The Lions went away to Stoke, one of the form teams in the league and played well in a 27-17 defeat, a last minute try cruelly denying them at least a losing bonus point. Two yellow cards, at least one being extremely harsh just before half-time, didn’t help, but, despite being up against it at scrum-time, the young side held up well.

The Lions started well and, after dealing with early home pressure, scored first through Ollie Mann after 12 minutes, a lightning move down the left featuring George Tildesley left Mann to go over. The resulting corner from Elliott Murphy gave an early 7 point lead.

Back came Stoke and their growing ascendancy gave them the equalising score 6 minutes later. A penalty close to 30 minutes left it at 10-7 to the home side. The first yellow card for Alfie Bailey, which left both player and Lions supporters mystified, gave the Lions a huge hill to climb. Despite valiant defence, Stoke scored their second converted try after an extended half of 48 minutes, for a 17-7 lead.

The early minutes of the second half saw some good Lions pressure, rewarded with a Murphy penalty to move within 7 points of Stoke. The half continued nip and tuck but after 20 minutes a try for the home side took them out to 20-10,. Nonetheless, a series of moves from a Lions back line clearly owning their home counterparts saw a series of penalties conceded by the home side near their line. A slick move from a scrum saw Jack Barwick dive over for a converted try to leave the Lions looking at a losing bonus point at the least with the score then 22-17. At that point they had a shot at winning the game.

Unfortunately, a second binning came when Fred Brookes had been adjudged to have come in at the side of a ruck. This left a seven man scrum losing ground to the home pack in the last 15 minutes and the pressure proved too much. A series of penalties at scrums led to a final try from a lineout that robbed the side of a valuable losing bonus point.

This will be a sad lesson for a youthful side who played well but lost focus at key points in the game. The loss of Depper before the game left the scrum underpowered but the good news was the performance of the backs, who were quicker and more creative than their home counterparts. A stronger forward platform could well have given them better fortune.

by Jon Dews