Longlevens RFC

On Saturday we faced our local rivals from up the M5 in Worcester. In the away fixture, Longlevens won 44-12 but this game proved to be a different task for the lads. Worcester fielded a strong side and you could tell they were out to make up for the previous loss. This was one of 4 fixtures that the club had on Saturday, as the club had 4 teams out on the weekend, which shows the strong position that the club is currently in.

The first quarter started with a Longlevens kick off, which allowed Worcester to start the game on the front foot. Longlevens defence held firm but a few penalties gave Worcester the ball inside the 22, and using their big runners, Worcester powered over to score under the posts, conversion scored. 7-0 to Worcester. After kick off, Longlevens went close to try in the corner, with Kieren O’Loughlin sniping from the base of the ruck to dive over but was judge to be in touch before the ball was down. After this Worcester started to dominate possession in the game. However after this sustained pressure and fantastic defence by Longlevens won a scrum penalty in their own 22. As Longlevens hadn’t really had much possession in this quarter apart from the aforementioned ruled out try, the decision was to run the ball instead of kick, the ball made it’s way to Zack Fisher, he beat 2 defenders and managed to get down to the opposition 10 metre line before a high tackle provided Longlevens a penalty. This gave Longlevens an base to attack from, and following a scrum, the ball was chipped through and Zack went over and scored however conversion was missed. Score was now 7-5 to Worcester, which was the score at the end of the quarter.

The second quarter started well for Longlevens who kept the possession of the ball for a long period of time but the Worcester defence was strong and Longlevens could not break this down. Finally after a chip and chase by Jordan Rankinwoodhouse, he managed to get to the ball before the covering defender to go and score, however the conversion was also missed. Longlevens were now 10-7 up. Worcester started to wake up again and after some good use of their big runners, Worcester were again in Longlevens 22 and managed to get the ball to their winger who beat the covering defence to go over and score. Conversion however was missed. Score was now 12-10 to Worcester. Longlevens had chances to score after 2 big breaks by Rhys Costello however the covering defence by Worcester put a stop to both of these. Just before the end of the first half, Worcester scored again after the use of their bigger runners again, leading to the outside centre breaking through and going over to score, leading the score to now be 17-10 as the conversion was missed. HT score was 17-10 to Worcester.

The third quarter started, and Longlevens knew they were only one score behind at this point and the game was still in the balance. This lead to Longlevens starting brightly and quickly scored after kick off. Joe Costello, got the ball out wide, beat a couple of defenders to go in and score in the corner. Conversion scored by Zack, score was now 17-17. Shortly after Longlevens scored again, with Rhys Costello this time, breaking through the defence to go over and score his first try for Longlevens. Conversion was missed. Score was now 22-17 to Longlevens. After some more pressure by Longlevens, they got a penalty on the 22 right in front of the posts. The decision was to go for the points as the game was still quite tight and good go either way. Luke Pegler stood up and slotted the penalty. Score was now 25-17. The penalty was a good decision in the end as after kick off, the ball was knocked on giving Worcester possession in Longlevens’ half. After some good defence by Longlevens, Worcester got the ball to their number eight who broke through a couple of tackles to go in under the posts, conversion scored. Score was now 25-24, which was the score at the end of the third quarter.

Into the final quarter, Longlevens knew if they got the next score then they would more than likely win the game, but Worcester were not down and out and were knocking on the door to score themselves but Longlevens’ hard work on defence in training was proving to have worked as Worcester were not able to break through. Longlevens did get the next points, as Alex Wade beat the defence to go over, with Paul Thomas getting the conversion, score was now 32-24 to Longlevens. As the game was still quite close, and everyone was getting tired, there was a few high tackles, which also led to tempers to flare up a little bit but credit to Ian Hobbs, who was referring his first seniors game, who kept this under control and warned both teams about their discipline. Not long after, Longlevens gave away a penalty for ill discipline which led to Worcester kicking to the corner however Longlevens won the resulting lineout and managed to exit their own half. In the final play of the game Longlevens made a break down the touchline however after a high tackle by Worcester, tempers flared up again. The ref called the game there, final score was 32-24 to Longlevens.

Fantastic effort by both sides and a completely different game to the one played at the beginning of the season. It shows how much both teams have improved that there wasn’t many mistakes in the game at all, and all the tries game from good play from each team.

Man of the Match: Jair Fountain was voted coaches man of the match, due to his hard work all game. Tackling everything that game his way, managed to ride tackles from kick off when catching and being industrious all game and a constant menace at the break down. Special mention goes to Rhys Costello, as he had another fantastic game making lots of metres in the carry and tackling the house down.

Special thanks to Ian Hobbs, one of MAR’s own, who has recently become a referee and today was his first seniors game and was a pleasure to have referee and put in a great performance.

Next game for Longlevens’ is away to Walcot, and Longlevens are looking to keep building on a good season, as they are now on 6 wins out of 7 games this season.