The Griffins welcomed the Ravens to Longford Lane this Saturday in the quarter final of the Papa Johns cup. These two sides have built up a decent rivalry in the league over the last two season and this was the closest game played so far.
The first half went to Longlevens in terms of possession and territory but the score line didn’t really reflect this. The Griffins threatened the Nailsea line on a number of occasions but failed to execute or break down the stubborn defence. Defence has been a slight issue over the last few games but to their credit the Longlevens forwards dealt very well with the big Nailsea one out runners and nullified their threat well.
The scoring was opened in the first five minutes by a Brad Wilkins penalty from 40 metres out, the Griffins making use of the boot during this competition much more than they do in the league. This was followed up 25 minutes later by a try from prop, Josh Stratton. He was the beneficiary of a catch and drive line out far on the left side, 8-0.
Against the run of play Nailsea set up an attack that didn’t look to be going anywhere, however, a combination of a good line from their winger and poor tackling allowed them to score from 30 yards out, making the score 8-7. The half finished with another Wilkins three pointer to take to the break 11-7 up.
As has been the case recently the Griffins started the half slowly and Nailsea were the first off the mark. A series of mistakes and penalties allowed them to gain territory into the Longlevens half and from a home scrum the ball was turned over and Nailsea pounced to make the score 11-12.
This woke the Griffins up and they restored the lead five minutes later through Matt Smith. From a scrum on the right the ball was worked wide left with Steve Phillips joining the line well and at pace. He offloaded to Smith who took two defenders with him over the line, 18-12.
The game was put beyond the Ravens reach on 70 minutes when Tom Barton took a lovely pass back on the inside from Butler to crash over making it an unassailable 25-12. There was time for Nailsea to make it interesting at the end with a final try of their own, but the staunch defence held out and Longlevens secured their place in the semi final with a 25-19 victory.
Saturday sees the Griffins one win away from Twickenham as they welcome KCS Old Boys from London to Gloucester in what should be a cracking game.
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