Longlevens RFC

Report by Zack Fisher

Our second game of the season was a trip up to another fellow World Cup team, Derby. Every time we play them it is usually a close competitive game but always played in the spirit of the game, and this fixture was no different.

Derby started the brighter team, as they took kick off, there was a knock on by Longlevens and Derby reacted quickest to the ball and eventually a couple of quick passes by Derby led to a try in the corner by Mikey Hawkes, conversion was however missed. After the kick off, Derby caught the ball and again after a few phases and good defence by Longlevens on their own 5 metre, Derby managed to power over and score but again the conversion was missed. Score was now 10-0 to Derby. Not long after the kick off Derby managed to break through the defence again however Rhys Costello tracked back and produced a try saving tackle and tackled the Derby player into touch. However from the resulting line out after a few hit up runners by Derby, their big centre bust through and scored but conversion was missed again.

Towards the end of the first half, Longlevens started to wake up a little bit and managed to keep the ball for longer periods of time and started winning penalties that led to Derby being pushed back into their own 22. Following some good phase play by Longlevens, centre Reece Joyner took a crash ball, broke two tackles and went over for Longlevens first try of the day, conversion was added by Jordan Rankinwoodhouse, score was now 17-7. After some sustained pressure by Longlevens, the Derby defence stayed strong and managed to win a turnover and push Longlevens back down to their own 22. Just before the stroke of half time, Derby scored another try but the conversion was missed. HT score was 20-7 to Derby.

After a strong team talk at half time and a few replacements coming on, due to injuries in the first half, Longlevens started to come into the game. A scrum on the half way line lead to fly half, Zack Fisher, putting a chip over the top for Jordan Rankinwoodhouse to show good control with his feet to kick the ball through and gather to score Longlevens’ second try of the game. Jordan converted his own try, score was now 20-14. Longlevens’ third try of the day game from a similar position on the field but a box kick by Zack, led to Jordan showing his football skills once again and scored in the corner, however conversion was missed. Score was now 20-19.

This was only the teams second game of the season, and the lack of game time and match fitness started to show as holes were starting to appear in defence and Derby started to exploit these gaps. Luckily for Longlevens they still managed to tackle pretty well and managed to win a couple of turnovers, twice on their own line to stop Derby from scoring. However eventually the fitness of the Derby team showed as after a Derby scrum in the Longlevens 22, they went on the blindside and centre Mikey went through a missed tackle to score his second of the game, score was now 25-19. Derby nearly scored again closely after however the ball was held up over the line.

Derby went onto score 2 quick tries, one was a lovely move by the backs to the winger who passed back inside to the fly half looping round to score. The other one was a counter ruck on their own line, leading to the fullback to run the length of the pitch to score. Score was now 35-19. In the final play of the game after kick off, Longlevens got a turnover after a knock on by Derby, leading to Sam Galliers picking the ball up on the wing and running in to score. This was Sam’s first game since Derby at home in January, due to having to have surgery and was great to see him back on the pitch and scoring again. Luke Pegler got the final conversion, FT score was 35-26.

It was a really good game, a few things to work on but the second half performance was a massive positive and something to build on.

Man of the Match: There was 2 man of the matches this week. One chosen by the coaches and the other by Derby. The coaches Man of the Match was Rhys Costello as he was all over the park making tackles and taking the ball into contact, and pushing the team forward. Derby voted for Saul Cowley to be Man of the Match as he was one of the first people always there to take the ball into contact and it always took a few players to take him down.

Thank you Derby for a great match and looking forward to seeing you at Longford Lane in February.