Hornets come back from the dead to edge out Dings

For the second time in a week, Hornets were involved in a game where the away side appeared to be coasting towards a comfortable win at half-time only to be pegged back in the second period and overhauled in the dying minutes. This time though, Hornets were the side coming back from the dead to pip a shell-shocked Dings at in the last few minutes.
Hinckley were as poor in the first half as they were magnificent in the second. They conceded three tries in the first twenty minutes and Dings had secured the fourth (bonus point) try before Hinckley had registered any points whatsoever. It was only in the last five minutes of the period that Ben Pointon scampered over to register Hinckley’s first points and the sides went in at the interval with Hinckley facing a massive 21-point deficit. There was little expectation among the home support that things would end in anything other than a car crash for the Hornets.
Whatever was said at half-time, however, had a dramatic impact. True a number of tactical changes, in particular George Patten coming on for Sam Greening and Oli Bee taking over in the second row to allow Harry Bower to revert to his more familiar position in the back row, helped significantly, but the team in general appeared more resilient, hungrier, and more competitive.
As Hornets grew into the game, Dings slowly fell apart and finished the match a shadow of the side that had started so well. Not even a yellow card for captain Mitch Lamb on the hour could halt the march towards a famous victory but it was some heroic defending in the final few minutes, with Hornets having just grabbed the lead, that finally clinched the game and five points against a side who are still fancied by many to be challenging for promotion at the end of the season.
DOR Chris Campbell was ebullient after such a comeback. ‘Nothing went right in the first 30 minutes. We dropped a lot of ball, the bounce went against us, and we just couldn’t get our defensive maul set up properly. At 0-26 there looked like only one outcome. What changed .. a few things. The players came together. It was a very calm half time changing room and, in particular, Mitch Lamb, Archie Heard and Nigel Mukarati really set the tone for the second half. We knew if we got the next score, playing down the hill we had a chance.’
‘I also have to praise the coaching team. We made some early changes to try and change the game up, and focused what we needed to deliver on to come back in the game.’

‘But more importantly, the players made a choice that they were going to fight for every single inch and they showed a desire which was above anything I have seen from a Hinckley side in a number of years. That can be shown by our defence in the final minute where we managed to hold Dings out. The celebrations from the players showed just what it meant to them.’

‘The crowd too were superb. Even at 0-26 they were getting behind the players and I cannot underestimate just what a role the Hinckley crowd can play on days like today. The noise reminded me of some of the final games of the 2015 season when we qualified for a play-off, the win over Wirral the year after, and some of our big wins in our early days in National 2.’
The first ten minutes were nothing short of a disaster for the Hornets. First, Dings were able to set up a 5m line-out in the Hinckley 22m after Hornets had been penalised and the catch and drive from Dings was like something off the training pitch. Flanker Matthew Bennett claimed the score and Jacob Perry converted.
Then a speculative high kick out of his own 22m by Heard was won in the air by Hornets but simply knocked back into the arms of Dings No8 Harry Hone who drove for the line, offloading to second row Will Thompson for an easy score. When Perry notched the extras, Hinckley were 14 points down with only 11 minutes gone.
It didn’t get much better in the next ten. As the quarter drew to a close, another Dings 5m line-out, another catch and drive and Dings marched over for the third try in textbook fashion.
Another ten minutes and another try but at least Hornets showed a little more defensive resilience this time. A Dings line-out on the Hinckley 22m was initially held but fourteen lung bursting phases later, full back Ed Sheldon was able to touch down under the posts. Perry converted and at 0-26, it seemed the end of any realistic hope for Hornets.
They did though manage to pinch one back just before the break. Pointon picked up at the base of a scrum in the Dings 22m, passed the ball on to Jamie Dutton, looped round to collect a return pass and wriggle through the cover defence. It still didn’t look enough though.
It looked a lot better on the return when Nigel Mukarati forced his way over under the posts from a 5m scrum and Heard converted but at 12-26, there was still a long way to go.
As the final quarter approached it looked a whole lot better after Matt Guilfoyle had squeezed over in the corner after the ball was sent wide from a Hinckley 5m scrum and when Heard added the extras, Hornets were within a score.
Mitch Lamb was carded for a tip tackle on the hour which temporarily halted the fightback but on his return Lamb grabbed the bonus point try when the ball was spread wide from a Hinckley scrum, Sam Read kept the ball in play as he was tackled into touch, and Lamb was on hand to collect the loose ball for the score. When Heard put over another difficult conversion the scores were level with nine to go.
And it was Heard again who put over the winning penalty after a dominant Hinckley scrum had won a penalty on the Dings 22m. Hornets did have to withstand a few minutes of fearsome pressure from Dings at the death but survive they did for what will be remembered as a famous victory.
Nick Robinson