Lions lose close encounter with Rosslyn Park
Gareth Collins
12 Nov - 19:05
Leicester Lions 23 Rosslyn Park 32
This was the first ever meeting between the two clubs, and it was the side with the much greater National 1 experience that came out on top of an entertaining and close game.
The visitors started brightly and their quick attack put the Lions defence under pressure. They were rewarded after just 5 minutes when outside-half Josh Bragman went in under the posts following a brilliant delayed pass by former Lion James Stokes. Bragman converted for an early lead (0-7).
The rest of the first half was a pretty even affair but the Lions did start to wrestle control of the contest, particularly through their dominant scrum. Dan Lewis twice narrowed the lead with two penalty kicks before Bragman added to his tally when he slotted a penalty of his own to make the half-time score 6-10 to the visitors.
With the first attack of the second half Dan Lewis attempted a chip but it was gathered by Park who counter-attacked to score through another former Lion Benji Marfo who finished well in the corner. This time the conversion was missed (6-15).
The Lions responded well again though and, after a series of driving maul attempts had been thwarted illegally, scrum-half James Stubbs sniped from the back of another maul to score on 45 minutes. Lewis converted to narrow the lead (13-15).
The Lions were now in control of the contest and Rosslyn Park winger Charlie Walker was shown a yellow card on 58 minutes for stopping a try scoring chance from an offside position. Dan Lewis elected to take the points to put the Lions in to the lead for the first time, however it quickly changed hands again when Bragman landed another penalty of his own (16-18).
The Lions regained the lead though when the ball was moved wide and good interplay between Stubbs and Jamel Hamilton saw the centre dive over on 64 minutes. Lewis again converted for a 5 point lead (23-18).
The game turned once again on 71 minutes when the referee decided to sin bin Ethan Godefroy for a first offence at a driving maul on the Lions 10m line. This was despite not issuing a Rosslyn Park player with same sanction earlier in the half when there were three consecutive maul infringements when defending their try line.
With the man advantage Park kicked to the corner and launched their driving maul that had been effective all afternoon. From a resulting penalty, Walker, having recently returned from the bin, took a quick tap and caught the Lions defence napping. His try was converted by Bragman to re-take the lead (23-25).
With the man advantage the visitors saw an opportunity to earn the try bonus point and they did so in the 78th minutes when Cade went over following another driving maul. The conversion from out wide was slotted by Bragman to cruelly deny the Lions a well-deserved losing bonus point (23-32).
Another tough one for the Lions to take having got themselves in a winning position with 10 minutes to go but another positive performance that could have easily ended in victory.
Head coach Gareth Collins commented: ''We've had a few close games that haven't gone our way now but I think this one was the hardest to take. We gained control of the contest but ultimately our ill-discipline and errors let us down when in that position. There were plenty of positives though, especially our set piece and our attack once we started moving the ball better. We know we have to be better at managing the big moments and that's what we'll be trying to do in the huge games coming up.''
LEICESTER LIONS (1-15): Williams, Taylor, Dawson, Godefroy, Atuanya, Johnson, Murdoch, Cairns; Stubbs, Lewis, Glister, Myall, Hamilton, Sterland, Brock. Replacements: Coulson, Nonleh, Thompson, Rudkin, Patrick
ROSSLYN PARK (1-15) Cade, Miller, Hay, Burton, Spencer, Bolwell, Ellis, Wrafter, Baldwin, Bragman, Marfo, Gordon, Manihera, Walker, Stokes. Replacements: Cameron, Wade, Stevenson, HisHuckleberrys, Trimble
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