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Lions almost conspired to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as they
conceded 3 tries in the last 15 minutes of this seesaw game that displayed
their attacking prowess and their defensive frailties in equal measure.
Lions gave a start to Sam Stoop at fly half, with Jon Boden moving to
partner Pete Roberts in the centre. Gareth Collins returned on the wing
following his strained hamstring. In the forwards, the only change from
Rosslyn Park was Alex Nash starting at flanker, with John-Paul Filler
moving to the bench.
Lions got off to a dream start as Sam Stoop returned the Newbury kick off
60 metres down the touchline. Although Gary Leadbeater managed to take
the ball, a foot in touch meant a Lions’ lineout. A long throw was taken
(gasp!!), and a good drive followed (you cannot be serious!!), for the
pack to drive Pig Brittin over with barely 2 minutes on the clock. Jon
Boden added the conversion. ( 7 – 0 )
Undaunted, Newbury put their own points on the board as Fraser Jones
slotted over a penalty when Lions infringed from the kick off. ( 7 – 3 ) Gareth
Collins soon showed his fitness with a determined run to return a long
Newbury clearance. When Newbury were penalised, a quick tap saw Lions
driving down the left. As the ball was moved infield, a long pass had
Rhidian Jones scattering all before him as he hit the ball at pace. When
the Newbury defence at last managed to stop him, Eddie Simkiss was on hand
to take a short pass and crash over. Jon Boden missed the relatively
simple conversion. ( 12 – 3 )
Again Newbury made an instant reply with another Fraser Jones penalty as
Lions’ indiscipline saw a punch being thrown. Tariq Tesco decided not to
issue a yellow card, but did move the kick forward by 10 metres for some
unknown reason. Still, it was a fair exchange in most Lions supporters’
eyes. ( 12 – 6 )
Worse was to come for Lions as a long throw failed to find the mark
(normal service resumed!!), and Jo Czerpak sliced through a non-existent
Lions’ defence. The cover eventually caught him, but a penalty ensued for
not rolling away from the tackle. Fraser Jones demonstrated that his
kicking from hand was as good as his placekicking as he planted the
penalty deep into the Lions’ 22. The take was good and the drive was on.
However, this is an area that Lions have improved on in recent weeks, and
the charge for the line was held. Unfortunately, Lions can take little
consolation from this as some woeful tackling then allowed Mark Foster to
burst clear for a very preventable score. The ever-reliable Fraser Jones
tagged on the conversion. ( 12 – 13)
Lions were not behind for long. A beautiful break by Dan South, who is
proving an extremely useful acquisition, looked to have been smothered,
but the scrum half managed to flip the ball out of the tackle for the
supporting Pete Roberts to gallop over. Jon Boden again missed the
conversion. ( 17 – 13 )
Now
it was Newbury’s turn to threaten, but 2 promising situations were lost as
final passes did not go to hand. However, they did add to their tally as
yet another Lions’ penalty gave Fraser Jones the opportunity to slot his 4th
successive kick. ( 17 – 16 )
Fraser Jones continued to add to his points tally from yet another penalty
for offside under the Lions’ posts. ( 17 – 19 )
5
minutes to go to half time. Could Lions’ regain the lead before the
break. Of course they could!! Another long pass from Sam Stoop reached
Steve Smith lurking at outside centre. Good hands by the second row saw
Spencer Brown with some space to move. The wing made ground before
chipping over the last line of defence and winning the race to the
touchdown. At last Jon Boden found his kicking boots (they’d been on his
feet all of the time!!) to slot a lovely conversion on the stroke of half
time. ( 24 – 19 )
Half time
Lions 24 Newbury 19
Lions showed their intent from the off with a series of probing raids ably
lead by some powerful running from Steve Smith. A long Newbury clearance
kick was well taken by Lloyd Warner on half way, and a long pass saw
Spencer Brown with the ball in his hands. 50 metres to go, and the whole
Newbury team between him and the try line…….but did that deter Bomber
Brown?? Not on your life. A little bit of magic running, reminiscent of
Electric Eddie, saw the wing dance through a bemused defence to dot down
for a brilliant individual score. Jon Boden’s conversion looked to be
going wide, but curved in to add the extra points. Bend it like Boden!!
(31 – 19 )
Newbury now brought on Andy Duke as replacement for lock Pete Taylor. The
replacement must have been at least 8 feet 12 tall. He was so high he
should have had a red flashing light on his scrumcap to warn low flying
aircraft. Lions retaliated by replacing the comparatively diminutive Pig
Brittin with the equally diminutive Matt Davies.
