Rugby Lions U9s v Stratford

This was a game that the Rugby Lions’ players will want to forget. Playing away at an almost arctic Stratford Rugby Club, the Rugby Lions were beaten by the weather. The elements restricted the Rugby Lions to only one of the planned three games before the fixture was abandoned.

The Lions showed determination and resolve against a very well organised and motivated Stratford side. In spite of the conditions, Caitlan Revan showed strong running and ferocious tackling. Matty Tildesley was equally skilled as his sniping runs made good yardage every time he had the ball. This was rewarded with the only Lions’ try.

Jamie Carwardine regularly opened up the Stratford defence but was not always able to link with his support to press home the advantage. After one particularly powerful run, Jamie was deprived of a try when he was pushed into touch just before the line.

Dominic Deery, Kieran Lorimer, Jordi Pocknell, Oliver Lee, Oran Aske-Haley, Ran Scott, Robert Jupp and Zak Wright all battled hard against the elements right up to the end of the game. But in the final minute of the game, Stratford sneaked over in the corner to snatch a 6:1 win.

Rugby Lions U11s v Stratford

On what was an extremely cold, wet and windy Sunday morning a special word of praise must go out to all the players who turned out to play, not only, a well drilled and established Stratford side, but also the terrible conditions. Jordan Macdonald, Jason Moyse, Kaeden O’Neill, Aaron Martin, Jack Swift, Oliver Beight, Kezia Bull, Hugh Deery, Concobhar Jolliffe-Grimes, Jordan Murray, Zanesh Phillips and Jack Worrall-Soper and a warm welcome to new players, Lucas Gregory and a returning Toby Gregory.

Rugby Lions 10 Stratford 15

A fairly tight first half of forward play saw Lions unluckily go behind to 3 Stratford tries before, scrum half, O’Neill scored a magnificent solo try just before the half time break. The second half continued much as the first half with much of the play with the forwards. Most of the pressure came from the Lions pack as they penned Stratford into their half for most of the second period, O’Neill once again scoring a superb solo try. From the restart Lions again put much pressure on the Stratford pack but were unable to score again before the final whistle.

Rugby Lions 5 Stratford 30

A second Stratford team came out and played some very slick attacking Rugby which the Lions tried valiantly to defend against, but were undone by 4 well created tries. Lions came very close to the Stratford try line on several occasions, Macdonald and Swift especially unlucky, before Martin went on a dancing solo run to go over for the Lions. The second half was also dominated by a running Stratford side but thanks to some last ditch tackling by T Gregory and Swift managed to only concede 2 more tries.

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Rugby Lions U13s - 53 points  v   Old Silhillians U13s (Development) - 0 points Old Sills Development battled bravely throughout but lacked the pace and experience to trouble Rugby who welcomed Kiron Philips back from injury and made light of the conditions to run in 9 unanswered tries in the wind and rain at Webb Ellis Road.  The bitter cold made handling difficult and both sides were disrupted by injuries but probably due to the weather, Rugby’s backs occasionally lost their alignment and developed a tendency to run back into trouble still nevertheless, Rugby still put in a strong performance and in the end were very worthy winners for the seventh consecutive match.  Wil Tuite-Dalton, Stitch Loydall and Daniel Martin scored two tries each whilst Kiron Phillips, Kyle Webster and Zac Baldwin scored one each.  Harry Parsons and Daniel Martin shared the kicking duties to convert 4 of the tries.  Tom Reeve was deservedly voted ‘Man of the Match’ for his never say die attitude and his sustained effort. 

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Rugby Lions U14s – 29 points v Old Coventrians - 5 points

In what could only be described as torrential weather conditions the Lions came away with a creditable victory over OC's. The Lions were quickly on the attack from the kick off when Greg Clark at No10 used the wind to kick deep into OC's territory forcing them to conceed a 5m scrum. From this "G" Matthews picked up and drove over the try line assisted by several of the Lions forward’s. The 2nd Lions try came soon afterwards when the Lions defence closed OC's down, forcing the error. Jack Riley at center fly hacked through and picked up his own kick only to be hauled down inches short of the try line , but "G" Matthews was on hand in support to score. OC's struggled to get out of their own half as Rugby kept them penned in with some strong tackles from Oliver Machon, Jack Riley, and Tom Findley. Another try was added just before half time by Jake Wagstaff taking a short pop pass from his scrum half, which was converted by Greg Clarke.
The 2nd half started brightly for OC's when their dangerous centre broke through 2 tackles to score, which gave the Lions a wake up call. This just spurred the Lions on when Ed Scott playing out on the wing picked up a kick through one handed and left the OC's defence in his wake to score under the posts, with Clarke converting. Jack Riley finished off OC's with a typical Riley try using his power and pace to out run the defence and score out wide. Another good team performance from the Under 14s , showing great team spirit in very trying conditions.

Rugby Lions U16s – 30 points v Harbury - 0 points

An early try from Grant Gordon set the Lions away on a bitterly cold and wet day. Good early pressure and clearing out from the pack allowed him to score untouched in the corner. This was followed by a determined break from Harrington who broke two tackles to score in the opposite corner. Harbury fought back hard and much time was spent with the forwards battling for possession of a ball which resembled a bar of soap. Ted Spiby deputised as a Harbury replacement following the loss of their hooker before centre Jack Tompkins dived in to score before half time.
Ainsley Wileman replaced Spiby for Harbury as the second half started promisingly again for the Lions. A second phase attack set free the backs and Harrington dived on his own chip ahead over the advancing Harbury defence for a second try. Gordon then followed suit with his second following several phases of possession. Finally, as Harbury tired, Sam Bennett rounded off the scoring by bludgeoning his way over to finish the game on a high note for the Lions.