Sat 14 Sep 2019
Longlevens came into this match off of a great pre season, beating higher league opposition Matson, and running two leagues above Newent close.
With the players sporting a new kit, white shorts finally agreed, Levens began the match at a ferocious pace. Inroads were made from the off and it didn’t take long for fly half Broady to kick wide for winger Kory Holman-Jones to gather, step inside and score under the posts. Broady stepped up to slot the conversion, but managed to scuff it under the posts, a sign of things to come.
Levens continued to put phases together, drawing a penalty, which was kicked to the corner by Wilkins. From the resulting catch and drive, prop Collier barrelled his way over for an unconverted try.
Longlevens continued to press and build phases, testing the Hucclecote defence. 10 Broady was managing the game well at this point and drilled another kick wide for Holman-Jones to chase. He managed to skilfully keep the ball in and fall on it to score, again unconverted.
Levens began to let their foot off the gas, turning the ball over and falling off the pace. This resulted in Hucclecote working some good phases and scoring an unconverted try. This woke the boys up, and from good line speed, Broady intercepted and fed Wilkins to score, no conversion again.
Poor ball retention allowed Hucclecote to get back in the game and score two tries from counter attack positions, crucially converting one. However, Levens played the territory and worked their way to the Hucclecote line, coming away with a score from Kitson, again unconverted, leading the score 17-25 at halftime.
The second half began with a slower pace, the heat getting to both sides. Levens played the territory game but couldn’t put phases together. From another poor turnover, Hucclecote scored an unconverted try to make it a one point game.
This woke Levens up again and they turned the screw to get near the Hucclecote line. From a penalty, Wilkins showed quick thinking and tapped to put Thomas in the corner, unconverted. The score was now 24-30 and Levens had the bit between their teeth. Centre Barton showed his pace and strength to score an excellent individual try, converted, to make the score 24-37. At this point they just needed to see the game out, but this being the game it was, they conceded two late tries, crucially, the last one not converted, meaning a squeaky bum time, one point win!
Match report by Director of Rugby Tom Lovell
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