On a bitterly cold and blustery afternoon at
Broadway, Rugby Lions just managed to grind out a victory over a
committed Walsall outfit who were desperate for the points in their
fight to avoid relegation. With the home team number 8 receiving a red
card on the stroke of half time Lions made surprisingly hard work of
defending their slender lead in the second half facing a stiff wind.
Lions began well with Ricky Hislop slipping the ball
inside to James Hawken who ghosted through the defence to score under
the posts. Glenn Bond converted for a 7-0 lead. Walsall responded
strongly and went over in the right corner to reduce the deficit to 7-5.
Glenn Bond then converted a penalty before filling in as scrum half at a
ruck near the home try line and picking up and finding a gap to crash
over. Glenn hit the post with the conversion attempt.
Back came Walsall who went over for another try
following a chip through from their fullback. Lions hit back almost
immediately following a thrilling passage of play from their backs which
led to Hawks scoring his second try of the game in the left corner.
Glenn Bond failed with the conversion to make the score 20-10 to the
Lions.
On the stroke of half time another storming run from
Hawks was halted on the home 22, but the ball was flipped to the
supporting Alex Nash to score under the uprights. Glenn converted to end
the first half (or so we thought). The referee called across the Walsall
No.8 Rod Dickson and stunned the sparse crowd by issuing him with a red
card. Apparently the offence was for a soccer style tackle on Hawks.
Half Time:- Walsall 10 Rugby Lions 27
With a 17 point lead and the opposition down to 14
men you would think that the second half would be a fairly comfortable
affair for the Lions, despite facing the wind. How wrong can you be.
Walsall came out fired up and used the conditions well to pin the
visitors in their own half for the majority of the rest of the game.
They scored two early tries to put the Lions under extreme pressure and
the travelling supporters a trifle edgy.
In previous seasons, the Lions would have probably
folded at this stage but this team are made of sterner stuff and
gradually fought their way back into the game.
With only two points between the sides, James Wadey,
who had replaced the injured Danny Facer early in the game, picked the
ball up from a ruck and drove over the line to give Lions a bit of
breathing space. Glenn Bond again hit a post with his conversion.
At the final whistle the supporters breathed a sigh
of relief and headed for the warmth of the bar to contemplate what might
have been.
With only three league games left, the Lions
realistically only need to win one of them. Let’s hope they don’t put
the supporters through too much more torture in their quest for National
League status.
