Sat 11 Mar 2023
Longlevens played their last away game of the league season at Cheltenham North this Saturday and came away with the required five points. Resources are being stretched across both squads at the moment and the first team started the game with a much-changed side. It is testament to the strength in depth that every player called upon was outstanding and added great value, there were even debuts for James Moseley and Dave York.
As always with a changed squad there is trepidation around how they would perform, especially against a side as unpredictable as Cheltenham North and their Fijian imports. However, the Griffins started with a bang and had two disallowed tries within the first two minutes. From a lineout 5m out they set up a drive but North decided not to engage. The Griffins charged forward and dotted down but the ref called it back for a North infringement, baffling the away support as to why he didn’t just award the try. Next up a scoring pass was given to Mike Yorke only for a North player to deliberately knock on, again the away support was shocked when a home line out was given instead.
This positive start seemed to calm any nerves and it was all Longlevens for the remainder of the half, they displayed maturity and structure to deny North any chance in unstructured play. The first to score was Mike Yorke who was on hand to finish well in the right corner, this was followed by a penalty try from a very dominant scrum, 0-12.
The set piece was dominant all day and the next score came from a well worked lineout drive, finished off by Joe Weatherley, quickly followed by the backs displaying their skill through Jed Holman-Jones. He finished off a well worked move wide left, 0-26.
With the bonus point secure there was still time for a final score of the half. North had some much-needed possession but didn’t really know what to do with it. Mike Yorke made a good hit which spilled the ball, allowing Matt Smith to gather and sprint clear for an unconverted try, 0-31.
The Griffins started the second half well and were soon on the score sheet again, this time through Brad Wilkins. He sniped around the base of the ruck and executed a good show and go to break through the defence, unconverted, 0-36.
The game plan all day was to keep to structure and not give them any possession through loose kicks. Up until the 47th minute this was executed to perfection, however a loose kick was unleashed and predicably North were able to core from it, 5-36. Levens were soon dominating again and next up to score was debutant, James Moseley. From a scrum on the left Wilkins broke blind to give Moseley a nice run in, 5-43.
With the game now in the bag the Griffins started to play with more freedom and were able to throw the ball about. From their own 22 the ball was moved left to flanker Daniel Jenkins who was able to break tackles and make his way up to the North 22. Quick phases followed and Prop Harvey Walsingham was there to finish off a well worked try, 5-48.
The final score was the second for captain Holman-Jones who finished off a good team move straight from the kick off, 5-55. Unfortunately, the scoring was finished by North who capitalised on some loose play to score a try, making the final score 10-55.
Each and every player stood up to counted on Saturday and did the club proud. It was a very inexperienced backline with many players playing out of position, but they subdued their Fijian counterparts well and outclassed the opposition all day.
It was a great day for the club with the seconds winning their league and five more points in the bag for the firsts on their quest for promotion.
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