South apply the Matt finish to deny Hinckley victory

A Matt Thomas' last gasp try salvaged a point for South as they claimed a share of the bragging rights away at Hinckley. The first all Leicestershire Midlands 1 clash of the season was a game of two halves with South dominant up to half time and Hinckley responding after the break.
South had the territorial advantage throughout the first half and should have scored far more points than they achieved. It was their own mistakes that allowed Hinckley to reach half time only ten points adrift. Mark Lord opened the scoring in the seventh minute with a well struck 30 metre penalty, missed another penalty and then scored a fine individual try just before half time which he converted himself.
South were in the ascendency and were camped for long periods in the Hinckley 22 and but for the aforementioned silly mistakes and poor decision-making could have scored at least three more tries. Hinckley missed a straightforward penalty kick during that period and their young dangerous backs were restricted to a few breakaway attacks, which were snuffed out by the South scrambling defence.

Half time: Hinckley 0 pts Lord 10pts.

Things changed as early as the 43rd minute when Evan Morgan the Hinckley no 14 flew in from the wing to score and reduce the deficit. Neil Harbour missed the conversion. The complexion of the game had changed and Hinckley punished a South clearance mistake with AJ Smith scoring in the right hand corner. Will Keeling failed with a very difficult conversion attempt. A scorching run from Sam Swift resulted in another Hinckley try to take them into the lead in the 75th minute. Harbour again missing the conversion.
South responded by replacing Ash Stevens and John Hemsley with Gaz Nicholson and Wes Cartwright. With Kris McFredries moving to scrum half south begin to get back into the game spending a concerted period on the front foot and more importantly in the Hinckley half. Sam Badham, Gaz Jones, Jim Matthews and Mark Bayley battered away at the Hinckley defence keeping the ball alive in a series of dynamic rucks. The equalising try came from a Gaz Nicholson break out surge down the left which was thwarted by Hinckley, the ball was then transferred quickly by the South inside backs to Matt Thomas who went over in the very right hand corner. Mark Lord's difficult conversion didn't quite have the legs and faded just under the crossbar.
Evan Morgan had a penalty chance in injury time to snatch the game for Hinckley
but, as with all the other Hinckley place kicks, he pushed his attempt wide.

On reflection, South should have won by setting up a bigger early lead, which would have resulted in Hinckley chasing the game, making mistakes and being vunerable to counter attacks. As it was South were the chasing side in the second half who, nevertheless, had the character to create the decisive score to gain the draw.

Man of the Match: Mark Lord.

Team: Lang, Griffin, Thomas, Collins, McFredries, Lord, Stevens (Nicholson), Bale, March, Badham, Hemsley (Cartwright), Matthews, Bayley, Green, Jones.

Unused replacement: Fincham

Match Report:Phil Lord