Match report 25/1/20

Saturday 25th January 2020
Lions outshine Barnes with sparkling second half performance
League Points 0-4
Barnes 9: Penalties: Basil Strang (7, 11, 40);
Leicester Lions 30: Tries: James Stubbs (23), Devon Constant (70, 74); Conversions: Ben Young (24), Harry Glynn (71, 75); Penalties: Ben Young (13, 17, 47);
Lions had their first visit to Barnes RFC, Barn Elms, in south-west London.
It was a cold and overcast afternoon at Barnes’ ground, on a flat open pitch besides the River Thames.
The opening phases of the game were fairly evenly balanced. In the first 12 minutes Barnes took an early lead with two penalties by Basil Strang.
Lions soon retaliated with two penalties by Ben Young. On 23 minutes Lions opened their try count when their scrum-half, James Stubbs, darted over for a try, with Ben Young adding the conversion and taking a 6-13 lead.
Just before the break Basil Strang added his third penalty for Barnes to close the gap to 9-13, keeping Barnes in the game.
Half Time: Barnes 9 Leicester Lions 13
After the interval Lions started taking the upper hand and showed dominance in the game. On 47 minutes Ben Young added his third penalty for Lions reopening the gap to 9-16.
On 61 minutes injuries to Barnes’ front row players meant that the game went to uncontested scrums.
Barnes’ Matthew Steele was yellow carded for a technical offence on 69 minutes.
For the last ten minutes of the game Lions upped the tempo with their winger, Devon Constant, showing his skill by quickly running in two tries in rapid succession, with Harry Glynn adding both conversions to take Lions to a deserved lead at 9-30.
For one of the conversions Harry Glynn showed an impressive amount of game awareness. As he was taking the conversion, the ball wobbled off its tee. With a Barnes’ player sprinting up for a legitimate attempt at the charge down of the kick, Harry coolly picked up the ball and drop-kicked it between outstretched hands of the defender, perfectly bisecting the posts to add the conversion.
Full Time: Barnes 9 Leicester Lions 30
There was a fairly well balanced start to the game, with the game level after the first twenty minutes. Then Lions showed skill and commitment to take the game away from Barnes to achieve a well deserved away victory.
Excellent place kicking from both sides.
Following the game Lions were in sixth place National League 2 South and Barnes were in twelfth position.
Lions’ head coach, Gareth Collins, said, “It was a fairly well balanced game for most of the first half, but I felt that we showed our class with some exciting play as the game progressed. We rounded the victory off with two well crafted tries in the final ten minutes. The team showed some excellent determination, especially after last week’s slightly disappointing result against Esher”.
Next week, on Saturday 1st February 2020, Lions are home to Dings Crusaders, from Bristol, at Westleigh Park, Blaby.
Teams – Order 15-9, 1-8, 16-20
Barnes: Joshua Hammett, Elliot Simmons, Harry Salisbury, Peter Weightman, James Adams, Basil Strang, Oliver Foster, George Hunter, Cameron Ruddock, Kieran Sassone, Ryan Seabright, Sokonaia Kalou, Conor Harrison, Ciaran Smythe, Matthew Steele
Replacements: Tom McArthur, Thomas Boaden, Frederic Avis, Joshua Davies, Christopher Swash
Leicester Lions: Max Johnson, Kaz Henderson, Jamel Hamilton, Luke Veebel, Devon Constant, Ben Young, James Stubbs, Rhod McNaughton, Drew Rudkin, Charlie Loveday, Ollie Tapscott, Ed Sumpter, Simon Johnson, Jonny Murdoch, Ethan Godefroy
Replacements: Will Roberts, Jack Dickinson, Will Ward, Harry Glynn, James Alex Smit
Many thanks to Chris Barker for some of the finer details of the game.