Longlevens RFC

Longlevens travelled down the M5 at the unfamiliar time of 5.30pm on a Friday for this rearranged fixture against Clifton Wanderers.

After a barnstorming start to the season the griffins were expecting a much sterner challenge, and they were not disappointed. The Clifton staff indicated that they had quite a few players back into the fold and were at full strength, so the players knew only a top performance would suffice. Uncharacteristically for Longlevens, they got off to a slow start. Handling errors and penalties meant Clifton were in the driving seat early on and secured a try following a driving lineout after just five minutes, 0-7.

The Griffins dusted themselves down and gained territory into the Clifton 22, managing to turn the ball over in the process. An overlap had appeared wide left and the ball was moved quickly to Jake Fox to speed in, unconverted 5-7.

Longlevens were now in control and were playing to structure well. The forwards were dominant in the set piece and the loose and were regularly driving Clifton backwards. From a catch and drive line out number 8, Luke Stratford, peeled off and muscled under the posts, 5-12.

Clifton responded with a penalty kick before another catch and drive effort was scored by Jack Cuthbert in the right-hand corner, making the half time score 10-19.

It only took two minutes of the second half to extend the lead further with probably the try of the game. Clifton attempted a clearance kick down their left wing, only for Longlevens right winger, Carlos Jenkins, to make a clean catch. He made decent yards and drew a defender before popping off to Matt Smith to take off through a gap at pace. He proceeded to step three players and turn the full back inside out before going over in the corner for a converted score by Butler, 10-26.

The game still wasn’t secure and Clifton were making some inroads in the Griffins defence, but the red line held firm each time, repelling them back. Clifton then conceded a penalty which was duly kicked to the corner by Butler, setting up another powerful drive. Cuthbert was on hand to score his second, and the team’s third driving maul, something forwards coach Andrew Stanley will no doubt be pleased about, 10-31.

Fittingly, it was the forwards who finished the scoring for Levens’ and it was stand out player, Stratford who powered over from short range to bring the total to 38, however there was still time for Clifton to get a converted try at the end to make the final score 17-38. The wanderers were by far the best side the Griffins have played so far this year and it produced a much tighter game. However, six tries were still scored and the bonus point win takes them to the top of the league with a much higher points difference over next weeks’ opponents, Nailsea and Backwell.