Hinckley sign two Tiger youngsters

HORNETS Director of Rugby Scott Hamilton has revealed that Hinckley RFC have signed two Tigers development players on loan for the season.

Leo Gilliland and Ollie Ashworth will be available for selection for much of the 2019-20 season and will further strengthen what is undoubtedly the strongest squad that Hornets have had available for some years.

Both players appeared for the Tigers Academy side that won the U18’s Academy title in 2018/9 and have been retained as part of the Tigers Development squad.

Gilliland, a pacy winger, played his junior rugby in the West Midlands before joining the Tigers Academy and has been called up for the Wales U19 squad.

Ashworth hails from Norwich and joined the Tigers in 2017, following a well trodden path from Norfolk to Leicester that has been followed by, among other, current Club Captain Tom Youngs and his brother, Ben. Ashworth, a highly promising back-row man, started his rugby career with Wymondham RFC and won the Academy’s Players Player of the Year Award in his final year as a junior.

Hamilton was delighted with the signings.

He said: “Ollie and Leo are both quality players. Ollie will give us another option in the back-row and we were a little short of quick wingers having lost a couple of players in the last year, so Leo is a welcome addition to the squad. Both players are looking to prove themselves in senior rugby having stepped up from the Academy for the coming season and we are very pleased to be able to give them that opportunity.”

Ashworth and Gilliland will both be available for Hornets’ pre-season games, the first of which is at home against Burton RFC on 17 August, kick-off 3.00. Admission is free.

Hornets kick off the League season against Wirral based Caldy at Leicester Road on 7 September. The club is currently offering discounted season tickets for just £70 (normally £90) for those wanting to follow the action.

Kicking into the gale force wind in the first half, Hinckley should have taken the lead after just two minutes. From Curtis Townley’s long throw, Lewis Commins hit the post and Michael Wright blazed the rebound over from six yards when he should have netted his second goal in two games.

Townley then nodded Sam Reuben’s corner over the bar before Hinckley took the lead midway through the half. From a free kick on the corner of the box, Luke Delaney’s fine delivery was glanced home by Green as he headed his side into the lead.

Both sides continued to try and play despite the howling wind, but conditions weren’t conducive and real chances were few and far between.

Hinckley continued to have the better of the play though, and Commins’ pull back into the six yard box was cleared before his deflected shot fell to Alex Lock, who drove over from the edge of the box.

In between those efforts, Stafford’s only shot on target of the half came when Joe Shanley found Okona Kulisena, as Phil Smith saved at the near post and Hinckley took their lead into the break.

But after half time, Hinckley didn’t use the wind to their advantage and they too often surrendered possession too easily.

That said, they still had the better of the chances - and after Delaney curled wide, Luke Richards raced through one-on-one but slotted wide from a chance he would usually have pounced on.

At the other end Shanley fired over after a corner but Hinckley, despite inviting pressure, weren’t looking too threatened.

They continued to create chances, Wright firing tamely at Josh Moreton after Delaney’s pinpoint pass, before he turned provider and set up Richards 12 yards out, whose similarly soft effort was comfortably saved.

But as the half wore on, Stafford began to apply more pressure on the Hinckley door. The sides exchanged good chances when Smith had to save Shanley’s follow up header when Kulisena’s cross clipped the bar, while Bekir Halil ballooned over from eight yards after the hosts failed to clear a free kick.

And, having not taken their chances, Hinckley were made to pay as the game entered its final ten minutes. Townley misjudged a long ball which caught on the wind, allowing Sam Jessup to get to the byline and pull back into the box where Baker side-footed home from the edge of the box to level just three minutes after coming on.

Seven minutes later, a carbon copy. Another low cross from the left wing once again found Baker unmarked on the edge of the box, and once again the substitute made no mistake from the edge of the box and he slotted into the far corner.

After that, Hinckley couldn’t fashion the chances to threaten the home side’s lead and Belford’s side suffered their first defeat of the new campaign.