Sat 2 Sep 2023
Longlevens kicked off their league campaign in style on Saturday with a comprehensive victory away at Cleve.
Cleve were a tough side to beat last season, The Griffins only winning by four points this time last year, so we were expecting a hard match. However, this didn’t turn out to be the case as the bonus point was secured after 25 minutes, with tries being scored at regular intervals.
The first to get over the whitewash was player coach, Tom Griffiths. The first five minutes were all about playing to structure and building phases. This stressed the Cleve defence and the ball was worked right to Griffiths who ghosted through a gap to run in from 22 metres, 0-5.
The next score came soon after following a free kick awarded to Cleve. They elected to kick long to the Levens’ back field and the ball was returned with pace from Jake Fox. The ball was recycled to Kory Holman-Jones who carried well before offloading to brother Jed to go over, 0-10.
Cleve then got some points on the board through a penalty, but this was their only respite as the pressure continued to mount. Debutant, James Butler then executed an excellent 50/22 kick to secure an attacking lineout in the Cleve 22. The forwards attempted the drive but were stopped short, only for the ball to be moved away to Butler who dummied over for his first score for the club, converted by Wilkins, 3-17.
The Griffins then scored directly from the resulting kick off. The ball was moved wide left from the catch and Griffiths made powerful yards up the middle before feeding Fox to continue. The ball was eventually recycled to Number 8, Matt Fatica, who showed pace and power to score under the posts, 3-24.
Cleve then responded with a score of their own, spinning the ball wide right for the winger to scoot in, but the half belonged to Longlevens, with Kory H-J getting on the score sheet at the death. Joe Weatherley made good headway up the left touchline before offloading to Fox, who in turn got the ball away to Wilkins who was able to feed Kory to crash over, half time 8-31.
The game was taken out of sight by two quick scores directly after half time. Mike Yorke getting his first on 42 minutes following another break by Griffiths. He fizzed a great pass right to Yorke who sprinted clear, 8-36.
Griffiths got his second a minute later after he broke through a gap from the kick off, the defence unable to live with him from the half way line, converted by Butler, 8-43.
There was then a period of loose play from The Griffins, who were beginning to go away from the structure that had served them well. Dropped passes and poor decisions meant there was a 10-minute period where no scores came, but that was rectified on the hour as Yorke scored his second. A lineout was turned over and caught the Cleve defence on the back foot. Yorke was put through a hole and raced clear to score, Butler converting, 8-50.
Cleve got a second of their own following an interception, but it was Longlevens who finished the scoring off through captain, Jed Holman-Jones, making the final score 15-57.
It was a very good opening day performance and bodes well for the season. Due to the re-arranged game versus Clifton, there is no 1st team game next week. The seconds are away at Old Cents, so still plenty of rugby to watch.
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