Leicester Lions

And the Chinnor side !

Those final two fixtures will not be easy and it would be just like this league to throw up a surprise in the next round of matches.

Is there any word on the street about re-signing of star players and management assuming mission is accomplished by season end? (probably jumping the gun with that question). 

Leicester Lions 43 - 10 Darlington Mowden Park

Lions moved one step closer to safety with a convincing bonus point victory over Mowden Park.

The visitors dominated the early exchanges but resolute Lions defence held them out and it was the home side who scored first when a driving maul was finished off by Oliver Taylor on 18 minutes. 

The game remained in the balance though and Mowden levelled ten minutes later when centre Ben Frankland crossed following a nice line in midfield. 

The Lions scored a crucial try with the last play of the first half when the impressive Nick Cairns crashed over in the corner and Dan Lewis converted for a deserved 12-5 lead at the break.

Now playing with the wind at their backs, the Lions were dominating territory, and were rewarded with three unanswered tries from Joey Patrick, England Under 20 starlet Toby Cousins, and finally Jamel Hamilton who profited from an interception to give the home side a commanding 29-5 lead.

The Lions scrum was proving too strong for Mowden, and with two players in the sin bin for the visitors, Lewis scored under the posts and then duly converted his own score to move the home side in to an unassailable 36-5 lead. 

Darlington scored a consolation try with 5 minutes to go when replacement winger Nathan Greenwood outstripped the covering defence to cross in the corner but deservedly the Lions got the last score when Dan Lewis intercepted and ran in from distance.  He converted again to take his personal haul to 18 points for the day.

The Lions now sit one point behind Bishop's Stortford, two points ahead of Taunton and four points ahead of Cinderford, with one game to play. Two of the four sides will be relegated following the last round of fixtures on 27th April. Cinderford host Bishop's Stortford, Taunton travel to Blackheath and the Lions will be visiting Sale.

Head coach Gareth Collins commented; ''Obviously there was a lot of pressure on us today so I'm delighted with how well the group dealt with that and performed the way they did. DMP are a really dangerous side and they threw the ball around just as we expected them to. We had to work hard defensively for the opening quarter, so to come out of that without conceding was really pleasing and I thought our attack was excellent. Whatever happens next week we can be really proud of what we've achieved this season, however we'll be going to Sale desperate to stay up and will give it everything we've got to try and make that happen.''

Leicester Lions (15-9, 1-8): Patrick, Cousins, Hamilton, Bouchier, Davies, Lewis, Stubbs, Williams (c), Taylor, Thompson, Godefroy, Ward, Koroiyadi, Johnson, Cairns. Reps; Roberts, Dawson, Crane, Myall, Ogden. 

Darlington Mowden Park (15-9, 1-8): Ree, McTurk, Mackenzie, Frankland, Hadfield, Law, Pascoe, Baron, Kyle-Clay, Harrison, Usher, Craggs, Smith, Fantini, Hodgson. Reps: Fraine, Guest, Vaioleti, Rickard, Greenwood. 

Sale FC 14 Leicester Lions 23

The Lions travelled to Sale on the final day of the season knowing that a win would secure their National 1 status but a loss would most likely result in relegation.

The home side started strongly but the Lions defence held firm and secured the first points of the game when Dan Lewis kicked a straightforward penalty from directly in front of the posts following the Lions' first visit to their opponents 22. He then added a second on 18 minutes to give the Lions a 0-6 lead.

Both sides had plenty of attacking opportunities but it was the Lions who struck first when the impressive Joey Patrick kicked in to space from half way and then won the race for the ball to touch down in the corner. Lewis was on target again with the extras. 0-13

It had been an even contest for the first half and Sale deservedly got on the scoreboard just before half time when centre Connor Doherty crashed over from close range following a period of exerted pressure from the home side. James Robins converted to reduce the arrears.

HT 7-13

The second half started much as the first half did, with both sides having periods of territory. This time it was Sale who struck first though as winger Tom Walsh finished off the back of a long pass. Robins converted again to give the hosts a narrow lead. 14-13

With time ebbing away, and news that Taunton were winning at Blackheath, the Lions were really up against it. They did come close following an Ethan Godefroy break but a turnover close to to the Sale line was picked up by Tom Walsh for what looked like an easy run-in for the pacy winger. However, in what was to be a game defining moment, Toby Cousins turned and caught the flying winger and proceeded to turn the ball over.

The Lions then worked their way up the pitch and earned a penalty which Luke Bouchier dispatched from 35 metres to give the Lions a narrow lead with just 5 minutes to play. 14-16

With just a couple of minutes left to play the Lions' safety was guaranteed when they moved the ball at pace in the backs to release Patrick who beat a number of covering defenders to score his second of the game. Bouchier converting again. 14-23

All that was left to do was claim the kick off and kick the ball out, which the Lions did, and in doing so secured another historic victory and a place in National 1 for next season.

Head coach Gareth Collins commented: '' Today was a pretty good reflection of the season really. We started well but then found ourselves in a hole, despite playing well. However we continued to work hard and found a way to come back. Once again the character of the side to dig ourselves out of that hole was unreal. You would never chose to be in that situation to be down with minutes to go but then win it at the death to stay up is pretty special.''

He added: ''It means everything to us to have survived. The group has worked so hard and stuck together all year. It was always going to take time to find our feet at this level but our form in the second half of the season has proved that we are a Nat 1 side.''