Longlevens welcomed high-flying Cleve to Longford Lane with renewed belief, returning to full strength for the first time in several months and confident of causing an upset against their top-two opponents.
The home side made a dream start and stunned Cleve with three early scores. The opening try came from Isaac Meredith, who finished a sweeping move to the left after a beautifully timed pass from Kory Holman-Jones. Meredith showed real pace, chipped ahead, regathered, and touched down in style, with Brad Wilkins adding the conversion for a 7–0 lead.
Wilkins extended the advantage soon after with a well-struck penalty, making it 10–0, before Longlevens struck again in sensational fashion. Steve Phillips burst through the middle from inside his own half, beat the covering defence with a composed dummy, and went in under the posts to give Longlevens a deserved 17–0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes.
Cleve responded as a top side should, weathering the early storm and scoring two well-worked tries to reduce the gap. At half time, Longlevens still held the advantage, 17–14.
The hosts started the second half strongly, with Wilkins once again accurate from the tee to push the lead out to 20–14. Longlevens defended bravely, but on the hour mark Cleve powered over to edge in front for the first time at 21–20.
Longlevens pushed hard for a winning score, but their hopes were dashed late on when Cleve scored from a lineout that appeared not straight to most inside the ground, turning the match decisively. A late Cleve penalty sealed the result and also denied Longlevens a deserved losing bonus point, with the final score finishing at 31–20 to the visitors.
Despite the disappointment, this was a hugely encouraging performance from a more settled Longlevens side. With confidence growing and key players back on the field, the Griffins will take heart from this display and can expect to start turning tight matches like this into victories in the weeks to come.
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