News

Demons V St Albans

Posted on the 17th May 2013 by Patrick

Northampton Demons host St Albans Centurions this weekend at Bugbrooke RFC for their National South Conference Rugby League Clash, kick off 2:30pm.

 

The Cents were the first side the Demons faced this season giving them a 32 – 0 drubbing as a welcome to the league present whilst we also came 90 minutes from losing Captain James Davenport from this mortal world due to a ruptured spleen.  It gives credit to the fitness of RL players that Trigger only had 4.5 pints of blood (the rest was found in his stomach) left pumping his heart when he got into Northampton General whilst physio Kieran Sharpe gained instant hero status due to his handling of the situation.

 

Since them the Demons have slowly found their feet in this division and are now beginning to look a settled sided. Only 1 change is made to the 13 that started against Leicester with young Ben Pointer replacing fading veteran Fred Woods whilst big Nathan Jennings joins a bench of Oli Cottle and Jarrod Agnew. One more substitute will be selected from the 20 man squad this evening.

 

“That weekend was probably the worst of my coaching life” commented Smith, ” a hammering, a player and a mate on the operating table for 7hrs was a real nightmare. Thankfully Triggers on the mend and so is the side. We’re becoming more settled every week, Freddie Woods has been outstanding this season and we’ll miss him but Ben Pointer will step up and the forwards will do their job. Ben Dawson is settling in well now and has given the left edge some much needed direction whilst Tom Pallent has been in exceptional form. I think there are 9 lads playing tomorrow who didn’t play in the first match and it’s basically a new side the Cents are playing. We’re going into this game aiming for the win, but we will respect the opposition because the last time we didn’t we got done over, League isn’t a nice game to play when you lose.”

IMPORTANT – Juniors This Weekend

Posted on the 17th May 2013 by Patrick

Please be aware due to short numbers our U11s and U14s will NOT be traveling to Nottingham on Sunday

 

However we will be taking our U13s as we have 11 confirmed players. Good luck to the U13′s!

Debutants Shine As Academy Quell The Storm

Posted on the 13th May 2013 by Patrick

Demons Academy got their season off to a positive start with a strong showing in adversity against their nearest and dearest, Leicester Storm.

 

Despite a scrappy start, Demons were on top at the start of the game, forcing errors from the storm and pinning them in their own red zone. An injury to captain Ollie Rees provided a set back however Demons were first on the score sheet, debutant Alex Tollan getting his first for the adults, a powerful run against the grain from a scrum

 

Demons had the weight of possession begin to go against them for a spell, Storm gaining field position and points whilst they were at it. Two tries in quick succession gave them a lead, 10-6.

 

Demons had plenty of time to hit back in the half and did so in style. Alex Tollan gained another two tries for a personal Hattrick on debut, one a fine team move with great hands from Elliott Bolton in the build up. Both tries were unconverted.

 

Demons had one more spectacular move in their locker before half time. Debutant Will Axup continued his excellent performance by getting out of acting half, delivering a sublime flick pass to bamboozle the defence and putting Jamie Partridge through a gaping hole. Partridge finished the move off much to the delight of the home crowd. Dawes added his second conversion of the day, Demons lead 20-10 at half time.

 

The academy were in high spirits and confidence growing into the second half and took their form into the opening stages. With a good platform being set by forwards, an exceptional showing from Aidan Power in-particular, Demons pivots Axup, Dawes and Coupar began to take control, so much so that Chris Coupar exploited a gap and went over for a neat solo effort.

 

Unfortunately injuries began to take their toll, Sam Tomlinson had to be carried off on debut and Max Mungo Jenkins also had to come off the field leaving us with just one man standing on the bench. Despite this Jamie Partridge again burst his way through the line for a long solo effort to cap a fine display. Josh Dawes added the extras, 32-10

 

The lack of interchanges and a heap of pressure began to build and take its toll on the young Demons side. Leicester to their credit kept pushing and threatened a comeback with two converted tries to ensure a very nervy finale. To Demons credit they dug in and hung on in there for a hard fought but very well deserved win, 32-22

 

Post match a relieved coach Wilson stated “this was all about guts and determination in the end. We outplayed Leicester in a purple patch either side of half time which gave us enough room at the back end when injuries hit. We had a high number of young debutants who all took their chance very well and really showed their class. It is a credit to Northampton Uni and our own junior club that we keep churning out good players for the club”

Demons Kick Up A Storm To Notch First Win

Posted on the 14th May 2013 by Patrick

Northampton Demons got their national south rugby league conference going this Saturday with an extremely hard fought win over local rivals Leicester Storm. With four straight defeats for the newly promoted side this young Rugby League side stood up to a hugely physical test from the storm opposition in what was a brutal encounter.

 

With an average age of just 22 the Demons are living proof that the sport has a huge future In the local area. 20 year old captain Matt Meek consistently led the attack against the Leicester defence leading by example and ploughing into Storm players at every given opportunity. The Demons deservedly took the lead on 10 minutes with Tom Pallant touching down from a Oli Furniss chip. The next 25 minutes saw a war of attrition with the Demons often defending within their own half, composure from Stevens / Pallant and Page often relieved pressure whilst the nugget Fred Woods orchestrated from acting half.

 

With 5 minutes to go a short side play by Meek released winger Frank Barlow who in turn fed Scotland student international Paul Beckett to go under the posts.

 

Half time Demons 12 – Storm 0

 

The 2nd half was another brutal affair with several flash points. On 50 minutes the Demons kicked a penalty to go to 14 – 0 after more storm indiscipline whilst returning favourite Seb Ward spent 10 minutes in the sin bin with Leicester Joss McClourin after an altercation following a late hit on Dan Page.

 

Excellent build up play by the forwards enabled Ben Dawson to release Frank Barlow on 60 minutes for another converted try as defences still dominated. The final 10 minutes of the game descended into a scrappy affair with Leicester posting a try on 72 and 80 minutes but the result was never in doubt.

 

Full time 20 – 10

 

Coach Smith commented after the game.

 

“There was a lot of provocation out there and our boys did well to stick to Rugby. I’m not sure what it is about Leicester but we seem to bring out the worst in them. If a couple of their better forwards had concentrated more on Rugby than foul play the game would have been closer. I’m extremely proud of the side today, they did a lot of growing up. For 70 minutes although the storm had a lot of possession they didn’t look like scoring at often. We’ll work on our lack of shape in the last 10 mins but overall me and Matt Jones are very happy. Roll on next week.”

Sponsorship Raffle

Posted on the 26th April 2013 by Patrick

We are now in the final week of the Northampton Demons Sponsorship Raffle, we need to drive this home for the final week.

 

For a small price, you have the chance to win one of a number of great sponsorship opportunities.

 

To enable this great club to continue to grow, please can all friends and family of the Northampton Demons please share this link, to enable us the coverage to fulfil our targets.

 

The Raffle Draw will take place on 30th April, more information can be found here