Caldy Match Report

It was a poor start for a confident Leicester Lions team after a convincing win away at Birmingham Solihull the previous week.

The afternoon started very badly for Leicester Lions with some poor handling errors leading to two run away intercept tries for the visitors. The first came from Liam Devaney in the 5th minute, and the second from Nick Royle in the 12th minute. Ben Jones converted just one of these two early tries. It was then just a short five minutes later when things got even worse for the Lions as Nick Royle grabbed his second of the game with a well worked try getting around the Lions defence. Caldy were running away with a 19 - 0 lead after just 17 minutes.

Lions dug deep and it was Nathan Donnachie who bounced his way over the line in the 28th minute after Lions managed to string numerous phases together for the first time. Jacob Knight converted.

Just 3 minutes later, Lions number 8, Rob Young saw yellow after a reckless and late challenge. This meant Lions would see out the first half with just 14 men.

Half Time 7-19.

Lions coach Ben Buxton must have had some choice words to say in the sheds at half time and sparked some fire into the Lions team. The crowd were certainly pleased with them coming out exerting pressure on the Caldy team once again. The first 10 minutes of the second half was a physical encounter with Lions number 7, Drew Rudkin, putting some big tackles in and second row Josh McLaurin producing some strong and direct runs enabling Lions to get a foot hold in the game.

A change was made to the front row with the scrum not dominating like it had in previous weeks, young prop Joe Cave replacing a tired Ben Spokes. Lions got their just rewards after Drew Rudkin broke off the back of a well worked line-out drive to dot down in the 59th minute. Jacob Knight missing the extra 2 on this occasion.

A second substitution was made, but this time in the Lions back line with Jack Spittle making his debut replacing Kane Nixon at full back. Spittle turned the game on its head with some lovely running lines putting the prolific Devon Constant in on the 69th minute. This time Jacob Knight picking up the extra 2 putting the game level at 19 -19.

Now the Lions had their tails up and continued to put the pressure on with another great break through the mid-field, but some strong Caldy defence stopped them scoring. However the defence couldn't hold the Lions out for too long. Jacob Knight was aiming to go through a gap but the Caldy number 12, Jack Lavin had other ideas, executing a horrendous high tackle leading to a penalty try and Lavin seeing red. This left the Caldy team playing with 14 men for the remaining 8 minutes of the game.

Lions took full advantage of the extra man, again some intricate backs play left Devon Constant to run in his second try of the game under the posts. Jacob Knight successfully converted to make the final score line 33 -19.

This could have been a game to forget after the slow start from the Lions team but they showed their worth in the second half with an inspiring and entertaining performance to finish off with a 5 point win over a strong Caldy team.

Report by Drew Rudkin