A
series of lively exchanges resulted in a midfield “brawl”, following which
Tom Holloway, the Newbury wing, was despatched to the sin bin on the
intervention of the touch judge. Newbury looked to be making light of the
man short as they drove downfield, but a big hit in the shadow of the
Lions’ posts saw the ball go loose. Lions were on it in a flash, and the
ball was moved wide to Spencer Brown who found the gap and raced away to
cover 80 metres to score his hat trick. Jon Boden added the conversion.
( 38 – 19 )
Better was to come as Newbury drove in again. In a repeat of the previous
action, the ball was spilled again in the face of some devastating Lions’
tackling. This time Spencer Brown was on hand to sweep the ball up and
release Gareth Collins. The young wing showed a clean pair of heels to
outpace the Newbury defence and dive over for another breakaway try. This
time Jon Boden was wide with his conversion attempt. ( 43 – 19 )
15
minutes to go and Lions had a 24-point advantage. They looked to be
heading for an easy victory……but Lions’ supporters know better, and the
team did not disappoint!!
Another midfield punch up saw another yellow card, this time for Lions’
Sam Stoop following a long conference by that well-known group, Tariq
Tesco and his Touches. Lions took the opportunity to bring off Spencer
Brown (why?!?!?!?!) who was replaced by Dave (Kyoto Inoue for the
uninitiated).
Newbury immediately made Lions pay for their indiscretion as a big forward
drive sucked in the defence, leading to an easy score for Gary Leadbeater
as the ball was moved wide. Fraser Jones at last missed a kick as his
conversion sailed wide. ( 43 – 24 )
No
worries……..still a 19-point gap and only 10 minutes to go. Wrong on both
counts!! Back stormed Newbury, and another big forward drive opened the
gap for number 8 Dave Thorpe to stride through for the try. Fraser Jones
added the conversion, and Newbury were suddenly back in the game when they
should have been dead and buried. ( 43 – 31 )
Lions faithful Sheddites were now getting worried, and justifiably so.
Woefully weak tackling allowed centre Mark Foster to burst through from
his own half. Excellent finishing saw him evade the cover to go over for
a lovely try. The conversion attempt was wide, but Newbury were now
sensing that they could win this one……and the Shed soothsayer was telling
everyone that Lions were going to loose this one!!
With the 40 minutes up, Lions breathed a sigh of relief as Newbury knocked
on from the kick off……..but referee Tariq Tesco had other ideas (you just
can’t trust these cheap Sainsbury’s watches!!). 3 minutes of added time,
and still we played on. 5 minutes gone, and still no sign of the game
ending. Finally after 9 minutes of added time (don’t ask me what for),
referee Tariq Tesco finally made the connection between whistle and mouth,
and the Shed breathed a collective sigh of relief that Lions had emerged
with both points.
Final result:
Lions 43 Newbury 36
Don's musings
A
creditable victory for Lions, but how different things could have been if
they hadn’t scored two glorious breakaway tries.
A
victory……yes……but still there are things that need sorting. The penalty
count in the first half was way too high, allowing Newbury to keep pace
with Lions’ free scoring. The second half defence when Lions were down to
14 men was nothing short of woeful. Worrying on the back of the poor
defensive show last week at Rosslyn Park. Lions will certainly have to
stiffen their resolve if they are too keep out teams in the higher reaches
of the Division.
Still, there were some positives today. Sam Stoop did well at fly half,
but I feel that the combination works better with Jon Boden at fly half.
I know he had a bad day at the office at Rosslyn Park, but the number 10
has been nothing but positive in his play or his attitude.
And
what about Dan South?? Good pass…..an eye for the break……lightening
speed……just think what he could do behind a pack going forward!! I don’t
want to sound uncharitable to the pack that worked its socks off today.
However, the lineout must improve…..and inevitably will with the return of
recognised locks Chris Jones and Steve Stewart. However, it is the scrum
that is the worry as we constantly seem to be driven back on our own put
in, giving scrappy possession, or worse still, no possession at all!!.
Still, a win’s a win, and Lions must look to consolidate this next week at
Esher, but this is never an easy fixture and Lions will do well to
continue their winning ways. However, this is what they must do as they
strive to continue to move away from the relegation zone. As we have said
before, the players are certainly capable, but they must put in
performances sustained over an 80-minute period rather than the flashes
that we are seeing at the moment. |
