Loughborough win in first rugby league clash

SHERWOOD WOLF HUNT 12 LOUGHBOROUGH RFC 64

SATURDAY saw the Players and supporters of Loughborough RFC travel up the motorway to Mansfield with anticipation and some trepidation for their first Rugby League match against opponents Sherwood Wolf Hunt.

Playing rugby league for the first time since the club was formed in 1929, this friendly came just five weeks after the players began training for the new disciplines and rules involved in the league format.

The opening of the game saw both sides being totally committed with the initial physical exchanges and tackling being full on, neither side giving way or having the upper hand.

This changed after eight minutes when Rhys Kearton played a switch move which enabled Blake Turner to crash over for the first try of the match.

From the kick off Sherwood created wave after wave of attacks threatening Loughborough’s goal line which they defended like Spartans. From one of these attacks, Sherwood spilled the ball which was gathered up by Kieran Hewgill, and with the ball passing through the hands of several Loughborough players, finally ended up with Blake Turner who dived over to score another try and put Loughborough 8-0 ahead.

Loughborough scored a third try through James Haig and further scores from Jack Percival, James Haig, Ollie Ryan, and a second for Kieran Hewgill gave Loughborough a 42-6 advantage at the break, Sherwood scoring their first try seconds before the half ended.

The second half was similar to the first with Loughborough’s dominant running and passing game too strong for their hosts as Loughborough scored five tries before Loughborough’s strong defence of Scott Pears, Chris Douglas and Rhys Kearton was breached by Sherwood.

A final attack saw Scott Pears start a move, after gathering a loose ball, in Loughborough’s half of the field and passed the ball which went through several players hands before Scott reappeared at the end of the line to take the final pass to run the final 5 yards to score and round off an impressive 64-12 victory.

Whilst the score line suggests that this was an easy victory for Loughborough, it wasn’t – Sherwood players gave 100 per cent effort and were very competitive in the physical/tackling part of the game where Loughborough matched them tackle for tackle.

Where Loughborough excelled was in the running and passing of the ball when in possession, and this may be because of the different lines of running that the Union game presents – future games against other clubs will give a greater insight into how the club is adapting to the league code.