1st XV
Matches
Sat 03 Feb 2018  ·  National League 2 North
South Leicester
15
34
Hinckley Rugby Club
1st XV
Tries: J Martin (2), M Deaville, J Squires, S DriverConversions: J Wilson (3)Penalties: J WilsonYellow Carded: L Coltman
South Leicester 15	Hinckley 34

South Leicester 15 Hinckley 34

John Tilley5 Feb 2018 - 11:39
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Hornets claim local bragging rights

Hinckley secured local bragging rights at Welford Road on Saturday with a 5 try win over South Leicester. Having now beaten both Leicester Lions and South home and away this season, the Hornets can now justifiably claim to be second only to Leicester Tigers as the preeminent club in the County. Two tries from wing James Martin, and one each from Sam Driver, James Squires (his first for the Club’s first XV) and Mark Deauville were enough to see off South’s challenge in a bruising encounter in the mud.

The bonus point victory saw Hinckley maintain second spot in the League behind Sale who comfortably defeated Tynedale at Heywood Road. Stourbridge and Sedgley Park both also won to keep things as tight as ever at the top.

It was far from one-way traffic for the Hornets, however, and first blood on the day went to South when Hornets were penalised for not releasing 35m from their line and the South’s skipper Ricky Aley stepped up to score.

The response was swift and decisive. Two minutes later, South overthrew a defensive line-out and the loose ball was snaffled by Oscar Harper, eventually finding it’s way to Sam Driver to go over the line in the corner. Joe Wilson converted to give Hornets a 3-7 lead after 10 minutes.

The next 20 minutes proved to be uninspiring with neither side achieving any kind of dominance and both Aley (who had a rare poor game with the boot) and Wilson missed kickable penalty chances.

James Martin broke the deadlock on 30 minutes. A solid scrum on the South 10m line saw good ball travelling along the back line and Martin breaking through with a superb angled run to score near the posts.

Wilson added the extra two, and ten minutes later slotted a penalty when South failed to roll away in the tackle to give Hornets a 3-17 lead going into the break.

From the re-start, a loose ball was hacked on by Ben Marshall into the South 22m, recovered by the Hornets and eventually found it’s way to that man Martin who jinked through the fractured South defence to score under the posts. Wilson again converted to take the score to 3-24 and Hornets looked to be heading for a comfortable win. When South flanker Dan Ireland was carded for striking an opponent the task looked to have become that much easier.

But South were not in the mood to roll over. A binning for Hornets’ Luke Coltman coincided with the return of Ireland and South were able to mount a sustained assault on the Hornets’ line.

Myles Bean went over in the corner for South after a quick tap penalty by Aley, and on 69 minutes South again breached the Hinckley line to score. Aley converted and at 15-24, the game was definitely back on.

Wilson put the kick-off straight out and a quick thinking Aley elected to take a quick line-out throw which could have put South in for a further try. Fortunately for the Hornets, Mitch Lamb intercepted the throw and was only to be bundled into touch 5m out.

That proved the turning point. Hinckley stole the resultant line-out (a rare piece of good line-out work on an afternoon that again proved unproductive in this area) and then secured a penalty. A kick to the corner and a catch and drive saw South’s prop carded and South were forced to go to uncontested scrums. Hornets took the scrum penalty and Deaville eventually drove over to secure the bonus point – 15-29.

South’s resistance seemed to collapse and Hornets could easily have scored another 3 tries in the closing minutes. In the end, the only score went to James Squires who rumbled over with time running out following a sustained assault on the South line.

After the disappointment against Sale last week, this was a good return by the Hornets against a South side who had not been beaten at home this season. The pack was ultimately dominant particularly in the scrum, and the backs looked dangerous with ball in hand. The line-out, however, continues to be a problem area for Hinckley and there was still evidence of a tendency to ‘force’ the game occasionally when patience would have generated greater reward. Nevertheless, Hornets are still in the promotion hunt and go into next week’s game against relegation threatened Sheffield in fine fettle.

Nick Robinson

Match details

Match date

Sat 03 Feb 2018

Kickoff

14:15

Competition

National League 2 North

League position

2
Hinckley
7
South Leicester
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Community Rugby Partner - DPD
Hinckley Rugby Community Partner - Thomas Flavell & Sons