Hinckley Stags visited Southwell for an early kick-off due to the home sides Guy Fawkes celebrations, but Hinckley would have to wait until the second half before seeing any fireworks. On paper this looked like one of the hardest fixtures we would encounter so far this season and so it proved. Southwell were unbeaten at home and the Stags were unbeaten on the road, so a close match was likely to be in the offering.

The Stags broke the deadlock when Kristian Powell converted a simple penalty for a 3-0 lead with only 2 minutes on the clock. Southwell responded in kind with a penalty goal of their own three minutes later from their captain and second row. Like John Eales in his prime!

The first try of the game went to Hinckley thanks to an individual effort from Connor Nixon, returning to the 13 shirt after making the 1st team bench last weekend. Hinckley’s scrum was dominant all afternoon and a strike against the head allowed Joe Barnes to feed Nixon about 40 metres out. Nixon had plenty to do, but he shrugged off three would-be tacklers to race over the try line next to the posts. Powell converted for a 10-3 lead.

The game ebbed and flowed, with both teams enjoying spells of possession and territory, but after several Hinckley indiscretions within their own 22, Michael Parker has yellow carded after coming in at the side of a Southwell rolling maul. Southwell took full advantage of their extra man and scored two tries in 5 minutes, stretching the Hinckley defence and scoring in each corner. One of these tries was converted by the aforementioned Eales and Hinckley were staring at a 15-10 deficit.

This stung the Stags into action and hooker Dom Ames offloaded to fellow front rower Ewan Bartlett, who dived into the corner. The touchline conversion was narrowly missed and the scores were level. On the stroke of half-time the Southwell hooker was yellow carded for cynically dragging a maul down that was motoring down the pitch, but there was no further score in the first half.

Dan Moolman, returning to the side after injury, took to the field in place of Luke Johnson who was struggling with a hip problem. The second half kicked off with uncontested scrums due to Southwell’s earlier yellow card, which negated Hinckley’s threat in the set piece. Hinckley scored their second try of the afternoon when Lewis Gardner’s grubber took a deflection into Nixon’s hands. The right man in the right place. Another difficult conversion was pulled wide by Powell, but Hinckley had regained the lead. Parker had already returned to the field when player coach Steve Harvey replaced captain Ricky Moran in the front row.

Hinckley scored again when a rolling maul was stopped 10 metres out and the ball was recycled for Alex Branson to crash over the line. Powell missed the straight forward conversion, who’s normally assured goal kicking momentarily deserted him. The Stags then made life a little more difficult for themselves when Harvey was yellow carded for taking the Southwell scrum half out at the back of a breakdown. Hinckley weathered the Southwell storm and were forced to bring Moran back to the field to ensure our scrum dominance continued.

This proved vital when the Stags pack pushed Southwell off their own ball 5 metres from the Hinckley line allowing Powell to relieve the pressure. Hinckley, to a man, stepped up during this period with a numerical disadvantage, showing great character under pressure to score two further tries and ensure we took home the try scoring bonus point. First, Bartlett scored his second try of the game, forcing his way over the line after a neat Branson offload. Then Marsden touched down when Powell’s clever kick behind the Southwell defence was fly hacked into the in goal area. Both these tries were converted by Powell for a 39-15 score line at full time.

This was exactly the challenge that Hinckley Stags needed with a tough run of games ahead in the build up to Christmas. Southwell were a strong, well-drilled side and their number 8 was a constant threat with ball in hand. Hinckley played well, particularly in the second half and scored some good tries.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Tom Lewis - although he didn’t trouble the scorers this week he was a constant threat when coming off his left wing and had several strong runs, proving very difficult to bring down.

UTS