Lions’ fate out of their hands after Lutter loss

RUGBY Lions head coach Dave Addleton will not be joining many of his players in attending a game this weekend that could see his side relegated.

Lutterworth’s convincing 53-17 win at William Webb Ellis Road last weekend combined with Melbourne’s shock 41-22 win at Moseley Oak means the Derbyshire club could escape the drop at Lions’ expense by claiming a point against Dudley Kingswinford in a re-arranged game on Saturday.

“A few of the boys are going along but I don’t think I will be,” said Addleton. “There’s nothing we can do. Our fate went out of our hands against Lutterworth and that’s disappointing.

“Lutterworth were a good side, the better team won. But we had chances to get some more tries and get a bonus point but we just weren’t streetwise enough and the chances came and went.”

Since being placed in Level 10 following the club’s liquidation due to financial issues in 2012, Lions have enjoyed four successive promotions losing just seven times in 78 league games as they surged from Midlands 5 West South into Midlands 1 West.

A five-game unbeaten run to start life at Level 6 suggested Lions were on course for a remarkable fifth promotion on the bounce.

Stourbridge Lions became the first team to defeat Addleton’s men but entering November, the Lions could still boast a record of only one defeat in eight games.

Inconsistency then gave way to an outright collapse as, between November 4 and March 17, Lions lost 13 of their next 14 league games – their only win coming against Hereford in early December.

A nine-game losing run finally came to an end with a 45-10 win at fellow strugglers Camp Hill and a crucial 24-22 win at Hereford boosted Lions’ survival chances either side of heavy losses to Dudley Kingswinford and Lutterworth – where Rugby shipped more than 100 points.

“In many of the games we’ve been in good positions but have just struggled with our execution and we’ve fallen off too many tackles,” said Addleton.

“In particular I look at the Wolverhampton games, in one of them we were 23-0 up and let that slip which was really disappointing. At the end of the season the table doesn’t lie and if we are relegated we can’t argue with that.

“We coughed up too many games and that comes back to bite you.”

Melbourne lie third bottom in Midlands 1 West and know if they can gain a losing bonus point or a try-scoring bonus point, they would jump above Lions due to a superior points difference.

However, Melbourne’s task is a formidable one. Dudley K’s have secured a play-off place behind champions’ elect Burton having won their last five games, losing only three times all season.

Dudley have two games remaining to Burton’s one, but a ten-point deficit stands between the clubs while Burton have a far superior points difference running into the hundreds.

With Dudley likely to face off against Syston in the knock-out match to decide who joins Burton and Bedford Athletic in Level 5 rugby next season – the temptation could be there to rest players or experiment ahead of Saturday’s match with Melbourne.

“It’s not the way we wanted the season to end,” conceded Addleton.

“It’s been a tough season for us for a few reasons and there’s things that need to change ahead of the next season, whether it’s in this league or otherwise.

“Going down wouldn’t be ideal. But it wouldn’t be a disaster either. We will have to regroup and work to improve things together.” DIRECTOR of rugby Huw Thomas was left to rue his side’s inconsistency as Nuneaton’s Midlands Premier campaign drew to a disappointing conclusion.

Doncaster Phoenix claimed 29-24 win at Liberty Way to extend Nuns’ winless run to nine games – stretching all the way back to February 3.

Nuns finished third in the 2016/17 campaign and just two points behind the top two, but a sequence of eight defeats punctuated by one draw saw them end the 2017/18 season in ninth – securing 31 fewer points across the 26-game schedule.

“When I look back over the season it’s disappointing,” said Thomas, who was promoted from head coach to director of rugby mid-season. “What’s really hurt us is things we cannot control as coaches and that’s things like injuries and unavailable players. I’ve never known us to have a season like it in that department. Not being able to put a consistent side out has lead to inconsistency in our results.”

Thomas’ point was emphasised by Nuneaton fielding winger Richard Johnston at fly-half against Doncaster, while Adam Huxford was thrust into the starting line-up having arrived unexpectedly for a training session on the Thursday before the game.

“Elliott Brown hurt his groin on Tuesday and I’m out with a back injury so there was a couple of TBCs (to be confirmed) in the squad we selected, which is never ideal,” explained Thomas. “It’s been a season of real highs and lows. We put 50 points on Scunthorpe up there, we did the double over Newport so there’s three against top-four sides already.

“We picked up six losing bonus points along the way and in some of those games we should’ve won. Win two or three of those we’re looking at a very different situation.”

Nuneaton started the season reeling from the departure of some key players in the form of free-scoring number eight Umraan DixonJadwat to eventual champions Birmingham and Solihull, long-serving forward Llyr Griffiths to Stourbridge and ex-Gloucester back Rob Cook’s switch to Malvern.

This was reflected in the early-season results with three defeats getting the campaign off to a poor start. Four wins followed, including three successive away, before the wheels off once more with losses at Peterborough Lions, Sandbach and B&S.

Nuneaton enjoyed a strong run of form running from the back end of 2017 into the new year with five successive wins.

An agonising home loss to Peterborough Lions ended that run and a 20-20 draw with Scunthorpe followed at Liberty Way.

But a sequence of six defeats to end the campaign was confirmed with Saturday’s home reverse to Doncaster.

“We left a few chances out there which is disappointing as they could’ve made all the difference,” added Thomas. “Doncaster were a young, talented side. They benefit from their tie-up with Doncaster Knights.

“We scored some lovely tries but there was a little bit of frustration there for us as the bounce of the ball didn’t quite go for us.”