Shelford entertained Ampthill from National 3 London & South East, at the

Davey Field in their first of two pre-season friendlies.

From the kick off in the first of the three periods, Shelford won the ball and after a few phases, new fly half signing, Harry Owens, scored under the posts and then converted his own try.  Shelford’s defence held firm as Ampthill threatened the Shelford line.  A missed tackle put an Ampthill player within sight of the try line only for a last ditch tackle by full back Jay Williams to force him to spill the ball. From the scrum, a wayward pass was intercepted by Dane Gray who ran 70 metres before being tackled short of the line.  The play remained rooted in the Ampthill half as both teams traded penalties.  Despite some great offloading between both backs and forwards, Shelford were unable to find a second try and as the clock ticked down for the end of the first third, Ampthill finally broke through the home team’s defence and scored a converted try. With a squad of 28, Shelford made changes for the next period and started brightly.  After 3 successive penalties, the ball was spun wide and winger Taniela Bakosa scored in the corner. The conversion was missed.  Despite the Ampthill no 2 being sent to the sin bin, the visitors replied with a score of their own in the corner, which with the conversion, put them in the lead for the first time.  Shelford’s reply was positive, and from the restart, winger Sam Redmayne scored in the opposite corner.  Once again the conversation was missed.More changes for the final third.  Following another series of great passes, Harry Owens spun the ball to John Naylor who scored out wide.   Trailing by 8 points, Ampthill continued to press for their next score when Harry Owens intercepted the ball, ran the length of the field and scored his second try of the match under the posts.  The conversion was successful.   Ampthill continued to fight back and following a penalty deep in the Shelford half, crossed the line again to bring the final score 29 -19.