Go East!

First away game in some time saw us at the Leicester Forest East ground. Two Hinckley squads played two LFE squads over 3 matches each.

Squad 1: Stockton, Doyle, Moore, Marston, Kime, Stokes, Biggs, Fisher, Chase.

Match 1 saw a steady start with both teams probing to see how best to make progress. Deacon, Fisher took tags, and Moore and Doyle set up a 6 tag turnover to push Hinckley ahead to make a 3-2 lead at half time. Second half and Stockton came on as an impact player. Stockton took 3 tries, with a further one from Moore. All players including Marston, Kime, Stokes and Fisher registered tags. LFE couldnt quite pull ahead and Hinckley came away with the win with a final score of 7-6.

Match 2 and Hinckley are buzzing. Hinckley made a further 6 tag turnover helped by Fisher and Doyle. Marston scored a hat-trick, further helped by a score from Stockton. Half time score 4-2 to Hinckley. Second half and Hinckley found second gear! Cruising easily on from the restart, Doyle (1), Moore (1) and Fisher (2) took further scores. On the back of her "Player of the match" and trophy last week, Biggs added to her honours by scoring her first try. Final score, Hinckley romped home to a 9-4 win.

Match 3 and we fit in a quick match before the hot dogs. Unfortunately, LFE have decided Hinckley wont go home with all the spoils. Not much to report from hinckley apart from a try from Stockton and Stockton taking 4 of 5 Hinckley tags for the half (one more from Moore). LFE took off with a 5-1 half time lead. Second half and the team talk clearly did the trick. As a half on its own, Hinckley won the half 7-4, but this was still one try too many to sneak a draw. Mentions must go to Doyle and Fisher who both took hat-tricks, with Stokes adding the 7th. Tagging rates also took off with Doyle, Kime, Biggs and Fisher closing down the attacking channels. Good offloads were in spadefuls from Kime and Doyle. Final score 9-8 to LFE.

Squad 2: Simmons, Curless, Middleton, Causon, Cheshire, Palmer, Gamble, Halka.

Match 1 with Simmons and Halka on the bench, it came down to Middleton (2), Causon (1) and Gamble (2) to make the scores. More than once players used the quick offload to make space and create tries. Palmer took the most tags in the half (7) to force a 6-tag turnover. LFE could only find space for one try in response, making the half time scoreline 5-1. Simmons and Halka replaced Middleton and Cheshire in the second half and wasted no time in both taking tags. Again, Palmer takes the honours for highest tagger with 12 in this half, closely followed by Simmons (6), Curless (8) and Gamble (4). LFE had no response as Hinckley forced a further two 6-tag turnovers. Final score 10-1 to Hinckley.

Match 2, and Simmons took the first try in 8 seconds. Halka then forced a turnover by running him out to touch. LFE made a couple of tries in the half, but not before Simmons (2) Palmer (2) and Causon (1) added to their woes. Palmer made a noteworthy try, picking up a loose ball and making a full pitch length run. First half score 5-2 to Hinckley. Second half and LFE try to come back in to the match. Tagging from Hinckley begins quickly with Middleton and Simmons taking the lions share. The same two made it a one sided affair taking Middleton (3) and Simmons (1) tries. LFE failed to come back with the final score settling down at 9-5 to Hinckley.

Match 3. Quickly back in to business again, Hinckley opened scoring. Middleton (2), Causon (2), Palmer (1) and Curless (1). Curless turned over LFE from a loose ball to make a super solo run. Palmer and Curless again took on most of the tagging. Second half and the tagging rates went through the roof. Simmons, Causon and Curless all took 6 each, which converted to 2 6-tag turnovers in Hinckleys favour. Palmer, Gamble and Halka all helped the tag rate along, resulting in a final score of 12-5.