Longlevens RFC

Saturday 9^th March 2024 will go down in history as the day everything went wrong for Longlevens Rugby. Even before the week began, we were on the back foot in terms of selection, this being a re-arranged game meant many of the first team were away. That in itself wasn’t a massive issue given the strength in depth the club currently has, but still not an ideal start.

The main issue of the day came an hour before kick off as the coaches and management team were pulling into Old Reds. A phone call from Captain, Jed-Holman-Jones, informed us that the mini bus had broken down 20 minutes away on the Bristol Ring Road. Luckily our DoR, Andy Deacon, has not only done an advance driving course, but he also tells us he’s done one in crisis management, which came in handy as he made the decision to ask the players to organise Ubers to the club.

Around 30 minutes before the intended kick off time the players duly arrived via Uber and got themselves ready. A delayed KO was agreed and the warm up began successfully. The next issue to vex the team was a lack of water. Someone (sorry) forgot to put the water bottles on the bus so a quick trip to the bar to buy Old Reds out of mineral water solved that, with Big Mac’s mum also going to Tesco for more (thank you).

With all the hassles now behind them the players began the match. It was clear from the off that Old Reds had a bit about them and that it was going to be a difficult day. The scrum was creaking and being pushed about, this culminating in the first try of the day from a push over, 7-0. To their credit The Griffins dealt with it well and asserted some control over the game. An equalising try came soon after from Luke Stratford who finished well, 7-5.

Unfortunately, things then began to unravel. Luke Stratford had to leave the pitch and go to hospital with a nasty cut and Old Reds were going wide at every opportunity. The Longlevens defence was struggling to cover the field and three tries were scored before half time making the score 26-5.

Longlevens don’t lose very often so the players are always confident of a comeback. Mike Yorke scored a good try early on in the half to bring the score to 26-10 and offer some hope, however, soon after the Old Reds attack began to click again and they scored four tries without reply, 52-10.

With the game now gone attention turned to securing an important bonus point that would really help in the race for the title. The players were a credit to themselves in the last 15 minutes and rallied to ensure this was achieved. Ollie Deacon went over from short range before Josh Stratton powered over to secure the all-important point. Old Reds closed the scoring to make the final score 59-24.

This was obviously not the result we wanted and any loss hurts, but considering all the things that went wrong pre-game and with so many players being away, a losing bonus point was a great result in the end. This means that mathematically Longlevens need 10 more points from three games to secure promotion, but a win away at Cinderford, alongside those 10 points will still secure the league title, and that is very much the aim.