back pass to Atkinson on his wing to create a one-on-one.
The Bourne winger then chipped the ball over the defender and raced around him to dive on the ball inches before it rolled out off the dead ball line.
Evison converted and the final whistle was blown with the score 54-6 with the Bourne skipper noting how important the victory was in regaining the side's confidence.
He said: "We have ended up on the wrong side of a few close matches this season so we were very happy to have taken the full five points from Saturday.
"We've found it difficult to reach the standard that we found last season which has been frustrating, but hopefully we can build on Saturday and take some confidence into a massive few weeks."
The victory leaves Bourne in seventh spot ahead of their derby duel at high-flying Stamford on Saturday.