Nuneaton Old Eds 0 - 62 Stags

Hinckley Staghounds made the short journey to Nuneaton Old Ed’s expecting a tough encounter with a team who had come down from the division above.

The pitch was in very good condition considering the amount of rain we’ve had and the weather was perfect for rugby.

The Stags kicked off in bright sunshine with little wind and immediately put the home team under pressure in their own 22. A kick out of defence was claimed by Tyler Moseley, in the unfamiliar position of full-back, and he shifted the ball to Max Spencer in space. Spencer made an excellent break, handing off a tackler and sprinting into space, before passing to Sam Racklyeft who touched down in the corner. A difficult conversion from Archie Heard slid just wide of the upright.

Four minutes later Moseley scored our second, beating numerous opponents on his way to the try line. Heard converted and the Stags were 12-0 up with barely 6 minutes played.

Good defence from Nuneaton and some handling errors from the Stags prevented any further scores until Dom Ames was on the end of some slick passing to score his first of the afternoon. Heard again converted.

As half-time approached the ball was moved to speedster Ben Moore, making his Stags debut, and he finished with aplomb for the bonus point. Heard’s conversion was unsuccessful, but the half-time score was 24-0 in our favour.

The second half started with Nuneaton putting us under pressure as they looked for a way back into the game. Andrew Weaver ended any hopes of a comeback with a pick and go try close to the posts, which was converted by Heard.

Charlie Hurst entered the fray from the bench and had an almost immediate impact. A fantastic pass from Heard found him hitting the line at pace and Hurst showed nimble footwork to beat the full back and win the race to the line. Another conversion from Heard took the scoreboard to 38-0.

Moore got his second of the afternoon shortly after when Heard’s cross field kick found him in space. He still had work to do and beat the covering defence for a fine try.

We had lots of possession in the second half, but failed to capitalise on much of this as players went on their own individually rather than sticking to the game plan. However, the leagues top try scorer Moseley made it 11 league tries for the season with another sprint to the line. Heard’s conversion took us to the half-century.

A deep Heard kick forced Nuneaton to take the ball into touch close to their own line and a neat front peel move enabled Craig Bresland, who carried well all second-half, to feed Ames to score his second. Heard’s conversion was unsuccessful, but the Stags weren’t finished there. A quick-tap penalty from Adam Collingwood close to the half-way allowed Racklyeft to get on the outside. Spencer ran a smart inside support line and sprinted in to score the try that his performance deserved. The conversion was added and the score remained the same until the final whistle shortly after. Stags 62 Nuneaton Old Ed’s 0.

A much more cohesive 80 minute display than the previous week, which reaped its rewards in the second half. Some excellent individual performances, with some fantastic tries scored.

MOTM: Luke Johnson - only his second start in the league this season and put in a performance to justify his selection. Outstanding in defence, he brought much needed physicality in the tackle that stopped Nuneaton in their tracks and was integral in only our second clean sheet of the season.

We are on the road again next week, travelling to Southwell, before we the league takes a pause for the Stags first appearance in the Senior County Cup.

UTS