Longlevens RFC

Longlevens welcomed Keynsham to Longford Lane for their second home game of the season and entertained the crowd with another high scoring affair.

The Griffins have played five games in the new league now and have developed a habit of conceding multiple tries without reply, to their credit they have come back and won three of those games, but it is something they will want to cut out.

This game mirrored the Gordano game in that Longlevens scored first after two minutes, then shipped 26 unanswered points, and it was Tom Barton who started the scoring again this week.

Straight from the kick off a scrum was won and the ball was played through the phases. Moving from right to left the ball found its way to Kory Holman-Jones who was able to tie in three defenders, allowing his brother Jed to get the ball to Barton in space. The winger still had plenty to do though and he beat the cover with pace to go in at the corner, unconverted, 5-0.

Then it all began to go wrong for the Griffins as they turned the ball over too often and were punished by the counter attacking of Keynsham. For a 10-minute period they scored four tries all from turnover and poor tackling and in the blink of an eye Longlevens were 5-26 down.

As has been the case so far, all season, the team showed a lot of character and fought their way back into the game. Just before half time Jake Fox scored a crucial try to swing the balance back in our favour. Longlevens pounded the Keynsham line with big forward runners and looked certain to score a try, however Keynsham turned it over and cleared their lines. Tom Barton proceeded to return the ball with interest and he nearly went in from half way, only to be bundled into touch. The ensuing phases narrowed the Keynsham defence and allowed Fox space on the left to speed in, making the half time score 12-26.

Such is the belief of this team that there was no mention of losing the game, each and every player knew that if they just fixed a few things the result would come.

Longlevens started the strongest and played a power game, using the forwards to outmuscle the opposition. Dave Edwards was first to score from close range, dotting down the first of a hattrick from a pick and go. He then scored a second shortly after, finding himself on the end of a catch and drive lineout to bring the score to a closer, 24-26.

Keynsham still had some gas in the tank and from a quick tap caught the Longlevens defence napping to go over making the score 24-33 with a full 20 minutes to play.

The Griffins didn’t panic and continued to use the forwards well to gain the upper hand. Man of the match Edwards scored his hattrick try from yet another catch and drive to make it a two point game again and make the last 10 minutes interesting.

The game was won in style with a lovely try from Jed Holman-jones who was on the end of a sublime offload from Lewis Locke to barrel over neat the posts, final score 38-33.

This was a hard-fought victory and a great comeback. If the Griffins can cut out the mistakes, and avoid giving teams a four try head start, they should be able to win more comfortably and give the crowd an easier time.

Next week it’s off to the seaside to face Weston Super Mare in what will no doubt be another tough encounter, #UTFG.