Hinckley Staghounds arrived at the Cooperative Sports Ground in Birstall looking to maintain their 100% away record to keep them on the top of the league table, while Birstall were looking to build on their first win of the season after overcoming Coalville the week before.

Hinckley made several changes to their line-up with captain Ricky Moran moving to hooker, replacing the injured Dom Ames. Steve Harvey and Ewan Bartlett made up the front row with Ed Burgess named as front row replacement for his first Stags appearance of the season. Alex Branson, returning from an enforced period out due to concussion, partnered James Moreton in the second row and Luke Johnson, Joe Barnes and Charlie Hurst made up the back row. Lewis Gardner moved into the fly- half position after Kristian Powell’s call up to the first team, accompany Dylan Weddle at half- back, and another centre partnership was created with Tom Lewis at 12 and Connor Nixon, fresh from his holiday, at 13. The Hubbard brothers and Alex Norris made up the back three, with Michael Parker and Sam Racklyeft completing the bench.

Hinckley kicked off into a slight breeze and won a line out on their own 10 metre line after forcing Birstall to kick out of defence. From the line out the ball was moved wide where Birstall were able to capitalise on an Alex Norris handling error and run in the first try unopposed with only 5 minutes on the clock. The conversion quickly followed and a stunned Hinckley side were 7-0 down. This set the tone for a first half performance that was littered with basic handling errors, weak tackling and poor discipline.

Hinckley couldn’t find any rhythm in their game and were allowing Birstall plenty of possession. It looked like this could be a long afternoon, but as frustrations grew Connor Nixon burst through the middle and outpaced the cover defence to score an excellent long range try. Gardner added the extras and the scores were level. Any thoughts that Hinckley would take control of the game quickly evaporated as Birstall again took the lead. From a breakdown close to the left hand touchline the Birstall scrum-half picked and went left. This initially looked like a bad decision as he faced two Hinckley defenders with no support, but he was able to evade tackles from Moran and Liam Hubbard to score Birstall’s second try, which was unconverted. 12-7 in Birstall’s favour.

This stung the Staghounds into action and they recorded two more tries before the half-time break to take a 17-12 lead. First Norris was put into space by Gardner on the right wing to score his third try of the season. Then Shaun Hubbard continued his good try scoring form, diving into the left hand corner after good hands moved the ball wide. Gardner missed both difficult touchline conversions.

Some home truths at half-time from the coaching staff seemed to have the desired effect as Hinckley secured the bonus point and took the game away from Birstall within 5 minutes of the restart. Branson, who was excellent all day in his borrowed boots, marked his first appearance for the Stags this season with a try under the posts. Gardner kicked the routine conversion for a 24-12 lead. Hinckley were now building the phases and a breakaway down the right hand touchline by Tom Lewis allowed Liam Hubbard to slide into the corner and open his Stags account for the season. Gardner missed another difficult touchline conversion and the lead had now opened up to 29-12.

Ed Burgess and Sam Racklyeft replaced Steve Harvey and Liam Hubbard respectively with 35 minutes to make an impact.

Birstall went to uncontested scrums after two front row players left the field to injury and they were forced to drop to 14 men. Rather charitably, Charlie Hurst evened the sides by receiving a yellow card for a high tackle. Birstall took advantage of this with their third try of the afternoon after more poor tackling in the midfield.

Hinckley cleared the bench and Michael Parker took the field at number 8 in place of Joe Barnes.

Hinckley finished the game off with three tries in a 10 minute spell. Luke Johnson was on hand to receive the final pass, like any good flanker should be, after a series of smart offloads in contact allowed the Stags to get in behind the Birstall defence. Gardner was the next to cross the whitewash after he exchanged passes with Tom Lewis, who had moved to the wing on Racklyeft’s introduction.

Finally, James Moreton crashed over under the posts from a Steve Harvey tip on (skills he honed on the basketball court in his youth) shortly before the final whistle. Gardner converted all three to reach the half-century. Hinckley Staghounds 50 Birstall 17.

An unconvincing first half performance that was well below the standards we have set ourselves this season was disappointing, but the team showed good character to fightback and take charge of the game. An improved second half hid some of our deficiencies, but we will need to up our game in the coming weeks against some tough opposition if we are to really cement our position at the top of the table.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Alex Branson - strong carries and ruled the line out all day.

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