On a bright sunny afternoon at Leicester Road, Hinckley extended their winning run to seven with a 47-5 demolition of bottom side Scunthorpe who now seem certain to be relegated. Hornets ran in seven tries, six of them converted by Joe Wilson, against a single score from Scunthorpe’s Ben Hyde. The match was effectively over after 25 minutes when Joe Glover ran in Hinckley’s fourth try but the cricket score that seemed on the cards never quite materialised. That it didn’t was in part due to a spirited Scunthorpe side who never gave up, and some profligacy on the part of the Hornets.

It may seem churlish to criticise a team who ended the game such convincing winners, but a combination of over-ambition, white line fever and a hint of complacency, meant that chances that would have been converted in earlier weeks went begging. That is perhaps understandable after the intensity of the victories against Fylde and Sedgley Park in the last two weeks but it will be something the coaching team will want to raise with their men.

DOR Scott Hamilton alluded to such in his post match comments. ‘I felt we were a bit flat in places. We made plenty of line breaks but didn’t really capitalise. It was perhaps a hangover from having beaten two of the top three recently. When you then play the bottom side who have yet to win, there is a tendency to think it’s going to be easy and relax. That was a mistake.’

‘We also, yet again, seemed to get on the wrong side of the referee although I thought we were unlucky with one or two decisions. Hats off to Scunthorpe though! Even with a depleted squad, they fought to the end. They could easily have capitulated but at no point did they roll over. We should have been more direct. We were playing sevens rugby at times. That said, I can’t criticise the lads too much. It was another bonus point win, but we’ll need to tighten up for next week. Preston are fighting for survival and it is a venue where we have traditionally struggled.’

The afternoon was tinged with some sadness being the first home game since the death of popular long-time club servant, Dave Marsden, and proceedings began with a minutes applause in his memory.

Hornets were quickly out of the blocks. A turnover ball on halfway was sent right to find Mitch Lamb with support outside. Lamb handed on to Callum Dacey who took it into the Scunthorpe 22m before finding Lamb again on his outside to run in the score. Wilson converted.

Five minutes later, a chip over the Greens’ defence was recovered by Hornets and a neat pass from Tom Wheatcroft found Adam Johnson on the charge. Johnson broke the attempted tackle on the Scunthorpe 10m line and was able to scamper to the line without further challenge to score under the posts. Wilson’s conversion took it to14-0.

As the match entered the second quarter, a Scunthorpe knock-on gave Hinckley a scrum on the Scunthorpe 22m. The ball was released quickly to Tom Wheatcroft who delivered a delightful pass to Dacey to put him in space and the wing-man jinked his way to the line to touch down under the posts. Wilson was again able to add the extras.

Just four minutes later, great work from Matt Fearne saw him rip the ball from a maul on halfway and set off for the line before handing on to Joe Glover. Glover was able to run the ball in unchallenged from 30m and secure the bonus point. Wilson’s conversion took it to 28-0.

It was all going so well for Hornets at this stage but securing the bonus point seemed to send the team collectively into something of a somnolent state giving the Greens the opportunity to get back into game. Scunthorpe began to dominate possession and deserved their try just before the break from an attacking line-out deep in the Hinckley 22m. Hornets held the drive but conceded a scrum on 5m from which a series of pick and drives eventually saw No. 8 Ben Hyde go over. It was a rather disappointing end to a half that had started so spectacularly for the Hornets.

The second half continued in much the same vein. Hornets were dominating proceedings and breaking the Greens line almost at will without ever ramming home their advantage.

There was though one spectacular effort which began from a Hinckley scrum deep in their 22m and ended when Lamb reached out in the tackle to touch down over the line. In between, seemingly every member of the team was involved, with Wilson, Dacey and Salt all making good ground, in carrying the ball virtually the full length of the pitch.

What seemed to galvanise Hinckley in the final quarter was paradoxically the loss of Jamie Skerritt to a red card for an alleged strike to the head in the 62nd minute. Skerritt seemed bemused at the sending off (there was the suspicion it may have been a case of mistaken identity) but being reduced to 14 men had the effect of focussing the mind. If the Greens thought they may have been thrown a lifeline, they were sadly mistaken.

Seven minutes later, Oscar Harper was the beneficiary as the pack rumbled over the Greens line from a penalty line-out 10m out after Scunthorpe had been penalised for a high tackle on halfway. Wilson took it to 40-5.

Then, a minute later, after a series of drives in which first Ollie Povoas and Alex Salt were prominent, Salt released Wilson out wide on the right to give him a run for the line from halfway. It was a great piece of finishing and the conversion ended a very satisfactory afternoon’s work for the wing-man.

Hornets remain in fourth place in the table after the victory but with Sedgley Park losing to Caldy, the gap is now down to 2 points. Next week’s game at Preston, with Sedgley facing a tricky home fixture against Loughborough Students, could see Hornets in third place at the end of the afternoon.

Nick Robinson