Longlevens RFC

Longlevens faced very familiar opposition in this Papa John’s semi final in fellow Counties 1 Western North team, Barton Hill.

The two previous league encounters had gone the Griffin’s way by quite considerable margins and the management team were keen to stress that overconfidence could be our weakness. Barton Hill were also in the middle of a tour, and to their credit travelled back from Brighton to play this match, this further increased the Longlevens overconfidence.

The first 20 minutes were all Barton Hill who had decided that they had a good 20 in them and went all out. They scored the first try through a catch and drive and continued to utilise a well drilled short game, picking at the ruck and making some yards. The Griffin’s defence was solid however and they were able to open up the tiring Barts players. The ball was moved into the wider channels, as per the game plan, and Mile Yorke was able to make yards down the right. The recycled ball was worked back in field and Jack Cuthbert crashed over for a converted try, 7-5.

The Griffins were now trying to move the ball at every opportunity; however, a loose pass was intercepted by the Barts full back who raced away to score, 7-12. Longlevens then began to play with deserved confidence and scored three great tries in the last 10 minutes of the half. A scrum on the left presented the chance for Ben Collier to crash the ball up before it was worked back in field for Joe Weatherley to go over, 14-12.

Mike Yorke then got the first of his hattrick after a turnover in midfield. He was on hand to make the initial break, followed by a nice interchange of pass with Cuthbert, who switch back to Yorke to go over, 21-12.

The final score of the half came from the other hattrick hero, Louis Boyd. A quick tap penalty was again taken for yards by the impressive Yorke who passed inside to Boyd to beat the defence and score under the posts, half time score 28-12.

The second half started at a similar pace to the first and the Griffins got on the score sheet after 48 minutes through Yorke. A series of tap penalties were worked scrappily through the hands, eventually reaching Yorke to finish, 35-12.

The next try was from Boyd who was able to finish after a nice break from Tom Griffiths. He powered through multiple defenders and offloaded to Collier to continue the muscle work up the touch. He got the ball away to Boyd to make it 40-12.

Barton Hill briefly got back into the game with another catch and drive, but Levens scored three more to see out the game. Yorke completed his hattrick by taking a lovely inside pass from Griffiths before Boyd completed his two minutes later, latching on to a kick ahead by replacement, Jack Beck, 52-17.

The scoring was finished off by flanker Jenkins following another Griffiths break. He took the final pass to go under the posts, 57-17. The ref ended the game 10 minutes early and the celebrations began. Credit must go to Barton Hill for playing this match, especially as they were on tour, and to the whole Longlevens pack who were up against it all day against their much bigger rivals. All eight stood their ground and didn’t take on backwards step.

The final this Saturday sees the Griffins take on Twickenham RFC, sadly not at Twickenham, but at the StoneX stadium, home of Saracens.