Longlevens hosted a level 6 match at Longford Lane for the first time on what was the 70th anniversary of the clubs first ever game. The club was buzzing and there were many old faces from days gone by to cheer on the Griffins, along with a guard of honour from the stars of tomorrow.
Chippenham were the opposition and they have been at this level and higher for many years, so the team knew a tough day was ahead. The game started, as it did last week, at a ferocious pace and Longlevens had to soak up some early pressure. Defence held firm and after four minutes the first try was scored. Ben Collier, who was to have another standout performance, made a break through the centre from first phase ball and linked up well with Tom Barton to send the quick man into the corner, 5-0.
That first five minutes were to prove to be a false dawn and Chippenham eased into gear, ably assisted by Longlevens inability to keep the ball and their indiscipline. Four unanswered tries were scored at regular intervals and backs were certainly to the wall. The Griffins were struggling to break down Chippenham and were guilty of running into contact using the first runner rather than playing out the back and to their strengths.
As the half drew to a close and with the score at 5-28 Longlevens began to execute plays that were stretching Chippenham and on 40 minutes the ball was finally moved to the right areas. Great hands ensured the ball reached Matt Smith who put Jake Fox in on the left wing for a great try, making the half time score 10-28.
The Griffins were in no way beaten and all 18 knew the game was there for the taking if they stuck to the right plan. The half was started brightly and on 50 minutes a scrum was awarded on the five-metre line. Brad Wilkins moved the ball right to James Butler and he dummied his way through two would be tacklers to go over for a converted try bring the score to a closer 17-28.
Longlevens were very much on the front foot and were aiming to eat into the lead, however a handling error resulted in a turnover and Chippenham were able to exploit the mismatches in midfield, eventually moving the ball wide left to score, 17-35. This felt like a killer blow, but to their credit the heads didn’t drop and two minutes later were able to score another.
A scrum on the 22 provided a platform and a planned move from the base allowed the ball to be worked right for Fox to be given enough space to speed in, 24-35, meaning that at least a bonus point was secured. However, Longlevens had other ideas and what followed was 20 minutes of some of the best rugby Longford Lane has witnessed.
The Griffins clicked and began moving the ball around the park with ease, and within 10 minutes found themselves 45-35 up, curtesy of a Matt Smith hattrick. The first one was delivered up the left touchline with Smith able to sidestep and hand off Chippenham defenders to speed over and this was followed five minutes later by a Barton break and offload to Smith. The last one involved number 8 Jed Holman-Jones making a break up the touchline followed by a nice grubber for Smith to latch onto to complete a great hattrick.
There was still time to really put the game to bed and the Griffins did just that with two more tries. From a scrum on the left the ball found its way to Ben Collier who crashed up the 12 channel, however the Chippenham players appeared to have given up tackling and he was able to go in almost unopposed under the posts, 52-35. The game was finished off in style with a great score from Barton. Piers Fortey switched play from right to left from a scrum and Barton hit an unstoppable line from half way to scorch in making the final score 59-35. Longlevens won the second half 49-7, and from being 28-10 down at half time performed a fantastic come back. As Dave Edwards said at the bar ‘that was a game of two halves’ and he’s not wrong.
Longlevens have proved they can more than compete at this level and will look forward to a trip to Witney next week. #UTFG.
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