Following Hinckley cannot be recommended as a safe pastime for those of a nervous disposition! For the second time in a week, Hornets conceded three tries and 21 points inside the first quarter of a game in what was best described as an inept performance and found themselves with a mountain to climb. Hornets looked to be facing a heavy defeat against lively opponents who showed why they have been ever present in the National Leagues for the last ten years.

Hinckley looked outclassed but, in a repeat of last week, Hornets dragged themselves back from the brink to put themselves in a position to snatch the game at the death. The last play of the game saw them camped on the Albanians try line with a chance to go ahead for the first time in 80 minutes…. and this time the fairy tale came true. Down to 14 men after the sending off of Josh Smith, Ben Pointon broke from the back of a scrum on the Albanians line, sniped a try to level the scores, and Rory Vowles, who had an immaculate afternoon from the tee in the absence of regular kicker Joe Wilson, calmly stroked the conversion to put Hinckley in front. Cue rapturous celebrations in the Hinckley camp as the referee blew for time with the earlier tribulations at least temporarily forgotten.

In the cold light of day, however, the question as to why Hornets continue to find themselves heavily in arrears in the first quarter has to be examined. It has become a habit, and largely explains Hornets lowly position in the League, despite having shown in most games that they are at least a match for even the best teams in the division. By the end of this game, Hornets were dominating play with the pack utterly rampant which makes the history of poor starts such a conundrum.

The answer is something which Director of Rugby Scott Hamilton is still searching for. ‘It’s tough to try to figure out what’s going on. It was very poor start again. We looked distinctly average for the first 25 minutes, miles off the pace and it looked like we were heading for a 40-point thrashing. Then we started to fill the field, make our first up tackles, and put some pressure on the opposition. We had talked before the game about Albanians being a good side if you let them play, and for those first 25 minutes we let them play and they duly punished us. The last 55 minutes were all ours, but we keep allowing ourselves to go behind and it’s a tough ask to win when you are 20 points down. The positive is we did win. I was a little concerned that we took so long to overhaul them. We butchered a couple of good opportunities early in the second half, but we pulled it off at the death. It’s also worth noting that we did it when down to 14 men. It was good to win though. It would have been very disheartening to lose again when we played so well in the second half.’

From the start, it was all Albanians, they deservedly went ahead after just five minutes. A chip over the top towards the corner from halfway looked to be well covered by full-back Vowles, but with A’s winger Alex Noot bearing down on him, Vowles completely missed the ball as he went down to collect, finished up sliding into touch and leaving Noot the simple task of picking up and trotting over the line for the score. Dan Watt converted.

A's pulled further ahead on 14 minutes. An Albanians penalty line-out five meters from the Hinckley line was initially well defended but a penalty for offside was quickly tapped and centre Nic Defeo burst through to touch down under the posts. Watt again converted.

It got worse still for Hornets on 20 minutes when A’s were awarded a penalty try and Josh Smith was carded after a drive to the line had been illegally halted by the Hinckley defence.

From that point on, however, the tide began to turn. Hornets began to secure more possession and began to exert some pressure of their own which was duly rewarded just after the half hour when Dale Bowyer touched down from the back of a line-out drive after A’s had been twice penalised in their 22m and lost a man to the bin.

21-7 at half-time quickly became 21-14 after the restart when a clever chip from Mitch Lamb bounced kindly for Smith who collected and ran 40m to the line just holding off would be tacklers on the way. Vowles slotted a tricky conversion from wide out.

Hornets were in the ascendancy, but a combination of resolute A’s defence and botched opportunities conspired to maintain A’s lead for the next 25 minutes until Hinckley opted to kick to touch from a penalty awarded inside the A’s 22m. Hinckley took the lineout and a nicely executed catch and drive saw Luke Coltman dot down from the back of the maul. Vowles levelled the scores.

It all looked to have gone wrong again though a couple of minutes later. Josh Smith deliberately knocked on out wide with men outside and received a red card for a second cardable offence. A’s kicked the penalty to touch and, after a few attempts to drive the ball over, flung it wide to Noot who touched down to restore the A’s advantage with just six minutes remaining.

But the momentum was with Hornets and this time they were able to deliver when Pointon darted over and Vowles slotted the winning conversion.

There is no doubt that this Hinckley side has developed resilience and is able to respond positively to scoreboard pressure. If they can only get the start right, they will be a side feared throughout the division.

Nick Robinson