Sat 11 Nov 2023
Longlevens played their first match in three weeks this Saturday and came out on top against a young and skilful Old Reds side.
After eight games the league is taking shape and it is clear the current top four are the sides that will be in the mix for the title, with Old Reds being one of those.
The Griffins knew this would be a tough game and up until half time they were proved correct. The game plan was to use the superior size difference and to be direct, the first try demonstrated this with a well-executed catch and drive lineout move, finished off by Luke Stratford, 5-0.
Old Reds responded with a try of their own on 20 minutes, finishing well in the right-hand corner following a scrum under the Longlevens posts. The Griffins worked their way patiently through the phases and ran hard at the Reds defence and were rewarded with a nearly try from Kory Holman-Jones, who was held up. The resulting goal line drop out was fielded well and eventually found Tom Griffiths who dummied through the defence to score under the posts, 12-7.
The back-and-forth nature of the game continued as Reds then hit back again, their flanker cleaning up a tapped lineout to evade the Longlevens forwards and ghost over the line, making the score an even 12 all. Four minutes later the Griffins were on the score sheet through Jack Beck after a series of penalties and strong phases allowed the ball to be moved left to exploit the overlap, 19-12. The entertaining first half was concluded with a three pointer from Reds meaning the teams went into the huddle at 19-15.
Longlevens hadn’t quite executed the game plan they set out to achieve so the message was simple, go hard and direct. This was affected 10 minutes in as more pressure on the Reds defence drew a number of penalties that resulted in good ball to send Steve Phillips crashing over, 26-15.
The game plan was working perfectly now and big carries from Jack Cuthbert and Luke Stratford had the Reds defence on the back foot. Jack Cuthbert was next to power over after some good build up play, shortly followed by an excellent finish wide left by Tom Barton, 40-15.
Old Reds were desperate to get the try bonus point and were still playing to make this happen. They got one try closer with a well worked Crossfield kick, but it wasn’t to be for them as Brad Wilkins finished the scoring off with an outrageous dummy from the base of an attacking scrum, converted by the ever reliable, James Butler, final score 47-20.
Beating the teams around them is what the Griffins need to do this season to achieve that all important promotion, next week they go away to Bridgwater & Albion in what will be a tough fixture and have the big clash with Cinderford looming on the horizon.
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