Lions Brave in Defeat to Leaders

A brave performance by the Lions, but congratulations to Bromsgrove who earned promotion at Stourton Park

The Lions went down bravely to a powerful Bromsgrove side at Stourton Park but, until the last 15 minutes were far from embarrassed in a 37-0 defeat. Tiredness and injury ultimately proved too much for a side that, although beaten, promises much for the future.

The first half began with a 10-minute period of sustained pressure from the league leaders, but the Lions defence was outstanding during that time and, indeed, for much of the half, with sterling performances from Josh Cresswell and Richard Pennock setting the standard for the rest. There were fleeting glimpses of what the Lions could do and several times they went close through searching runs from Nick Mann, but the last pass or too little support saw them fail.

The Bromsgrove forwards were dominant in the scrum and gradually the pressure told when a 5m scrum led to the first score right on half-time. By then, Cresswell had been injured and the defensive effort that was so courageous in the first half began to tire in the second.
Bromsgrove started to launch their powerful runners with more purpose and the Lions defence grew more and more tired; more injuries ensued and players began to drop off tackles. Nonetheless, they kept trying and it wasn’t until 15 minutes into the 2nd half that their defences were breached again.

The rest of the half saw Bromsgrove pull further away although occasional Lions forays into the away 22 gave them hope. At one point the Bromsgrove 14 was clear three times in as many minutes but failed to get around a tigerish Nick Mann. Unfortunately, the Bromsgrove support resulted in tries on two of those runs.

The end result was a runaway win for Bromsgrove with 4 of their tries coming in the last 15 minutes. Battered and bruised, but unbowed, the Lions can take heart from a brave performance. They are now 9 points above the bottom three places and need to pull themselves up and aim to win at Droitwich next Friday night.

Match Report by Jon Dews