39

Tries 7
Conversions 2
Penalties 0

24

Tries 3
Conversions 3
Penalties 1

The boys were up for this! A place in the last 16 and the claim to be the best in the county were on the line. I’ve not seen intensity like it and we roared into the field cheered by a huge, partisan crowd.

You don’t get far in this competition without being able to play and we knew a tough fixture was ahead not helped by infringing at the first breakdown allowing a kick at goal. 3-0 down in the first minute. From there though, we played some exceptional stuff with defensive pressure causing frequent turnovers and joyous inter play carving them open, almost at will.

A charged down kick and a scramble lead to Ollie A driving over for the first try on the wide right with Ollie F making a tricky conversion look easy.

Sustained phases spread the defence and Ethan J was on the end of an offloaded pass with only the winger to beat. The look on his face said there was only one winner in that contest and he drive straight through to score in the corner.

Freddy P was pulling the strings behind the scrum with a mixture of quick breaks and clever kicks. He really got under their skin in true scrum half fashion!

A neat backs move put Archie one-on-one with his opposite wing and a blistering outside swerve saw him cross in the corner.

The ref was taking no nonsense and carded the longlevens fullback for too much chat. We had even more space now and were running some beautiful lines. Gabe and Wyatt in the centre were linking fabulously and combined to put Harry into space to outpace the cover. Returning the compliment, Harry gave Wyatt the scoring pass this time after a sublime, fluid move off the kickoff return involving both backs and forwards. Lewis prominent, as ever, in much of our good work.

The lead was 29-3 and with half time approaching, we pushed for more but an interception allowed their pacy fullback to race away to score. 29-10 at the half.

As the rules stipulate, all named players must play a half and we duly rearranged causing a loss of shape. Longlevens had obviously been read the riot act at the break and were more aggressive playing up the hill. Two tries resulted from sustained forward pressure and we were creaking and rattled. They were within one score now and we needed something to swing our way.

It came from a lineout turnover. Sam H stealing the ball and a quick offload out the tackle put Lewis away for a gallop down field. A desperate tackle pulled him up just short but the pack were on hand to drive over for an enormously important try handing back the initiative.

As time ran short, the increasingly desperate longlevens repeatedly infringed and, after a deliberate knock on and then failure to retreat at the subsequent penalty, the referee had no option but to go to his cards again. A kick to the corner and a well executed rolling maul saw us cross the line again and complete the victory.

The Colts march on at the expense of our local rivals and it was a raucous changing room celebrating after the match. This is a talented, close knit bunch of lads. How far can they go?

Tom Perris