LATE PENALTY COSTS DAVENTRY WINNING START

In a scrappy encounter, Gareth Dudgeon's early try after a powerful eight-man scrum gave the All Blacks a deserved 7-0 lead.

The loss of two Daventry props through injury, in particular the influential Michael White, meant the rest of the game was played with uncontested scrums, which denied Daventry arguably their most potent attacking weapon.

An S&L penalty reduced the deficit to 7-3 at the interval, but in the second half neither side managed to put the continual phases together needed to build any sort of pressure to create try scoring opportunities.

After another penalty bought S&L to within a point, it was a rather bizarre try which gave Daventry a six-point lead.

From the base of a scrum five metres from his own line, the S&L scrum half managed to slice his clearance straight up in the air, which left lock Steve Rolt with the easiest of tries.

From then on, S&L dominated but couldn't manage to convert possession into points due to solid defending from the likes of Hin Phat Dip and Ricky Haynes.

That was, however, until the last three minutes, when an illegal tackle on the Daventry 22 was deemed worthy of a penalty try despite there being no obvious try scoring opportunity available.

Daventry were disappointed to lose a winable game, but with the likes of Alex Rose and Martyn Skinner still to return, a strong league campaign looks well within their sights.

l Daventry IIs raced into 15-3 interval lead against Stewart and Lloyds thanks to tries from P Green, P Hockham and C Mansel. A converted try and a penalty pulled S&L within two points in the second half, but a solo run from C Appleby resulted in a try that gave Daventry enough to see out the game 20-13.