Syston festival

Foggy Away Days!

This years Syston Festival consisted of a round robin league with no knock out or final stages so every second counted and there was no time for early season nerves!

First up were LFE who looked ready for action. They had played last week and knew what was coming. We however were starting our first competitive game of contact which no training match can fully prepare you for and definitely woke us all up! Once we all got settled the training told and we more than matched them with some big hits. The half time score sheet read one try each. Things opened up a little in the second half and a great assist from Farrell brought a Hinckley try. LFE tried to get back into the game but we now had control. Final score 4-2 to Hinckley with two tries each from Dunne and Spalding.

Game two brought on Oadby Wiggs who started strong with end to end movements and endless tackles from both sides. Good support and strong running into contact from Biggs and fearless tackling from Billett and Chase showed what Hinckley are made of and a crash ball straight off the Tigers training park from Kime brought our only try of the half 1-1 again at half time! A changing of the guard saw fresh legs begin to open up Oadby in the second half.. Dunne ran in 3 strong tries and Spalding took another in the corner. Final score 5-3 to Hinckley was closer than it should have been but a good win never the less.

Mid morning and the sun began to shine. South Leicester had replaced Barker Butts for the morning and it looked like they had brought their 1st team with their average size way above ours! No matter as Hinckley brought out the big guns with Causon, Kime and Bennett taking route one, bossing them up the middle of the park. Great support and passing from Curless, Brooks and Farrell saw Stockton ripping up the wings. Only last ditch tackles from South stopped Stockton from scoring more than just the one. This was backed up with one from Causon but half time gave us a 2-1 lead and the big but not so mobile South team were shaken. Things tightened up in the second half and South took us all the way the wire with the score sheet reading 4-4 when the ref called final play with the ball in Hinckley hands from the restart. The call came for Dunne to receive and his run cut South in half for his third score of the half and a 5-4 win to Hinckley.

Now Hinckley vs Syston planned as the last game of the day with Syston as the hosts was no surprise and it was a winner takes all game with no prior losses by either side. The management recognise the efforts of every player in the squad with the ethic that we all travel and we all play no matter what. Maybe Syston didn't play the final game that way but we stuck to a game plan and every player wore their shirt with pride. The result didn't go our way this time with Kime scoring our only try to their four but it's going to be a long season and I'm sure our paths will cross again before next May................