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On a lovely sunny afternoon at
Blackwell Meadows, Rugby Lions won this hard fought game with the last
kick of the match to keep their promotion hopes alive and send
Darlington into the relegation zone. As in the corresponding fixture at
Webb Ellis Road earlier in the season, Darlington’s one and only ploy is
the rolling maul and although this proved ineffective at Rugby, where
they lost 54-7 it was a different matter in this match and they must
have enjoyed at least 70% of possession and territorial advantage.
The game did not start well for
the Lions when they lost Paul Thompson to the sin-bin for a deliberate
knock-on and the home team were soon on the scoreboard with a penalty
converted by Charlie Rayner. Worse was to follow when Matt Goode had to
leave the field with a badly cut and suspected broken thumb. Michael
Rust came on to replace Matt and immediately had a huge impact with two
storming runs from his own half which led to tries for Toby Handley and
Ade Hales who had just got the nod in the starting line-up ahead of him.
Toby’s try was converted by James Hawken to give the Lions a 3-12 lead.
Although the home side were
dominating possession, the Lions backs always looked far more
penetrating with what little ball they had. Matt Goode somewhat
surprisingly returned to the fray with a strapped up thumb to replace
Rust who had certainly made his mark.
Half Time: - Darlington 3 Rugby
Lions 12
The second half began in a
similar fashion to the first with Darlington hogging the ball and
putting the Lions under severe pressure up front. A couple of penalty
kicks from Rayner reduced Lion’s lead and the momentum was all with the
home side.
Matt Goode eventually had to
leave the field to be replaced again by Rust who went on to the wing
with Wareing moving to outside centre
On a rare excursion into home
territory, following a powerful run by Tim Douglas, Toby Handley scored
a typical opportunist try when he spotted the gap and darted though
unopposed from the base of a ruck. Hawks converted for a more
comfortable lead of 9-19.
Sam Overton and Wilf Barclay
replaced Matt Davies and Nick Sharpe respectively.
The pressure from the home side
was incessant and eventually told when hooker Oselton claimed the
touchdown following a rolling maul. The conversion was missed to leave
the score at 14-19. The visitors were defending desperately now, and
another score from the home pack looked inevitable. Lions held out until
the 76th minute but the try came from yet another rolling
maul to tie the scores at 19-19 and with a conversion to possibly win
the match. Rayner pushed the kick to the right of the posts however, and
the draw looked the likely result.
The dramatic twist then came
when Darlington were penalised for a high tackle on James Hawken. The
distance of 40 metres looked to be on the edge of Hawken’s range, but
when the referee told him that this was the final play, he had no
alternative but to go for goal. As the kick sailed over the bar and the
final whistle went, the relief amongst the players and supporters was
tangible. Darlington’s players must be gutted at losing this match, and
with ex Rugby Lion Jon Boden racking up the points in Leicester Lion’s
amazing win over Bladon, this only puts more pressure on them to avoid
relegation. |
