Longlevens RFC

Longlevens overcame KCS Old Boys on Saturday to book themselves in the final of the Papa Johns cup at Twickenham.

This final comes 10 years after the club were last at Twickenham and players from that match were in attendance to bolster a large crowd at Longford Lane who witnessed a pulsating game.

The Griffins had a strong squad out and were in confident mood, but KCS Old Boys had beaten Teddington in the previous round so weren’t going to be pushovers.

It was KCS that got the first score, capitalising on a mistake from a Longlevens scrum, 0-7 after 10 minutes.

The Griffins were dominant in the set piece and were making good yards in the loose, so it was only a matter of time before this translated into points. From a lineout five metres out the forwards set up a good drive and Dave Hughes went over to bring the scores level.

The next score went to the Griffins directly from the kick off. The ball was fielded and taken into contact with quick ball secured. It was then sent out the back and Matt Smith took off from inside the 22 and used his speed and power to get to the KCS 22, where he was able to offload to the supporting Tom Barton for a great score, 14-7.

Longlevens then let KCS back into the game as they charged down a kick to scorch in from the half way line, bringing the scores level again. The half was finished with a Longlevens try from Luke Stratford, powering over from close range following a scrum, making it a tight 21-14 at half time.

The Griffins knew that the KCS tries and come from mistakes, so cutting them out should see some daylight appearing between the teams, the first 20 minutes of the second half did just that as Longlevens scored four tries.

The first of these came from Matt Smith as he again showed pace and power to break three tackles and speed in from half way, 28-14. Next up was Steve Phillips who took the ball at pace near the line to crash over, 35-14, quickly followed by a second for Smith. The ball was worked wide right and Smith was able to get over from the much shorter distance of five yards this time, 42-14.

Longlevens were now totally in the ascendency and were making breaks at will. Tom Griffiths took the ball at first receiver and made a short break before passing to Mike Yorke to go over, making the score a seemingly unassailable 49-14 with 20 minutes to go.

The bench was emptied and thoughts turned to Twickenham, however, KCS had other ideas and started to make a game of it. They began chucking the ball about with reckless abandonment and caught the Griffins napping. They scored three unanswered tries through broken field running and brought the score back to 49-35 with 10 minutes still to play. If the game was drawn the away side would go through so KCS knew they only needed two more scores and began to throw everything at the Griffins. This was halted in midfield by good defence and KCS knocked on to stop the barrage. A final score by the Griffins finally sealed the game, with Mike Yorke scoring his second after good work by Jack Beck, 56-35. There was time for KCS to score one more, but the job was done and a final at Twickenham was secured with a 56-40 victory.

This marked the end of another successful season at Longford Lane where the Griffins continue to remain unbeaten in the league or National Cup since January 2019, a remarkable achievement.

Attentions now turn to next Saturday where Longlevens face Widnes in the final of the Counties 1 Championship at Twickenham, see social media for your chance to book a place on the supporters’ coaches.