Longlevens 45 - 5 Cirencester
It was, yet again, as cold as an Eskimo's chuff at Longford Lane this morning, but at least the early snow cleared off the pitch, and with the somewhat plaintive 'I'm snowed in, in Hampshire' from Shaggy ringing in his ears, The Big Chap once again reffed us through the morning (once Matt had recovered his boots and whistle from the truck) - yet again, the body count was low and he kept up with play manfully throughout, despite a somewhat, ahem, difficult start to the day....
'Levens started well, with plenty of pressure on the left, with Bestie looking good at fullback and joining the line, Lewis 'Crazy Legs' Powell running hard and Joe Salkeld linking play well. However, 10 minutes in, something of an aberration from a linout on our 22 presented Cirencester with a golden opportunity - just needed to flop over the line onto the ball to make it 0-5.
The home team came back again, with Sam Lane powering off the base of the scrum, and displaying an impressive handoff on a number of occasions, and Sam Rees and CJ tacking everything that moved - the forwards moved up on the right, and then the backs put together a sweet move to the left, putting Bestie in at the corner for 5-5 at half time.
Worthy of note was the new instruction from the ref, not heard previously from any spectator, to crouchtouchholdengage....
The second half saw 'Levens pick up the pace, with slope and wind behind them, and only a couple of minutes in, Gabby went over to the left of the posts from close quarters - something I failed to see, unfortunately, as I was judging the snowman competition at the time.... Rory 'Lewis Hamilton hair' Woodward kicked the conversion for 12-5.
5 minutes later Mikey Yorke fielded a kick out from the Ciren 22 and, showing real pace, skinned the defence on the outside to go over in the corner for 17-5. Almost straightaway we were back in the Ciren 22, with Watto wading through defenders and plunging over the line for 24-5.
25 minutes in 'Levens were under pressure from Ciren, conceding penalties and showing some lack of discipline, but managed to keep the visitors out, then Shane O'Brien broke out from our 22 on the right, showing real pace, for 31-5. Almost immediately, not wanting to be outdone, Watto did the same, giving a beautiful dummy to fox the defence before putting Shane in again for 38-5.
Final action of the match was Taff crusing over for another try to make the final score 45-5...
Good to see the Parkers - turning up late and looking somewhat the worse for wear afte the Munster game - and no, this picture isn't out of focus - he did look this blurry....
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