Not to be out done, Toby Handley replied in a similar vein, and although he couldn’t make the line, the support was there in the form of locks James Wadey and Neil Underhill, (yes Flapper was dragged out of retirement to bolster Lion’s depleted numbers!!) who touched down under the posts for a try, converted by James Hawken. Dom Wareing then went on a typical run and fed Warren Coles on the left who looked favourite to score, but he was bundled into touch two metres short.

Lions stepped up a gear in the second half and Lloyd Saunders knocked the ball on with the try line beckoning. Lions turned the scrum and pinched the ball and a powerful run by Tristan Wati enabled Toby Handley to burst through on the blind side to dive over, but the try was disallowed for a foot on the touchline. From the throw-in, Lions got a maul rolling from about ten metres, which proved unstoppable. I was unable to identify the scorer, but Hawks converted for 7-14 lead. With Alex Nash on for Saunders and Matt Davies for Overton, Lion’s pack was beginning to gain the upper hand, but a lack of cohesion in the back line, led to a simple interception try under the posts for Ian Dixon against the run of play. Snook converted to tie the scores at 14-14.

With the home side struggling to provide good ball up front, James Hawken gave Rugby the lead with a penalty for not releasing. Park responded well and put Rugby under some pressure and were rewarded with a penalty in front of the posts to tie the score at 17-17. A string of penalty decisions then went in the home side’s favour and eventually they opted for a kick at goal, although this was pushed wide of the posts.

Quick ball from a ruck on the home 22 enabled Glenn Bond to spin out a long pass, and although it fell short, the ball reached Dom on the bounce, who found James Hawken, then replacement Michael Rust, and he was able to skin the defence on the outside for an excellent try. Hawken again converted to re-instate Rugby’s seven point lead.

With time running out, it looked as though Rugby were going to achieve another away victory, but that was denied when home fly-half Lewis Farrar broke through to score a lovely try under the posts, and with kicker Snook having been replaced, converted himself to tie the match.