Preston Match Report

Leicester Lions certainly do not believe in making their lives easy. With 20 minutes to go in this match the hosts were losing 27-13 and looked to be down and out.

Lions had started lethargically conceding an early penalty and were getting little possession when suddenly two gaps opened up. One for centre Quentin Koster and the other for full back David Williams to scythe through for unconverted tries to give the home side an unlikely lead before Hoppers hit back. Both sides had been reduced to 14 men with Young and Hoppers prop Altham binned for an altercation during the move that lead to hoppers second try of the day. Ironically both were to return to make scoring contributions.

Lewis Allen, the Hoppers fly half was pulling all the strings having contributed an excellent individual try himself and contributing a further 7 points with the boot to add to first half scores by Taylor and Murray. Hoppers were worth their interval 22-10 lead.

Boden who generally had an off day with the boot reduced the arrears early in the second half but Preston hit back with a Peter Altham try. This darkened the mood of Lions Director of Rugby even more along with the frustrated faithful on the touch line as Lions now needed two converted tries to gain anything reasonable from the match.

Young referee Callum Howard was having a testing afternoon and was not endearing himself to both sets of supporters with some bewildering interpretations at the breakdown. His patience eventually snapped giving two quick cards to Hoppers players. Home debutant young scrum half George Prince took advantage to snipe into the corner before the Lions pack took control giving Number 8 Rob Young two nifty pushover tries against the wilting Preston 6 man pack. The first converted by Boden to give Lions a 30-27 lead.

Hoppers were not done and came back strongly in the last five minutes and stormed the Lions line choosing to tap and go for the winning tries rather than take the simple penalty to tie the game. However Lions held on for the 5 point win with Hoppers a well deserved 2 away points. Both sides now look safe in mid table.
Final Score Leicester Lions 30 Prestion Grasshoppers 27

Report by Rob Young