Hinckley eased into third place in the league courtesy of a five try defeat of struggling Preston Grasshoppers at Lightfoot Green. Hooker Adam Johnson scored three of the five tries.

The victory allowed Hornets to leapfrog above Sedgley Park whose game was postponed on Saturday courtesy of Storm Dennis, and Fylde’s defeat at the hands of high-flying Caldy means that Hornets are now just six points shy of the play-off place. Sedgley do have two games in hand but the turnaround in form from the early part of the season when Hinckley occupied bottom position for a while is one of the stories of the season. Hornets have now recorded eight straight wins and won ten of their last eleven games.

It wasn’t a spectacular performance but the weather conditions, although not as bad as had been feared, were hardly conducive to a classic rugby encounter. The game was a little ragged at times with both sides spilling the ball with some regularity as the wind and rain took their toll. It was though never a game that Hornets looked in danger of losing. Preston did spill the ball twice when seemingly certain to score and Hornets line-out problems returned with a vengeance but Hinckley’s defence was again outstanding and Hoppers only score came from a Joe Prior penalty.

Hinckley’s DOR Scott Hamilton was a satisfied man after the game. ‘We had been preparing for massive winds and driving rain but the weather was not as bad as we had expected. It was good to get a decent game in the end.’

‘We had never won up there and were very aware that this could have been a banana skin for us. In the end Hoppers stuck to their task well and perhaps should have scored a couple of tries but I never felt we were in danger. We always seemed to have that reserve gear available that would have allowed us to pull away again if we had needed to.’

‘Our line-out was a bit ropey and we’ll need to look at that again but fortunately the game wasn’t close enough for it to matter too much. With Caldy having done the business at Fylde, it’s now starting to get close at the top. We just need to keep winning.’

It took Hornets just ten minutes to register their first score. Hinckley were forced into touch in the right hand corner close to the Preston line but then stole the ball at the resultant line-out and sent the ball left. With the Hoppers defence all over the place, it seemed easier to score than not but poor Hinckley passing let them down and the ball went to ground. At the second time of asking though, a lovely pass from Mitch Lamb put Adam Johnson through an enormous gap in the line for an easy score. Joe Wilson added the extras and Hornets were on their way.

Joe Prior pulled three back for the Hoppers four minutes later after Hinckley had been penalised for collapsing the scrum 35m out from and in front of their posts but that was as close as they got.

As the first quarter was coming to an end, a clever kick through from Tom Wheatcroft forced Hoppers to carry the ball over their own line to give Hornets a 5m scrum. From the scrum, Pointon fed Wheatcroft who found Callum Dacey appearing at first receiver to jink his way to the line. Wilson again converted.

That was it for the first half. Hornets did squander a chance from a penalty line-out 5m from the Hoppers line when the ball was overthrown and, right on the whistle, the Povoas brothers combined to almost score what would have been a spectacular end to end try had Henry not been tackled into touch by the last Hoppers defender. There was though little else of note to entertain the crowd.

After the break, Hornets soon extended their lead. A free kick on 35m gave Ben Pointon the opportunity to set off on one his trademark runs deep into the Hoppers 22m but the move fizzled out when Hornets were forced into touch 6m out on the right. The danger seemed to have passed for Hoppers but an overthrown throw-in landed directly in the arms of Adam Johnson who had to do little more than fall over the line for his second score. Wilson added the extras to take the score to 3-21.

Ten minutes later, Hornets secured the bonus point. Hoppers lost the ball on halfway. Joe Glover collected the loose ball and put in a delightful grubber kick towards the corner. It looked as if Hoppers No. 8 Ben Dorrington had it covered but he failed to deal with the bobbling ball and a chasing Josh Smith collected. Smith only had to dot the ball down to score but Dorrington knocked the ball out of Smith’s hands as he went for the touch-down. The referee was not impressed and awarded a penalty try. Dorrington also earned 10 minutes in the bin for his pains.

The score was the trigger for some harum-scarum rugby from the Hoppers as they desperately sought a way through but Hornets defence remained solid. Hinckley too created chances but the final score did not come until the last move of the game.

Another loose ball on halfway was claimed by the Hornets and worked downfield towards the Hoppers line. As the pack looked to wrestle the ball over, Johnson was able to pick up from the back of a ruck on Hoppers line and force his way over for his hat-trick try. This time, Wilson couldn’t manage the extras and the referee blew to allow the crowd to seek the sanctuary of the Clubhouse as the weather closed in.

Hornets now have a week off before facing Wharfedale at home on February 29. With Sedgley Park in action against unbeaten Caldy next Saturday, and Fylde and Sedgley then facing tricky away fixtures at Loughborough and Luctonians respectively a week later the battle for the play-off places is definitely hotting up.

Nick Robinson