RUGBY: Derby success for St Neots . . . and still more to come

Head coach Johnny Berwick saw his St Neots side claim A1 derby success – then insisted there is still plenty of improvement to come.

The Saints continued their Midlands Division Three East (South) surge with a fourth win in five league games when seeing off Biggleswade 25-18 at The Common last Saturday.

They found themselves 10 points in arrears early on after conceding an interception try and a penalty, but Berwick’s men recovered to hit the front before half-time.

Matt Cartwright went over in the corner to claim their first try before Biggleswade added another penalty, but Saints had more joy from the resulting kick-off as Aidan Jordan released Rory Dingemans to touch down.

Try-scorers Cartwright and Dingemans were both then involved in the slick team move that lead to another Saints score from Lewis Hall early in the second half.

And they secured a bonus point when the smart thinking and fast running of Ross Hubbard created a fourth try for Phil Sandling.

Biggleswade hit back with a consolation try late on but a contest, in which Hall also kicked a penalty and a conversion, was already over by then.

Berwick said: “The squad are really enjoying their rugby and the result on Saturday was testament to the hard work they’re putting in on the training paddock.

“We confronted some relentless pressure inside our 22 early, but we stayed calm and went on to take control of the match.

“The boys produced some dynamic attacking play which had our opponents running backwards and led to us scoring points.

“We definitely left a few points out there as well which shows we can carry on improving and we’re fired up for our final game of the year this Saturday.”

That game is away to Leicestershire side Birstall who go into battle one place and one point above Saints in the standings.