Westcliff 17 Leicester Lions 50

Saturday 18th September 2021

League Points 0-5

Westcliff 17: Tries Joe Sexton (1), Jim Smith (43, 72); Conversions: Greg Bannister (2);

Leicester Lions 50: Tries: Oli Taylor (3, 63), Ollie Tapscott (11), Ed Sumpter (21), Devon Constant (59), Zac Bean (64), Ben Young (77); Conversions: Ben Young (12, 22, 59, 63, 64, 77); Penalties: Ben Young (40);

Leicester Lions half century makes their day

Lions had a testing start to the season with an away trip to play Redruth, in Cornwall, followed by a close home game against league leaders Clifton. They were keen to show their worth with an away trip to play Westcliff, based at Southend-on-Sea.

Westcliff made a dynamic start to the game with fly-half Joe Sexton going over for a try in the first move of the game, with Greg Bannister adding the conversion.

Lions soon got the journey out of their legs with a comeback, with hooker Oli Taylor driving over for an unconverted try on 3 mins. Further pressure from Lions gave a try to their skipper, Ollie Tapscott, with Ben Young adding his first conversion of the afternoon, putting Lions into a 7-12 lead.

Lions pressure continued with Ed Sumpter scoring one of his running tries on 21 mins, with Young again adding the extras.

The remainder of the half followed a pattern of well balanced play between the sides, with an indiscretion by Westcliff conceding a penalty which Young scored in the dying minutes of the first half to gives Lions a 7-22 lead going in for the break.

Half-Time: Westcliff 7 Leicester Lions 22

Westcliff started the second half in a similar way to the way they started the game, with an early try scored in typical back-row manner by their No 8 Jim Smith, bringing Westcliff back into the game, at 12-22.

On 59 mins Westcliff’s scrum-half, Ewan Richmond, was yellow carded for a technical offence.

Lions made best use of the period when Westcliff were a man down with a player in the bin. Lions’ winger, Devon Constant, outran the Westcliff defence to score a try, giving Lions a four try bonus point. This was quickly followed by two more tries by Lions, with Taylor adding his second of the afternoon and fullback Zac Bean joining in the action with a try. Excellent kicking by Young added the three conversions to these tries.

By the time the 10 minute bin was over Lions had shot into a 12-43 lead.

Westcliff were not for giving up easily and on 72 mins Smith scored his second try of the afternoon.

This was soon followed by two yellow cards – Lions, Ethan Godefroy (technical) and Westcliff, Greg Bannister (foul play).

On 77 mins Lions finished off the scoring with Young adding a try, followed by the conversion, to ring up 50 points for the afternoon.

Final Score: Westcliff 17 Leicester Lions 50

A competitive game, with a deserved victory to Lions. Three tries to Westcliff, seven tries to Lions. Lions’ tries were scored by both members of the forwards and the backs. An excellent kicking display by Ben Young, adding 6 out of 7 conversions and a penalty.

This placed Lions in ninth position in National League 2 South, with Westcliff in fifteenth position.

Lions head coach, Gareth Collins, said, “We knew it wouldn’t be an easy day and Westcliff definitely made it difficult for us. They came out the blocks firing and put us under real pressure with their offloading game. Credit to our boys, we stuck to the gameplan and we eventually managed to control the game and score some great tries. Certainly still some things to work on, but good to get the first win under our belts and hopefully we can now kick on.”

Next week, on Saturday 25th September 2021, Lions play Esher, second placed in the league, at Westleigh Park, Blaby, with a 2.00 pm kick off.

Teams – Order 15-9, 1-8, 16-20
Westcliff: Greg Bannister, Jack Hogarth, George Parmenter, Luke Cummins, Tyler Ford, Joe Sexton, Ewan Richmond, Will Weston, Callum Lynch, Rory Lane, James Webster, James Scoggins, Sam Reynolds, Tom Dufficy, Jim Smith
Replacements: Conor O’Brien, Ben Dane, Matthew Meakin, Eric Miller, Regardo Pedro
Leicester Lions: Zac Bean, Jack Sterland, Dan Martin, Jamel Hamilton, Devon Constant, Ben Young, James Stubbs, George Taylor-Walker, Oli Taylor, Shaun Murray, Ollie Tapscott, Ed Sumpter, Ethan Godefroy, Jonny Murdoch, Nick Cairns
Replacements: Calum Harris, Rod McNaughton, Will Ward, Simon Johnson, Ollie Betteridge