Rugby Lions comfortably reached the semi-final of the Warwickshire cup despite losing Matt Goode who received a red card following a mass brawl after only nine minutes. An abrasive confrontation up front was always on the cards and Rugby’s pack stood their ground manfully with the front row in particular not giving an inch.

After a fairly uneventful opening eight minutes during which Glenn Bond missed a penalty attempt, all hell broke loose following a set scrum. The Bedworth hooker stood up and whacked Will Jones and this started the fisticuffs with virtually every player involved. After sanity returned, the referee showed the instigator a yellow card and Matt Goode a red. With so many punches thrown it is difficult to pick out one player, but maybe Matt’s was the most accurate and hardest.

When the dust had settled Bedworth were even awarded the penalty! After bemoaning the lack of "neutral" touch judges in the league this year, today we had one who clearly wanted to be referee with virtually all of his interventions going in the favour of the away side.

Despite being a man short the home side began to turn the screw and Glen Carson picked up from the base of the scrum to score comfortably. Glenn Bond narrowly missed the conversion.

From a throw-in on Bedworth’s 5metre line, Danny Facer drove over for Lion’s second try, converted by Glenn Bond to make it 12-0. Lion’s lineout was excellent, only losing one in the whole game.

It was one-way traffic now and following some storming runs from Ben Everton and Ricky Hislop the classy James Hawken ghosted over for a try under the posts converted by Glenn Bond.

Bedworth responded with some pressure of their own but Rugby held them out fairly comfortably.

The second half began with Lions maintaining possession and a long pass from Ricky Hislop to Hawks saw him draw in two players to set Glenn Bond free to score in the left corner after two minutes. Glenn converted his own try superbly from the touch-line to make the game totally safe at 26-0. Despite being a man short in the backs, the home side had all the class and looked the only side to threaten the try line.

The impressive Will Jones was then given a yellow card following a touch judge intervention for apparently stamping on his opposite number. The Bedworth bench were incensed that this was not also red.

At the next scrum Adam Bond came on to replace Nick Sharpe to maintain Lion’s front row.

With Rugby down to 13 players, Bedworth applied some pressure and left wing Dean Chittem apparently just touched down in the left corner before being bundled into touch. The conversion attempt was missed.

It was now that you would expect fitness levels to count but to their credit Bedworth kept competing until the final whistle.

When Will Jones and Nick Sharpe returned to the fray Lions scored immediately when Ricky Hislop ran clean though Bedworth’s defence from inside his own 22 to feed Hawks on the half way line for another under the posts converted try. Rugby 33 Bedworth 5.

Straight from the restart Glen Carson and Hawks combined to put Glenn Bond clear down the left wing. As he stepped inside the last defender a try looked certain until he was felled by a straight-arm tackle across his neck. Amazingly only a warning was issued to the offender – seemingly one of many "final" warnings issued during the game. Following the resultant penalty and lineout, Rugby won a penalty under Bedworth’s posts. Alex Stajka took a quick tap and fed Sam Overton who in turn passed to Andy Regan (who had just replaced Tommy Turner) and then Glen Carson to score his second try of the afternoon. Glenn Bond’s conversion attempt drifted just wide.

This was a committed performance by the Lions who competed tirelessly and worked hard for each other despite being a man short for most of the game. Whilst the backs were always going to be a class above the opposition, the rather makeshift looking pack were excellent with all of them playing really well. A big bonus for the team and supporters was the return of Ricky Hislop in the centre who played his first full game for 9 months after his extended injury.

Bedworth RUFC have never been on the Lions fixture list as they have always been a junior club. Fixtures against Rugby FC, always regarded as a senior club, would have been something of a mismatch. Had they been within Rugby District like OLs, BTH and Newbold, no doubt there would have been the occasional game played as an opener for the season.

It is only in cup competitions that these one-off games occur and for this one there is already a precedent, as the two clubs played each other in the semi-final of the Warwickshire Cup in the 1987/88 season, when the Lions were cup winners. It having been a semi-final, the game was played at the neutral ground of Leamington RFC in February and the Lions won a closely contested game 19-9. Rugby fielded a strong side but allowed Bedworth to draw them into a ‘no holds barred’ forwards struggle. They eventually rose above this and made better use of their superior backs to win comfortably and set up a final against Stoke Old Boys at Coundon Road two months later.

The Lions team was: 15 Ian Dodson; 14 Eddie Saunders (T), 13Stuart House, 12 Mark Palmer (T), 11 Chris Howard (3PC); 10 Richard Pell, 9 Dave Bishop; 1 Ian Heywood, 2 Steve Brain, 3 Geoff Smith, 4 Geoff Durand, 5 Phil Bowman, 6 Neil Leeming, 7 Mal Malik, 8 John Jenkins.

Bedworth play in Midlands 3 West (South) where they finished in eighth place last season and currently hold sixth place, two behind Hereford, who the Lions beat, at Hereford, in the third round of the Powergen Intermediate Cup at the end of last year. Unlike OLs, Bedworth have never played at Webb Ellis Road and there are no known player links.

No doubt it will turn out to be the usual gritty sort of cup game, but it would seem to make good sense for the Lions to try to impose their style on the proceedings and to take control at the outset. The one thing one dreads with this sort of game is players getting injured when things get rumbustious, especially with exceedingly important league games to follow on the succeeding two Saturdays. Please proceed with care!