AEI’s struggle against 1999’s ever increasing injury and absence list meant that debutant Herve Menaut was the 42nd player used by AEI this season. Following the pre-match minutes silence in honour of former AEI player Jim Baines, the well drilled Kettering team were quicker out of the blocks and were two tries up within 10 minutes. AEI dragged themselves back into the game and, following a blind-side break by stand-off Tony Chronnell, Rob Goode scored a try in the corner.
Trailing only 5-10 at halftime, AEI had all to play for in the second half but, despite some good spells of pressure, mistakes in defence led to a further two Kettering tries. In turn, this brought another spell of AEI pressure and eventually, after a few minutes camped on the Kettering line, Andy Clark went over to score from a rolling maul. Prop Jocky Corbett scored his eighth conversion of the season. AEI finished the game with a few more names to add to the injury list and a tough looking run-in to the season.