On yet another damp and dismal Saturday afternoon, Lions looked as though they were going to pick up where their rampant pack left off against Manchester last week.  Alas it was a case of “after the feast…….the famine”.  For the first 10 minutes poor Grasshoppers must have wondered what hit them as wave after wave of Lions forwards tore into them.  Only a series of penalties for a variety of infringements frustrated the Lions.  Each time Lions opted to kick for touch, each time the ball was won cleanly, each time the position was set for a score………but each time determined tackling from Grasshoppers, aided and abetted by the all too familiar mistakes from Lions, allowed Preston to survive a torrid opening.  Sadly for Lions it was the same old story of plenty of roar, but not enough bite.

The first time Grasshoppers managed to retain any form of decent possession, a long raking kick to the corner soon had the Shed’s resident soothsayer muttering his cry of “woe, woe, and thrice times woe”.  His premonitions of doom looked to be coming true as Grasshoppers enjoyed a brief spell of ascendancy resulting in a penalty in a very kickable position.  The force must have been with Lions, as the Grasshoppers full back pulled his kick wide.

Our soothsayer’s rantings looked to be coming to nought when Mark Jaznikowski made a telling break, and a scoring opportunity was only lost by deliberate killing of the ball by Grasshoppers which resulted in a yellow card for their wing forward, Rob Parkinson.  With Lions’ pack in the ascendancy and Grasshoppers now a man short, the omens looked good for Lions.  They opted to scrum the penalty, but a knock on at the base of the scrum left the Shed faithful frustrated once again.

Lions maintained the pressure, and after Barry Muir had almost put Rob Porteus over in the corner, Grasshoppers’ defence was finally breached, much to the relief and delight of the Shed.  Sam Tovo, who was having a storming afternoon, broke the first line of defence, and when he was held he stood up well in the tackle to slip the ball to the supporting Rob Field who crashed over by the posts.  Barry Muir duly obliged with the conversion.    

As in previous weeks, instead of killing sides off early in the game, Lions were allowing Grasshoppers to come more into the game, but they never really threatened a score.   That is until Lions gifted them a try.  Barry Muir, who looked totally out of sorts throughout, took too long over a clearance kick, allowing Glyn Dewhirst charge it down and fall on the loose ball over the Lions line for a score.  The try proved to be too far out for the conversion to be added.

Now Grasshoppers tails were up and they kept Lions under pressure upto the half time whistle, but without really creating any clear cut chances.  Several towering kicks tested Lions, but each time the ever dependable Matt Coley was equal to the task with some superb catches.  The referee finally blew for the end of a very disappointing first half by Lions.  All the early promise and by far the majority of possession saw Lions enjoying a very slender 2 points lead.

Half time:

Lions    7            Preston Grasshoppers            5

Lions kicked off the second half with the wind at their backs.  The game plan was obviously to kick to the corners and set the platform for the forwards, who were enjoying total domination in the lines, to take and drive.  Unfortunately, both half backs were having a nightmare of a game, and all too often kicks went straight to an opponent or directly into touch.  Lions play in recent weeks has been criticised as one dimensional, and this again proved to be the case in this game.  With the forwards retaining the ball well and sucking in the Grasshoppers defence, pushing the ball wide was all that was called for.  But time and again the ball was simply turned back inside and the Grasshoppers’ defence was able to stifle any progress.

On top of this, Lions’ play was becoming more and more disjointed.  Moves were called but no-one seemed to know what was happening.  It looked at times as if Lions were playing together for the first time, rather than being an outfit coached from the beginning of the season by a former international. 

Grasshoppers were now sensing that the game was there to be won, and started to exert pressure on Lions.  Paul Shadbolt  ( below) resorted to kicking the ball from a ruck, and was duly sin binned. 

More pressure from Lions followed, but the frustration and tension in the Shed grew as chances were scorned with wrong options or silly mistakes.  All that Lions had for their pressure was another penalty by Barry Muir.

Full time was fast approaching with Lions only five points ahead.  Another penalty to them on the half way line.  Surely a kick to the corner and a take and drive was called for, even if only to retain possession and keep Grasshoppers in their own half.  Inexplicably Barry Muir was asked to kick for goal, and as expected, even with the following wind, the kick fell well short.  Grasshoppers were now desparate to get into Lions’ half to grab the match winning score, but thankfully that honour fell to Oscar Wingham.  As Lions continued to exert pressure, Oscar was half stopped, but literally managed to crawl over for the all important try.  This was just reward for a typical hard afternoon’s graft.  Barry Muir converted to a massive sigh of relief from the Shed.

But Grasshoppers were not yet finished, and mounted a final attack.  This was stemmed with a hit from Sam Tovo that reverberated around the ground, followed by a massive 70 metre clearance kick by Gary Becconsall.  At the final whistle, whilst deserving the win, Lions were flattered by the scoreline against spirited but limited opponents.

Final result:

Lions    20            Preston Grasshoppers            8

This was yet another disappointing and frustrating afternoon for Lions players and supporters alike.  From the Shed the undoubted ability is there for all to see, but questions have to be asked about coaching and game plans.  We may not have the best backs in the league, and admittedly they have been plagued by injuries, but surely with a coach of the calibre of Paul Turner they should be capable of producing more.  Today was a perfect example, where the pack recycled the ball well, tying in the defence, and with Eddie being left with plenty of room wide out, simple quick ball along the backs was all that was needed.  But Eddie was left a virtual spectator all afternoon.  Sadly as a team we seem to be lacking cohesion, confidence, and clarity of thought.  There seems to be a fear of failure prevalent, especially amongst the backs.

Grasshoppers defended extremely well today, but offered limited opposition, and yet Lions were again incapable of turning pressure into points.  It is easy for the Shed to criticise, and at least we managed to win today in spite of our shortcomings, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to accept below par performances.  If we really are to be amongst the promotion contenders at the end of the season, someone needs to be welding the team into a well oiled machine, with every man knowing exactly where they, and each of their team mates, fit into the overall scheme of things.  That someone should be the coaches, but at the moment things do not seem to be working.  Let’s hope that whatever the issues are, they can be resolved in time for what looks to be an extremely tough game at Bracknell next week.