Longlevens RFC

On Saturday we travelled down to Walcot for the Mixed Ability Cup, in which we were runners up last year so the boys were looking to go one further and win the cup. Once we got there we found out we had Melksham Stags and Dragons as the teams in our pool so we knew we would have to be on top of our game to get out of the pool.

In the first game we played Melksham, in which both teams were equally matched which lead to a bit of an arm wrestle in this match. In the first few minutes, Jordan Rankinwoodhouse made a break on the wing, but was tackled by two Melksham players but due to his momentum, he was tipped upside down but fair play to the Melksham boys, they made sure he was put down and not dropped. This lead to a penalty and a kick to the corner and from the resulting line out, Longlevens won a scrum. The backs decided that they wanted to try one of the moves they had been using at training, and this nearly came off, however due to good defence by the Melksham fullback and winger, the final pass was not made. Following this, Melksham had some good position of their own, due to Longlevens giving quite a few penalties away, leading to Melksham to have a tap penalty on Longlevens’ 5 metre line. Some quite tackling by Pete de Klein and Rhys Costello stopped the Loosehead prop from Melksham driving over. Jez Wilson managed to win the ball and kick away to safety. The final score for this game was 0-0. There was chances for both teams, but due to good defence and a lack of finishing cost both teams.

The second game we played Dragons, which was a much more physical game than the first game. The number 4 and number 8 for Dragons were causing the lads problems as they were making meters every time they made a run. Longlevens’ managed to get a lineout on the Dragon’s 5 metre line after a kick to the corner from a penalty. From the resulting line out, the boys tried the move again they tried in the first game, and after a fantastic line by fullback Ethan O’Loughlin, he broke through the middle of the defence to score under the posts. Conversion by Luke Pegler. Dragons started dominating the game due to their strong runners, but good defence by Longlevens’ kept Dragons from scoring. Dragons eventually found their way through, with one of their big runners crashing over from short range, conversion scored. Score was now 7-7. Both teams after this had chances to win the game but neither could find their way through. Final score was 7-7. Longlevens had to await to see the score between Melksham and Dragons to see who went through. Melksham won, which meant that we went through as runners up of the pool.

The semi final brought up a familiar opponent and the hosts of the tournament, Walcot Warriors. We lost in the final against Walcot last time, so the boys were looking at getting revenge. Longlevens have beaten Walcot twice this season, so Walcot were up for this game and were very physical and were imposing themselves on the game. Walcot had majority of the possession of the ball in the first part of the match however after a collision between Shane Daley and their centre, Walcot went down to 14 men following a yellow card. Despite this Walcot were the first team who went over and scored. Conversion scored, score was now 5-0 to Walcot. Longlevens started to get more possession as the game went on. This lead to more opportunities for Longlevens but they couldn’t break down the Walcot defence. Longlevens finally got the try their attacking work deserved with Alex Wade scoring in the corner. Conversion however was missed so the score was 5-5. This was the score at full time, however the game went to extra time with the team scoring the next points going through. This lead to both teams attacking and trying to score the winning points. Longlevens managed to get the ball wide to Joe Costello, who used his speed to get past his opposite number and the covering fullback to go over and score the winning try. Final score was 10-5 to Longlevens. Fantastic effort from the boys who just kept going and wouldn’t give up.

The final was against Melksham Stags, who were started the day playing. Due to injuries in the other games, Longlevens were down a few players and players playing out of position but the boys stepped up. As this was the final, both teams started with intensity as they knew due to the short length of the games, that scoring first was a must. The first try of the game went to Longlevens, when after the backs going wide, Joe Costello went over for his second of the day, however conversion was missed. 5-0 to Longlevens. This woke Melksham up who then stepped up their performance and started to go through phases and Longlevens defence was working very hard to stop them from scoring. Finally the pressure from Melksham was too much as the Melksham 12 stepped through the defence and went over, conversion scored 7-5 now to Melksham. After a few penalties by Longlevens, Melksham were camped in the Longlevens 22 and Longlevens could not get out. Melksham went wide however the winger knocked the ball on just before the try line, which bounced perfectly into Ethan’s hands who then ran the full length of the pitch to score under the posts. Paul Thomas got the conversion, 12-7 to Longlevens. From kick off, there was only 10 seconds left, but Melksham won the kick off however after the next phase, the ball was knocked on by Melksham and the ref blew the final whistle. Final score was 12-7 to Longlevens.

During the awards for the tournament, the player of the tournament was announced and this was given to Jordan Rankinwoodhouse. We also voted for our man of the tournament, which was given to Joe Costello for his 2 tries in the tournament that were crucial for us winning and also his performance in attack and defence. Special mention goes to Ethan O’Loughlin who was just as influential in us winning the tournament.

Special mention also goes to Jordan Rankinwoodhouse and Pete de Klein who made their 50th caps for the team, congratulations guys!

It was a fantastic effort from the boys, and shown how far the boys have come since last year. This was the final game of the season and a great way to end the season in which we only lost 1 game this season. Thank you for the effort the lads have put in at training and in games. Thank you also to all the supporters who have come down and supported us this season and thank you to the physio’s who have also been there to make sure that the players are ok.