Sat 24 Sep 2022, 15:00
After last week’s heroics against Cinderford Longlevens came down to Earth with a bit of a bump away at Cleve.
Gaining confidence in this new league has been the main aim so far and last week’s victory achieved that for the group. The downside to gaining confidence can be that it sometimes leads to arrogance, and believing a match can be won without putting in the required effort.
The first 10 minutes at Cleve was a very loose affair with The Griffins making some poor decisions and allowing Cleve to dominate possession. The defence held firm and a little bit of control was established. A scrum was awarded to Levens on the right just on the 22, and Cleve set themselves to receive a kick. Number 10, Mike Hagan, had other ideas and moved the ball left to the impressive centre, Tom Griffiths. He made a great break to the half way line, and with just the full back to beat drew him and passed inside to Louis Boyd who sprinted clear to score, converted by Wilkins, 0-7.
Longlevens were then trying to up the tempo, but the control was missing and the game became too frantic. The shape wasn’t how it should be and Hagan was short of options. During one phase these options ran out and he was forced to attempt a cross field kick to the right. The execution was excellent and Winger Henry York was able to get on the end of it and dot down for an unconverted try, 0-12.
Cleve were getting a foothold into the game, mostly due to some poor decision making from Levens, and they finished the half with an unconverted try of their own, 5-12.
The half time chat was focused on the effort requited at this level to win games. Teams will not roll over and make it easy, they all have to be beaten in this league.
The second half commenced in much the same way that the first half ended, poor decision making with the ball in hand and mistakes. Cleve clawed themselves back into it with penalty before things began to improve and the shape looked good. Full Back Boyd made a good break down the right touchline to gain territory and eventually a penalty was awarded under the posts. Instead of taking the three points Wilkins took a tap and from the resulting ruck the ball was worked to Jack Cuthbert who powered over for a well taken seven pointer, 8-19.
The score was to stay the same until the very last second, the half continuing in frustration for The Griffins, with players such as Griffiths making great breaks, but the support not on hand to finish off. Cleve scored a last gasp try, with a hint of a forward pass, to bring the final score to 15-19 and end a frustrating, but ultimately successful day for Longlevens.
The old adage ‘a win is a win’ is a fair comment to make, but with the quality of this squad much more is expected, Cleve were a good side but the score should have been more. Still, four games won on the bounce and top of the league is not to be sniffed at, onwards to Burnham-on-Sea at home next week.
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