Sat 8 Jan 2022
After a break of four weeks Longlevens were finally back in action with this away trip to Frampton Cotterell. During the week it was announced that the game was to played at Cleve RFC due to issues with Frampton’s ground, which was welcome news, as playing away at Frampton is always a tough job.
The game was actually played on the far pitch so as not to cut up the Cleve 1st team pitch, so conditions were very soft and wet, leading all to think this could be a close scrappy affair, however, Longlevens had other ideas with a seven try demolition.
The first try was scored after just six minutes following a scrum on the right in the Frampton 22. The ball was initially worked right from the base, with good yardage made, then whipped back left using dummy runners to good effect, allowing Tom Barton the space he needed to sprint clear, unconverted, 0-5.
The next 30 minutes became more frantic and scrappy, with opportunities created by both sides, but not converted into points, the only score in that period being a Frampton Penalty, 3-5. After 35 minutes Levens began to string some positive phases together and were threatening the line regularly, going over for three tries in five minutes. Matt Smith went over on the right hand side for a converted try, quickly followed by Tom Barton, who finished off good work from Hester and Jed Holman Jones. The last try of the half went to Matt Smith straight from receiving a KO. The ball was fielded and spun wide left for Smith to show his pace and score in the corner, half time score 3-24.
Frampton started the second half with more about them and managed to work their way into the Levens half. They used their limited game plan to good effect to pick and go in the left corner for a converted try 10-24. This woke Levens up and they began to re-assert their dominance on the game, securing good territory in the Frampton 22.
From a scrum on the left, number 8 Holman-Jones picked and was held just short. From the ruck Matt Fatica carried and offloaded to Dan Gordon to power over, converted, 10-31. This was followed by a good kick return from Barton, making good ground down the left to release Mike Yorke to score, 10-38.
The final score came from Pete Skyes who followed up a good kick ahead from Brad Wilkins to pounce on the loose ball, making the score 10-45 at the death.
This was a good result away from home in poor conditions, with Dan Gordon controlling the game very well from number 10. There were three or four scoring opportunities left on the pitch, but after four weeks off, this is to be expected.
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