SEASON-ENDING HIGHS AT LUDLOW!!

SEASON-ENDING HIGHS AT LUDLOW!!

The 2014-15 season came to an end with a fine performance at Ludlow, punctuated by scintillating running rugby and the occasional Lions Achilles heel of lack of concentration that at times allowed Ludlow back into a game they should never have had a sniff of winning.

No matter. The victory here in easily the most beautiful setting we play at in Mids 2 gave the Lions our highest placing ever in the Midlands Leagues – 4th place in a tough and uncompromising division. As Head Coach Tibbetts mused before the game; but for narrow defeats away at Shrewsbury and at home to Wolves, who knows where we could have finished? This and the rapidly developing squad, with at least 2 capable players available in most positions, bode well for the immediate and long-term future.

The Lions roared into a 19-0 lead within 20 minutes, 2 tries by Trinham and 1 by Tildesley, with 2 conversions by Wainwright, showing the Lions’ attacking potential. At this point a lot of the early good work was undone by complacency as Ludlow, needing a win to be safe in the division and roared on by a sizable home crowd, came back with 2 tries of their own to be only 5 points behind after half an hour. Sanity was restored to the Lions fans soon after with a typical Doolittle try when the skipped was driven over after a lineout close to the home line. 24-14 to the Lions at half-time.

The second half opened with pressure from the Lions but another bout of lack of focus gave the home side 2 penalty goals to reduce the deficit to 4 points. Another try from a lineout by Doolittle again gave the Lions some breathing space and then a breakout by Trinham and a swerve and sidestep by Tildesley left the latter a 50m run to the line with no-one able to cope with his pace. The conversion by Wilson left the away side 36-20 up with almost 20 mins left.

At this point the Lions could and should have pulled away to a half-century of points against what looked a demoralised side, but credit to Ludlow. The home side scored a deserved try through their stand-off and the conversion and a subsequent penalty gave the home crowd hope at 36-30. The Lions defended stubbornly for the next 10 mins and, at the death another drive to the line and a try, this time by Langdon, ended the home resistance. The end result of 41-30 topped an exciting match that showcased in just 80 mins the Lions’ strengths and frailties this season.

All-in-all an exciting season which, in league terms at least gave us our most successful of all. This writer at least cannot wait for next season.

JON DEWS