Chineham 25-15 Hook & Odiham
The Lions came out on top in a ding dong local derby played in a mud bowl at HQ.
The Lions came out on top in a ding-dong local derby played in a mud bowl at HQ.
A strong start was emphasized when Jamie West somehow beat 4 men out wide to score after a quickly taken penalty. After some excellent tactical kicking from fly-half Matt Lingham, Adam Lincoln capitalized on a loose ball to scamper over for Chineham’s second try. The excellent George Young was next to score, finishing strongly out wide after great hands from the back line. The half finished with Hook and Odiham grabbing one back, despite some heroic goal-line defense from skipper Spencer Taylor, meaning Chineham led 15-5 at the break.
A scrappy start to the second half followed, with neither team able to grab a foothold until the visitors worked the ball wide well to crash over. With just 5 points in it, tensions were running high, and player/coach Dave Wheaton somehow managed to steam over from another great Lions set piece, Lincoln adding the extras from out wide to stretch the lead to 12 points. H & O hit straight back though, taking a succession of quick penalties to catch the Lions napping and score their third try. After some controlled Chineham play, Lincoln once again showcased his clutch kicking to slot over a penalty and finally put the game to bed.
A superb team performance from the Lions, with Sam Athroll and the pack, provided a strong set piece, Jamie West and Jacob Cardwell making some excellent breaks through the middle, the man of the match Kian Winters, along with Young, Joe Belcher, Ben Goodman and Harold Theiba looking secure under the high ball in tricky conditions as well as defending strongly, Soper being a pest at 9, Lingham running the ship from 10, Will Rouse and Lincoln chopping down trees in the midfield and Rudden, Weatherhead, Heywood, Dobing, Scoble, Circou, Savory and Wheaton getting through a hell of a lot of work in the engine room.