Fond Farewell to Great Girls

Hinckley travelled to Stratford with most of their large squad to face some unknown teams in the last fixture of the season.

Game 1 against Barker Butts, Hinckley started strong, with the forwards dominating the breakdown. Front row Duggins, Mensforth-Grove and Toon winning ball after ball. Strong running from the Whittingham twins, Moore, Giles and Morrissey supported by Barnes and Burton quickly put the Hinckley team 3-1 up. Hinckley continued to dominate the second half with excellent tackling from Buckler, Fray and the whole team. Drakeford ripping the ball from the maul resulted in 2 more try’s.
Final score Hinckley 5 – Barker Butts 1. Try scorers Drakeford 2, Barnes, Fray and Toon.

Game 2 against Stratford and the Ref! Stratford proved tougher opposition and was always going to be tricky with the ref coming out of the Stratford camp. Hinckley did not give Stratford any space and with quick line speed pinned them back. Hinckley’s continued pressure and excellent rucking resulted in Burton breaking the game line and scoring the only try of the half. Stratford clearly needed assistance in the second half which the ref duly provided, continually pinging Hinckley and turning a blind eye to Stratford. Hinckley kept their heads held high and did not let the dubious decisions affect them, however the extra man helped Stratford score two second half try’s. Final score 2-1 to Stratford.

Game 3 against Kings Norton brought on the fresh legs of Wainde, Hutton, Elcoat, Newitt, Underwood (AKA TinMan) and Goodwin. Kings Norton won the toss and elected to kick off, Straight to Elcoat who ran through their whole defense for an excellent solo try. Hinckley upped the intensity and left a trail of destruction behind them, resulting in Kings running out of subs and both teams going to 11 aside. Further trys from Wainde, A. Whittingham, Goodwin and Fenlon finished an excellent performance and put Hinckley back onto winning ways. Hinckley 5 - 0 Kings Norton.

Game 4 against touring side Claverdon again saw Hinckley dominate the breakdown. A solid performance from the whole squad, with excellent tackling and strong running put Hinckley firmly in control. Whole team try’s finished off by Barnes, Goodwin and Fray 2 resulted in a 4 – 1 victory.

Final game of the day against the unbeaten Banbury, would result in the winner taking all. A ferocious battle between two strong physical teams could have been an excellent contest of mini rugby, However the Stratford ref had other ideas. Hinckley pinned Banbury back onto their own try line for the majority of the first half, an excellent interception try by Goodwin should have put Hinckley in the lead, however for reasons only known to the ref a perfectly good try was not awarded and Banbury quickly scored a break away try against the run of play. The second half was much the same with Hinckley having all the possession but unable to break through Banbury’s tough defense assisted by more poor decisions by the man in the middle. A blatant knock on by Banbury ignored by the ref resulted in Banbury’s second try to put the game out of Hinckley reach. An excellent game of rugby ruined by poor refereeing put a dampener on an excellent morning of Rugby.

The whole Hinckley squad can hold their heads high as an excellent season draws to a close. Goodbye and Good luck to Morrisey, Fenlon and Hutton who have been an asset to the squad and will be missed by the boys.
Thankyou to Kim, Kev, Tim, Burty and Bones for a great season, HJ for organising, Suzie, Becki, Lee and Lee for first aid, Lee and Richard for photos and all the parents for their continued support.

Onwards and upwards, bring on next season. 123 Hinckley