Easy win for Hornets against bottom team
ON a bright sunny afternoon at Leicester Road, Hinckley extended their winning run to seven with a 47-5 demolition of bottom side Scunthorpe who are now certain to be relegated.
Hornets ran in seven tries, six of them converted by Joe Wilson, against a single score from Scunthorpe’s Ben Hyde. The match was effectively over after 25 minutes when Joe Glover ran in Hinckley’s fourth try but the cricket score that seemed on the cards never quite materialised.
Director of Rugby Scott Hamilton said: “I felt we were a bit flat in places. We made plenty of line breaks but didn’t really capitalise. It was perhaps a hangover from having beaten two of the top three recently.
“When you then play the bottom side who have yet to win, there is a tendency to think it’s going to be easy and relax. We also, yet again, seemed to get on the wrong side of the referee and I thought we were unlucky with one or two decisions.
“We should have been more direct. We were playing sevens rugby at times. That said, I can’t criticise the lads too much. It was another bonus point win, but we’ll need to tighten up for next week. Preston are fighting for survival and it is a venue where we have traditionally struggled.”
The afternoon was tinged with some sadness being the first home game since the death of popular longtime club servant, Dave Marsden, and proceedings began with a minutes applause in his memory.
Hornets were quickly out of the blocks. A turnover ball on halfway was sent right, Mitch Lamb, Callum Rowe, and Callum Dacey all made ground and Lamb it was who took the scoring pass to go over. Wilson converted.
Five minutes later, a chip over the Greens’ defence was claimed by Hornets and worked across the field to Adam Johnson who had a relatively easy run to the line from 22m through the fractured Greens defence. Wilson again converted to make it 14-0 after 10 minutes.
As the match entered the second quarter, a Scunthorpe knock-on gave Hinckley a scrum of the Scunthorpe 22m. The ball was released quickly to Tom Wheatcroft who delivered a delightful pass to Dacey to put him in space. The wing-man ran in under the posts and Wilson added the extras.
Just four minutes later, Henry Povoas won a turnover ball on the Scunthorpe 10m line, Joe Glover collected and ran to the line unchallenged to secure the bonus point. Wilson’s conversion took it to 28-0.
The score though seemed to lull into a sense of complacency. Scunthorpe began to dominate possession and deserved their try just before the break.
Scunthorpe won a penalty on halfway and kicked deep into the Hinckley 22m for the lineout. Hornets held the drive but conceded a scrum on 5m from which a series of pick and drives eventually saw No. 8 Ben Hyde go over.