Longlevens RFC

Longlevens made the short trip across the city to Old Cents last Saturday and came away with a very satisfying bonus point win.

The Griffins were made to work for the win by a very determined Old Cents team, but had too much for them in the end.

The weather was brighter than the last few weeks meaning the ball could be thrown about a bit and this played into Longlevens hands. The first try came after only five minutes with the ball being moved wide to full back Isaac Meredith, who powered over in the corner, conversion not kicked (a theme for the day), 0-5.

Old Cents came back into the game through Longlevens mistakes and their try came as a result of this, briefly taking the lead at 7-5.

Order was restored with a second try from Meredith, this time wide on the left, again not converted, 7-10.

The Griffins just couldn’t pull away and weren’t really making the best of the chances on offer. Jack Cuthbert was running hard at every opportunity and he got his rewards with a try on the half hour to make the score 7-15, the missed conversions keeping Cents in touch.

Longlevens then started to give away penalties at the breakdown and Cents were able to capitalise by kicking to the corner. Their lineout wasn’t functioning so they made use of throwing to the prop at the front. It didn’t seem to travel the requisite five metres, but the ref waved play on and they manged to squeeze over to make the game close at 14-15 at half time.

Strong words were had at the break and this seemed to spur the Griffins on. Old Cents had banked on the slope in the second half to aid their cause, but Longlevens defence was resolute and the half finished 14-30 and scoreless for them.

The second half scores came by the way of a three pointer from Brad Wilkins, who had found his kicking boots, and a try from replacement, Matt Fatica, who used good power to go over.

This was a satisfying win, and it’s always nice to win away at a local rival. There is more league action at Longford Lane next week as we host Swindon, before a week off, #UTFG.