Sat 27 Nov 2021
Longlevens travelled down the M5 expecting a close and tough battle against fellow promotion hopefuls Bristol Saracens, what followed was one of the best performance so far this season, and seven converted tries.
Given the weather conditions, the coin toss was a very important factor, Captain Jed Holman- Jones lost and Sarries elected to play into the wind for the first half, meaning Levens knew they needed a fast start to rack up some points whilst they had the advantage.
The first 20 minutes went exactly to plan, with tries being scored at regular intervals. The first came after four minutes, starting with good work from number 8 Holman-Jones, who controlled the ball well at the back of a retreating scrum. He used his pace from the back to beat their blind side, pass to scrum half Wilkins, who fed Full Back Sam Hester to sprint clear for the opener. Wilkins was to have a good day with the boot in windy conditions, slotting the conversion 0-7.
The next score came from moving the ball and stretching the Sarries defence. From the space created, Mike Yorke, making his first appearance of the season, was able to step a few players and make inroads towards the line. He was stopped just short and from the resulting ruck the forwards kept it tight for Tom Denby to flop over from short range, 0-14.
Levens final try of the half came on 20 minutes, the Sarries defence had been moved from side to side so much that holes were becoming easier to find. Wilkins sensed this and sniped through the guard at a ruck to set up winger Peter Sykes to go over on the left, again converting for a 0-21 lead.
Sarries came alive after this score and had the majority of the possession for the rest of the half. They ran most of this due to the wind, but the Levens defence held firm. However on the 4oth minute poor tackling on the left hand side allowed Sarries to go over in the corner for an unconverted try, 5-21 at half time.
Levens now had 40 minutes to play up the hill and into the wind, so knew they needed to keep possession, otherwise the ball would soon be kicked back. Sarries started the half well, using the wind to pin Levens in their 22, but very good defence meant the line wasn’t breached, despite plenty of pressure. Levens wrestled back control of the game and began to string phases together into the wind. A good beak by Jack Beck was followed up by Sykes, who was able to get the pass away to Hester to score his second, and this was followed up by a penalty try after 60 minutes. Continued pressure had forced Sarries into giving away a series of penalties, one of which was kicked to the corner. From the catch and drive Sarries collapsed the maul and the ref ran straight under the sticks, the score now 5-35.
The game was now well and truly won, but Levens were playing some great rugby and weren’t done with scoring yet. Centre Barton was next to go over, he followed up his own hack forward to out sprint the covering defence to dive on the loose ball, 5-42.
The final score came from the impressive Jack beck, who is growing into the unfamiliar 12 role. He was on hand to receive the final pass after some good build up play through Denby and Barton, making the final score 5-49.
This was an all-round good performance, and one that sends a statement to the league. It was also good to welcome back two first team regulars in Mike Yorke and Steve Philips after long injury layoffs.
Next week we are home against the other Sarries of Cheltenham, in another must win game.
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