Sat 7 Mar 2020
Longlevens 19-5 Cheltenham North
Following the shock defeat at St Mary's on 1st February, Longlevens have managed to get their season back on track. Two bonus point wins against Whitehall and Berry Hill respectively, followed by this huge win versus promotion rivals North, have put them back into second place, 8 points clear of North, albeit, having played two more games.
This fixture was always going to be a tight affair, with both teams challenging for the play off place in the league. Earlier in the season Levens had gone to North bereft of six first team regulars due to the races and were soundly beaten, so were keen for revenge.
Levens started brightly and put good phases together to get into the North 22. Continued pressure in the scrum drew penalties and Brad Wilkins duly dispatched two to take the score to six nil. A series of further scrum resulted in the North loosehead being sin binned and further penalties came our way. The scrum was elected rather than points and Levens very nearly scored a pushover try, perhaps a penalty try should have been awarded at this point, but it wasn't to be. and levens squandered a good scoring opportunity.
North came back into the game as expected, but Levens defence was superb, and a combination of ferocious tackling and excellent line speed meant North couldn't utilise their dangerous imports at 8 and 10. With these two attacking threats nullified they didn't seem to have much of a plan B, and they just threw the ball about without any structure. This was easy to defend and with the ball back in Levens hands territory was won. More penalties were awarded and Brad kicked three more points to make the half time score 9-0.
Both teams knew that the next score would be crucial, so the game became a tense affair. Levens continued to defend well and stopped all attacking threats. Player coach Mike Hagan was introduced at 10 half way through the half and used his experience to put Levens in the right areas of the pitch. From a North lineout 5 metres out, they overthrew and the ball came to Sam Collier, he smashed his was over and dotted down for the first try, Wilkins converting from wide out. Another penalty was also knocked over, making it 19-0. With the result in the bag, the next target was to keep North from getting a losing bonus point. To their credit they went all out to achieve this, scoring a good try through their big second row, however defence held firm and Levens didn't throw in the towel (although North do have some very nice towels) seeing out the match at 19-5.
All 18 players were immense in both attack and defence and should be proud of themselves. The result puts us in a great position, although we are very much aware North have two games in hand. It's now all to play for that coveted play off spot.
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