Longlevens RFC

Match report for by Zack Fisher

On Saturday 18th March we faced Walcot Warriors away in Bath. The result last time we played in January was 21-10 to Longlevens but there was a lot to work on after that game as a lot of chances went begging in that game.

Longlevens’ training session on Wednesday was one of the best that the lads have put in, and that intensity was shown from the kick off. Walcot managed to get the ball wide after kick off, but after good defence from Longlevens, the ball was knocked on by Walcot. This lead to a scrum in which Longlevens managed to make a break and got into the Walcot 22. After some phases, Fullback, Zack Fisher popped the ball to Reece Joyner who broke through a few tackles then an offload back to Zack, who went over for the first try of the game. The conversion was missed, which was the theme of the game as neither team managed to convert any conversions.

The next try came shortly after kick off, as the kick off didn’t go 10, Longlevens took the scrum option, and after the pick at the base by Jake Fisher, the ball made it’s way to Shane Daley who went round his man and offloaded to Zack who grubbered the ball past the Dan Hine, Walcott fullback, and in the foot race to take the ball, Dan obstructed Zack to stop him diving on the ball over the try line. The ref then gave a penalty try. Longlevens were now 12-0. Longlevens scored again shortly later, after some good offloads. Jez Wilson was tackled just before the line out, and after some quick ruck ball by Paul Watson, Alex Wade went over and scored. 17-0 now to Longlevens.

Longlevens carried on their dominant performance with 2 more tries coming soon after each other. The first was off a 5 metre scrum from Longlevens, Rich Morris offloaded for Paul Watson to go over and score. The next try was after some good attacking play from Longlevens, Shane did a DuPont to Penaud-esque pass to Jez Wilson to go over and score in the corner. Score at half time was 27-0 to Longlevens.

After half time, Walcot started to get opportunities as the intensity Longlevens had kept up for the first half started to drop slightly. This allowed Walcot to get the next 2 scores. Walcot got the ball wide to Morgan, who was voted Walcot Man of the Match last time we played, managed to outpace the covering defence and go over and score. The next try was after a penalty given away by Longlevens, Walcot opted for a scrum and managed to break the longlevens defence and go over and score. Score was now 27-10 to Longlevens.

Longlevens did get the next score as Rhys Costello managed to break through the Walcot defence to go over and score. However Walcot then replied with another try of their own, with there second row making a break down the wing and breaking a few tackles to go in and score. After this try, Walcot were knocking on the door and were looking likely to score, however a great turnover by Ben Gardiner gave Longlevens the chance to exit. This lead to Longlevens working the ball up the field and managed to get the ball wide to Sam Galliers who cut back inside to go over and score. Walcot nearly scored again at the end of the game but good defence by Longlevens meant the ball was knocked on by Walcot, leading to the final whistle to be blown. FT score was 37-15 to Longlevens

Thank you to Walcot for the game and looking forward to returning at the end of April for the Mixed Ability Cup.

Man of the Match: One of the only weaknesses in the performance by Longlevens was our line out as a few went awry however Andy Nicholls tidied these up and managed to break through the Walcot defence multiple times.

This result meant Longlevens are now at 7 wins out of 8 games this season, showing that they are now one of the teams to beat. This is a testament to the commitment and effort the lads are putting in training.