The Lions match report
Leicester Lions 19 Plymouth Albion 12
The Lions made it four wins in a row with a hard fought victory over 3rd place Plymouth Albion on a blustery day at Westleigh Park.
The opening quarter was very competitive and both sides had scoring opportunities that weren't taken, but it was the home side that broke the deadlock with a long range Luke Bouchier penalty on 18 minutes.
The lead was doubled on 31 minutes when Dan Lewis slotted another penalty but it was the visitors who got the first try when hooker Mead benefitted from the Plymouth driving maul.
The lead was short lived though as the Lions hit back with arguably the best move of the match. From in their own half winger Will Glister broke and found the impressive Charlie Davies out wide who beat two defenders before offloading to James Stubbs to cross under the posts.
The second half saw both sides trying to wrestle control of the closely fought contest however it was Plymouth who were enjoying the majority of the territory, due in part to playing with the wind. The Lions defence held firm though and their scrum was proving the difference between the two sides. Lewis profited from two penalties to extend the lead to 19-5.
A tense finish was set up when Lions Nick Cairns was shown a yellow card for a high tackle and prop Rukhadze scored from another driving maul, but the Lions defended stoutly for the last two minutes to record another memorable win.
Head coach Gareth Collins commented: ''We're absolutely delighted with today's performance. Plymouth are a top side with a pretty formidable pack so the fact we got the edge at the set piece was huge. We also had to show a lot of fight to keep them out, especially at the end of the game when down to 14. We're obviously in a good place at the moment, and confidence is high, but there's a long way left to go and we just need to keep working hard.''
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