Leicester Lions 57 Bournville 14

Saturday 22nd October 2022

League Points 5-0

Leicester Lions 57: Tries: Jamel Hamilton (3), Dan Martin (17), James Stubbs (30, 79), Devon Constant (47), Oli Taylor (56), Chester Owen (66, 76), Zach Bean (69); Conversions: Ben Young (4, 18, 31, 48, 67, 80);
Bournville 14: Tries: Ben Tibbetts (33), Penalty Try (62); Conversions: Max Craven (34);

Lions show their class against plucky Bournville

Lions welcomed Bournville for their first league visit to Westleigh Park, Blaby.
The recent rain had given a decent footing for the players and a fresh breeze across the pitch was of no significant advantage to either side.

Lions opened with a drive up the right, then switched to the left for centre Jamel Hamilton to skim through a gap in the Bournville defence for the opening try, converted by Ben Young.

This was followed by Dan Martin breaking through the centre for Lions, going over for their second try. Lions had another break with clever interchanges between Ben Young and James Stubbs, with Stubbs going over for the try. Young slotted the two conversions between the posts to take the score to 21-0.

Bournville put up a spirited performance in coming back and pressurising the Lions line. Their forward pressure gave them a drive over try, scored by nippy scrum half Ben Tippetts who darted over, with Max Craven adding the conversion.

Half-Time: Leicester Lions 21 Bournville 7

Lions continued their pressure in the second half with tries by Devon Constant and Oli Taylor, with Young adding a conversion to take the score to 33-7.

Bournville came back at Lions with driving play that Lions found difficulty in holding and ended up conceding a penalty try.

Lions soon retaliated with their fluid open play running in four tries in the last fifteen minutes.

A run of Lions’ scoring started when Chester Owen went over for a Lions try, quickly followed by Zach Bean picking up a dropped ball by Bournville to score a simple try and Owen adding his second try of the afternoon, with Young adding a conversion.

The afternoon was finished off by Lions ninth try of the game, when Stubbs produced a deft kick through, which he followed up, collecting a fortunate bounce, to score under the posts, with Young adding the conversion.

Full Time: Leicester Lions 57 Bournville 14

A crowd pleasing afternoon of try scoring – nine tries to Lions, two to Bournville.
A dynamic performance by Lions especially in the second half with six tries, but Bournville still made Lions work for the win.

Lions Head Coach, Gareth Collins commented: “A really good win for us today. Our set piece was at 100% and that just gave us the platform to play the way we wanted to. We knew Bournville had a big pack, so we wanted to play a quick, expansive game to stretch them, and I thought some of our work out wide was exceptional. It’s nice to be top of the table but it’s still very early days. We’ve got some tough games coming up, starting with Clifton next week, so we need to keep working hard“.

Teams: 15-9, 1-8, Replacements:-

Leicester Lions: Alex WilHuckleberryson, George Watkins, Jamel Hamilton, Dan Martin, Devon Constant, Ben Young, James Stubbs, Tom Williams, Oli Taylor, Isaac Thompson, Ollie Tapscott, Ethan Godefroy, Simon Johnson, Johnny Murdoch, Nick Cairns Replacements: Augy Clark, Shaun Murray, Chester Owen, Zach Bean, Luke Bouchier

Bournville: – Owen Williams, Tom Cain, Jack Cantelo, Max Craven, Michael Ho, Rhys Williams, Ben Tibbetts, Martin Donnelly, Jamie Harding, Jakub Kijak, Sam Herrington, Kyle Williams, Callum Bradbury, Lewis Hall, Callum Thompson
Replacements: James Burgoyne, James Weaver, Stephen Handy, Ashley Scriven, Mitchell McGahan