Sat 5 Feb 2022
Longlevens welcomed Coney Hill to Longford Lane this Saturday in a re-arranged league game. With Coney Hill usually playing leagues above Longlevens, this was the first chance in many years to record a victory against one of Gloucester’s traditional power houses.
The game started slowly and it took a while for Levens to find their rhythm. Coney Hill were a big, lumpy side and initially had the dominance in the scrum and the drive thus limiting possession for the first 20, the possession that was gained was squandered.
The game got going on 20 minutes following a Coney Hill goal line drop out going out on the full. From the resulting scrum the ball was moved right for full back Sam Hester to dive over in the corner, converted by Wilkins, who had a 91% success rate with the boot, 7-0.
The game then opened up with Levens scoring at regular intervals. The next score came from Mike Yorke who received the ball on the half way line and dummied his way through the covering defence to go under the posts, 14-0.
Hester was on hand to score his second minutes later following a box kick from the Coney Hill 9. Tom Barton fielded the ball and returned it with interest, he then executed a 2v1 to Hester to go over, 21-0.
Barton got in on the act himself next after a similar box kick clearance from Coney Hill. This time Mike Yorke fielded the ball and went on a rangy run through midfield. He put a nice grubber through for Barton to collect and score, 26-0.
The half was finished off by a Hester Hatrick. Brad Wilkins sniped blind from a ruck and put Hester clear to make the half time score 33-0.
As the half ended there was a serious injury to a Coney Hill player which necessitated a change of pitch. This took a while to organise, alongside the confusion as to whether Coney Hill were going to come out for the second half. Once this was all sorted the second half began, and due to the disruption, it took 10 minutes for Levens to warm back up. However, warm up they did, starting with a Tom Barton try. The ball was ripped in contact by Dan Gordon on the half way line and spun left to Barton, who outpaced the defence to go over, 40-0.
The rest of the half then became a procession of tries, with every piece of possession turned into first phase scores. Brad Wilkins chipped through and gathered his own kick to score, followed by another pacey try from Barton. From the resulting kick off the ball was moved left for Hester to sprint clear for his fourth, 61-0.
From the next kick off Joe Weatherley gained possession and he set off, Gazelle like, up the pitch to score almost unopposed. This was followed by a final score from Mike Yorke, who like Joe, went over unopposed. With 20 minutes still to play thoughts turned to whether 100+ was on the cards, however the Coney Hill team were starting to deplete due to injuries and other issues, so the decision was made by the referee and Coney Hill coach to call time, with the result standing at 75-0.
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