Hornets avenged an early season defeat at Pottington Road with a seven try demolition of an injury ridden Chiefs. Loose-head George Patten grabbed a brace of tries, with Evan Carey, Devon Coulson, Henry Higginson, Matt Guilfoyle, and Ben Pointon all getting in on the act. Barnstaple did grab a couple of tries in the last five minutes to both earn a bonus point and give some respectability to the score but in truth there had been little doubt as to the eventual victors from the first minute when Carey claimed the first Hinckley try.

That said, Hornets did contrive to go in at the break all square by gifting the visitors two tries through poor handling in the backs, much to the frustration of the home support, and there could have been some interesting exchanges between backs and forwards during interval. The second half, however, was all one-way traffic until the last five minutes when the game was over as a contest.

Indeed, it was the pack, often overshadowed by some dazzling back play in recent weeks, that won the game for Hinckley this time. Barnstaple field a formidable pack that has carried all before it this season, but it was Hinckley’s day on Saturday. Devon Coulson ruled the line-out and the back row delivered turnover after turnover. There was little to choose between the scrums, but, if anything, Hornets had the edge which in itself was a triumph after the Hinckley scrum had been demolished in the last half hour of the earlier game between the two sides.

The win lifts Hinckley back into the fourth place in the league which they relinquished as a result of the postponement of the Taunton fixture two weeks ago. They now sit four points behind Barnstaple with a game in hand.

Defence Coach Ben Avent was pleased with the win…with reservations. ‘It was great to get a five-point win at home. At times in the second-half we played some really good rugby and scored some excellent team tries. That said, there were a couple of things we need to look at. We did put far too much pressure on ourselves at times by being a bit too loose in the wrong areas of the field. And when we went 41–19 up, we simply weren’t ruthless enough and it was disappointing to let Barnstaple back into the game towards the end.’

‘Nevertheless, the boys worked extremely hard throughout and fully deserved the win. As always, we’ll work hard on things in training this week and we’re looking forward to next week’s game at Lymm.’

It was a dream start for Hinckley. Hornets kicked off and the Chiefs returned the kick to set up a Hinckley line-out on halfway. The pack duly delivered the ball and Carey was able to slip through the Barnstaple line and run the 50m to the line. Rory Vowles added the extras and Hornets were 7-0 after a minute, much to the surprise of the crowd, some of whom had not made it out of the Clubhouse.

Chiefs were struggling to get beyond the halfway line at this stage but Hornets squandered a number of opportunities and Chiefs, very much against the run of play, were able to grab the next score. With Hornets pressing, a horrible mix up amongst the backs left the ball loose and wing Cameron Johnson was able to pounce and run untroubled the 70m to the line. Jacob Murphy converted.

Six minutes later, Chiefs were ahead. The visitors secured a line-out 20m from the Hinckley line. The catch and drive took them 10m out, and, with a penalty in the bag, Johny Carter to chip over the defence and centre partner Ryan Lee ran on to claim the try.

Hinckley hit back immediately, however, from a similar situation at the other end. A penalty allowed Tom Addison to set up a line-out 15m from the Chiefs’ line. The catch and drive was held but the pack took it on and eventually Coulson worked it over the line. When Vowles converted, Hornets were back in front 14-12.

But it was short-lived. With Hinckley again attacking on the Barnstaple 22m, a misdirected pass was easily picked off by right-wing Ben Parsons who gratefully ran the distance for a simple try. Murphy added the extras to make it 14-19.

It was looking quite likely that Hornets may go into the break behind but a bit of twinkle-toed magic from loose-head Patten and Matt Guilfoyle saved the blushes. With the clock showing red, Guilfoyle fielded a kick in his own 22m and set off down the wing. He was eventually hauled down around the Chiefs’ 22m but Patten was there to take the ball on through a fractured defence for the try to bring the scores level.

It had been an exasperating first period for the Leicester Road men but the half-time team talk seemed to worked wonders. Patten grabbed his second in the 47th minute. From an overthrown line-out the ball went loose and Chiefs hacked it through, but straight into the arms of Callum Dacey. Dacey set off on a typical Dacey run into the Barnstaple 22m before being brought to ground, but again Patten was there to finish the move.

And three minutes later, from a line-out just inside the Chiefs’ half, Nigel Mukarati broke clear to get inside the Chiefs’ 22m. The ball was recycled, worked to the line, and Guilfoyle was able to get over in the corner.

The crowd had to wait a little while for the next one but it seemed inevitable. Pointon darted from the back of a scrum on the Chiefs 10m line, handed on to Dacey who found Higginson in support as he was tackled. The back-row man finished the move.

That made it 34-19. Josh Kent was on his way to the line a couple of minutes later before being hauled back for a forward pass but the proverbial icing on the cake came a couple of minutes after that. Hinckley forced a 5m scrum when Chiefs were had to touch down over their own line. Nick Tarr picked up at the back and handed on to Pointon who darted over in the corner in his customary manner. Vowles added the extras and at 41-19 and only ten minutes remaining, Hornets were out of sight.

At that point, Hinckley should really have just closed the game down. As it happened, they relaxed and Chiefs, scenting a bonus point, took advantage. A short-range tap and go penalty was driven over with hooker Bertie Stretch coming up with the ball to deliver the bonus point, and with the last move of the game, Jack Barrow added another to give the scoreline respectability. In many ways it was academic, but for the home support it was a frustrating end to what had otherwise been an outstanding second half performance.

Nick Robinson