With a pleasant autumn afternoon offering perfect rugby conditions, a local derby, and two sides offering very different rugby styles, the stage was set for a truly entertaining spectacle at Epinal Way on Saturday afternoon. The statistics would suggest that the game duly delivered – 10 tries, five apiece, and a last ten minutes that saw Hinckley claw their way back from fourteen points down to snatch a draw sounds like entertainment of the highest order.
The truth was somewhat different. This was a staccato affair, a game that was never allowed to flow, lurching from stoppage to stoppage, with an over-zealous referee taking centre stage rather than the players on the pitch. Hinckley do still urgently need to address the number of penalties they are conceding, but neither side had a real opportunity to play, and it was noticeable that in a game of ten tries, neither set of backs was involved for much of the time.
It was not good to watch and did nothing to spark the interest of a sizable freshers’ week crowd some of whom would have been watching a rugby game for the first time in their lives. It is doubtful that they would want to watch a second.
On the positive side, Hinckley showed a tremendous amount of character to come from 17-7 down at half-time, then 35-21 with eight minutes to go, to snatch a draw in a game that last season they would undoubtedly have lost. Rory Vowles had perhaps his best game to date at fly-half, and Corbin Thunder showed real promise despite a couple of horrendous drops in his own 22m. For Loughborough, Tomiwa Agbongbon had an outstanding game, proving a major thorn in Hinckley’s side throughout the game. But overall, it was a disappointing affair.
That said, DOR Chris Campbell was pleased with the outcome, citing it as further evidence of the advances the squad has made this season. ‘The most important thing in our squad right now is positivity and togetherness and we showed that day – 14 points down with 6 minutes to go you would have thought there was no way back, but all twenty played their part in pulling together and snatching the draw. There was a frank discussion at half-time, but everyone responded well, and all five players who came off the bench today made a big contribution.’
‘We know the type of team Loughborough are always means a trip to Epinal Way will be tough, but we have been a few times recently and got nowhere near them, so it is another example of the development we are going through. Coming up to this first break, we are in the mix with the top half teams and that is fantastic from where we have come from.’
It was not an auspicious start, however. There were early signs of Hinckley scrum dominance, but it was Students who took the lead after seven minutes. Students took their own line-out on halfway, worked their way up the field and flanker Agbongbon eventually reached out in the tackle to dot the ball down for the score. It was all a bit too easy.
Hornets did respond but not until the 24th minute when Alex Salt picked up from the back of a scrum 10m out and drove over the line for the try. Vowles added the conversion to edge Hinckley in front.
On the half hour, Adam Johnson was carded, precipitating two tries in seven minutes for the Students. First, scrum half Tom Miles darted over after Hornets had held a catch and drive from 8m, and then Agbongbon popped up again to drive over from yet another penalty line-out. When Alex Wainwright converted Hornets were left with a significant 17-7 deficit come the half-time whistle.
It got worse on the return. Miles took advantage of a free kick award from a scrum on the Hinckley 22m to take a quick tap, albeit miles away from the mark, and spin the ball out to winger Jake Metcalfe who went over in the corner before the two front rows had emerged from the scrum.
Minutes later, Hornets did pull it back to 22-14 when Ben Pointon sniped a try from short range after a Hinckley line-out drive had been held just short. Vowles converted and Hornets were back in the game.
But it took only 2 minutes for Students to restore the lead when Corbyn Thunder dropped the restart kick in his own 22m. Students collected the loose ball and went over for the try. Wainwright converted.
As the game entered the final quarter the scoreboard suggested that the game was drifting away from Hinckley but touch-side it never felt that way and indeed when Salt dotted down a push-over try after a series of penalties against Students, at 29-21 with 15 minutes left, the game was still there for the taking. When Students went down to thirteen men after a second yellow in quick succession the door appeared open.
But the chance seemed lost when, first, Students added a penalty to extend their lead, then Pointon was carded for what the referee adjudged a deliberate knock-on going for an interception on the Students’ 22M line (yet another example of the absurdity of the way in which referee’s are currently required to interpret the knock-on rule) and, finally, Students added a further penalty to take the score out to 35-21 with just six minutes left.
Hornets though went after the losing bonus point with perhaps some of the best rugby of the afternoon. Josh Leonard went over from short-range after a move that started on the halfway line, and Vowles brought Hinckley to within seven with three minutes to go.
That seemed to precipitate panic in the Students’ ranks as they conceded penalty after penalty from the restart with Hornets finally camping out on the Loughborough line for what seemed like an age. There was a sense of inevitability when Dale Bowyer eventually forced his way over from yet another line-out and when the nerveless Vowles stepped up to claim the extras with the final act of the game, Hinckley had pulled off what was something of a remarkable escape. It’s just a shame that it didn’t feel like it was an occasion to celebrate!