Hard-fought win and then Juniors slide to victory
HINCKLEY Under-13s versus Nottingham Corsairs Under-13s
AS typhoon Hagibis continued to disrupt the final group stages of the Rugby World Cup, Hinckley Under-13s welcomed Nottingham Corsairs to Leicester Road.
They narrowly avoided their own weather disruption by moving pitches, as the latest weather front and accompanying heavy rain had waterlogged a number of pitches at the club.
Hinckley started the stronger team, pressuring the visitors and eventually winning a free kick which they took quickly, moving the ball clear to their wing and getting the first try on the board.
Nottingham responded straight away with a well worked piece of play, resulting in a quickly taken try evening the score at 5-5.
Nottingham continued to dominate possession and soon passed the ball clear to their wing running in their second try in the far corner.
Hinckley fought hard to regain momentum and in the final moments of the first period they worked the ball along the line to score their second try and even the score at 10-10.
The second period saw both teams battling for possession in the middle of the pitch as the teams both addressed the defensive weaknesses from the start of the game with the teams evenly matched in the scrum and at the breakdown.
A superb interception gave Hinckley their first opportunity of this period and a well worked one-two between the full back and wing saw Hinckley score their third try and take back the lead.
Nottingham, however, soon took advantage of a quick start and worked their own player over to even the score at 15-15 at the end of the second period.
The final period saw Nottingham start strongly with most of the possession.
Ever threatening, they cleared the ball to their wing, who running a lovely line, was only to be disrupted by being tackled into touch by a Hinckley player with an inspired burst of speed and a great defensive eye.
From here on with the score still level, Hinckley dominated possession deep in Nottingham Corsairs 22, forcing errors from their opponents.
One mistake gave Hinckley the opportunity they had been working for and as the scrum half saw space and pushed forwards. The resulting maul gave Hinckley the metres they needed before a quick pass back that saw them over the line for their fourth try just before the whistle blew for full time.
A great match against very competitive opponents. Final score Hinckley 20-15 Nottingham Corsairs.
HINCKLEY Under-16s versus Stratford Under-16s
Hinckley U16s travelled across county borders to a very wet Stratford in Warwickshire.
This was supposed to be a repeat of the closely fought match from last season, however, Hinckley dominated from the start and never looked back.
The first of seven Hinckley tries was scored by Burton within minutes of the kick off.
The handling in the wet conditions was sublime and the use of forwards and backs in tough conditions made the rugby an absolute pleasure to watch.
The early score knocked Stratford back on their heels as they were clearly not expecting the quality that was in front of them.
As play restarted Hinckley forwards dominated proceedings and as the opposition players were tied into the rucks, Allen threw out some fantastic passes to the backs.
Further tries were scored by Jacques, Golding and L Whittingham.
A conversion from Drakeford took the score to 22 nil.
Any Stratford attacks were snuffed out with strong tackles and strong rucking from all the forwards.
As the match neared the conclusion of the first half a tired Stratford defence saw Burton grubber kick the ball from the halfway line.
Burton chased his own kick and kicked on again like Messi approaching the penalty area, before diving on the ball and sliding through to score the try.
The travelling Hinckley faithful showed their appreciation for the effort with vocal applause.
There was time for one more try before the break from L Whittingham, making it his second of the day.
The first half finished 32-0 with Stratford barely visiting the opposition’s 22.
The second half started as the first half had concluded and Jacques scored his second try and Hinckley’s seventh try of the game shortly after. This was converted by Drakeford. Stratford had lost a number of players to injury through the tough battles in the ruck and as a result the referee called an end to the game 12 minutes early into the second half. The final score was Hinckley 39-0 Stratford.